Differentiated Learning

As I start this new school year with many resources: colleagues, veteran teachers, and a well developed student teaching program, I ask myself, how will I use these tools to become a successful English/Language Arts  teacher? As I began my own reading of successful methods used within the classroom, I now more specifically want to know, how can I use differentiated reading instruction within my own classroom?

 In my discoveries I found that the first step to differentiated reading instruction is the use of a pre-assessment to see the reading level of each individual student. Thanks to the integration of technology within the schools in this modern age, there is software that is now being used in classrooms. An example of this type of software is used in my own classroom and it is called “Language!” The students enter into the program and they must complete a test that assesses their reading level.  When reading levels have been determined the teacher is then able to create lesson plans based on the given information. The results of discovering the reading levels of the students are useful to planning instruction within the classroom, but it is not enough. This leads into another concern of mine that pertains to reaching students of all different types of reading and writing skills within one classroom during only one class period. 

I believe that the solution lies in the approaches of class work and homework given to the students. The use of different types of assignments may allow the students to approach reading strategies that will be most beneficial to them. An example of this would be during the lesson of a story or novel to create a plot outline worksheet for students that would allow them to follow along the story by summarizing and comprehending key scenarios. For this type of activity the teacher would have to introduce the diagramming of a story and a set amount of chapters would be assigned along with a completion of the plot as it progresses throughout the chapters. When students return with their completed work they could collaborate in small groups discussing what they believed were the significant scenarios within the story. The small groups would then share in a whole class discussion and allow the teacher to guide the students in the right direction. This is an example of what I would like to do within my own classroom. 

The use of multiple intelligences is also an important strategy when planning for differentiated instruction. The flexibility and endless possibilities of differentiated instruction is what makes it so appealing to lesson planning and classroom instruction. An example of this would be to act out a scenario within a play or a novel. This allows kinesthetic, visual, and verb use. The students would be able to practice reading prior to acting it out in front of the class. As a teacher I would expect them to be expressive, clear, and concise in their reading along with requiring a summary of notes about what the chapter or scene entails.  They might even use a video camera and work in small groups and record themselves acting out an assigned scenario, depending on the grade level.  My challenge to myself is to find multiple resources and ideas so that I can make learning a fun and effective process for my students. I want to expose them to multiple differentiated learning strategies so that I can see which lessons will be successful in my future classroom. What type of lessons or strategies do you envision yourself using in your own classroom?

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 Here is an example of a video I found on YouTube of student's at a high school acting out  a scene of Romeo and Juliet in class. :)

                                                                   Resources

(This resource explains and gives examples differentiated reading strategies for different levels of comprehension.) http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/subject/diff_reading_la.phtml

 

(This resource outlines the description of a variety of multiple intelligences and gives an example of a lesson that uses differentiated instruction.) http://www.walch.com/samplepages/065146.pdf