Differentiated Instruction

I am with Amy on this one. I have read many books on using literacy work stations when doing guided reading groups, and I still have not figured out the best way to use them for me. I try to have fun and engaging activities that don't take a ton of time to prepare. Sometimes though, they do not take the kids long enough and then they wander. I have not found the way that works for me. I look at other teachers and pick up pieces. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I teach half-day kindergarten and also feel that it can be very challenging to find the time to adapt all of the information. This year I have been using literacy stations in my classroom. I feel that this has helped me to accomodate my student's learning needs while not taking me hours and hours of prep. time. The students are in ability based groups because I meet with one group for guided reading a day. This works well as there are only 2-3 students in each group. While the students are at their stations they are able to work on activites that accomodate their learning styles and levels. These literacy station have helped some, but I still feel overwhelmed at the feeling that I should always be doing more.

I have found the book "Practice with Purpose" by Debbie Diller to be a fantastic book on literacy stations. Has anyone had a chance to read this book? Although I do not follow the book word-for-word as it has about 10-12 stations created within a classroom. I tried to modify it by introducing six stations to start and then replacing one of those stations once a month with a new one for different interests. I have found that students are mostly working with their own work and there is less time spent generating new materials.

Jennifer, the short cycle assessments that your school does in math is very interesting. Is it part of the math program you use, or is it created by the teachers? We ability-group but the groups are supposed to be "fluid" based on the concepts being taught, but there really isn't much movement going on. I could see using the short cycle assessments as a way to regroup every two weeks depending on the pre-assessed skills. Thank you for your input!

I couldn't agree more, Brian! Standardized tests and common assessments should not be the "be all- end all" for measuring a student's knowledge. Project-based learning is something I hope to see integrated in more schools (including my own). What are some of the community members' experiences with PBL?

"Standardized tests and common assessments should not be the "be all- end all" for measuring a student's knowledge." yes that is a great point, my school site is all about using the data from standards to drive instruction.How ever, that is how the state judges schools, so we as teachers are forced to shoots for the API or APA points. So my question is do you think this will change in our future or will states continue to assess students by this way?

Brian,
I would love to teach a student paced course. My HS physics course was taught in such a manner and I loved it. I always struggle with leaving some behind, or going to slow for others. Teaching an AP curriculum, I know they need to be at a certain level by the beginning of May and pace accordingly. This is frustrating, but something I have no control over. I have started to differentiate certain lessons in my course. I do not have the time to do it all at once, but hope to add a few a year to help bridge the gap. Thanks for your thoughts!

Jennifer, Are you saving and compiling the data somehow on those short cycles? We do ours a little differently. We "short cycle" over the power standards from first semester, usually in the form of application problems, to keep them fresh in the kids heads as we approach our state exam in May. As of now, we do not compile the data because it's a pain. We need to move in that direction, though.

I have been teaching for eleven years and do incorporate the philosophies of differentiated instruction in my daily approach to teaching. I can't say that I have revamped my whole way of teaching, but I teach with an awareness that promotes differentiation. If I were to revamp my approach I would start with one aspect of my curriculum rather than trying to do everything at once. For example, I am an English teacher so I might have students do a "diffentiated style" project to learn the background history of a literary period. In this project students may learn about the fashion or music of the time period; topics that they are interested in already. A group or individual presentation of the information would follow the completion of the project. If I did this project for each literary period we studied then I would create enthusiasm about the literature. This may also establish a tone for the year and/or individual units. Nevertheless, one can have the best intention, but as we all know without the time to dedicate it is difficult to see our intentions become a reality. That is why I suggest focusing on one topic a marking period or one topic for half of each school year. Also, I'm sure all of my fellow teachers know of Carol Ann Tomlinson's books. I highly recommend attending one of her workshops if you can. I attended one in New Jersey in December and left with some really practical stategies and a packet of ideas that I could put to use right away.

I find that I like to group in many different ways according to the lessons I am teaching. There are times that I think ability grouping is good. Most often, I group according to learning styles of my students. In this way, their abilities will be more scattered and yet, they learn the same way and tend to get much done.