Welcome!!
Welcome!!
Reading Endorsement - Competency 4/5
Foundations and Applications of Differentiated Instruction
In this course, teachers will have a broad knowledge of students from different profiles in order to understand and apply research-based instructional practices by differentiating process, product, and context. Teachers will engage in the systematic problem solving process: use data to accurately identify problems, analyze those problems, design and implement interventions, and intensify instruction based on individual student needs.
Currently I have only 1 V.E. self-contained L.A. class comprised of 22 students, all struggling readers, all have 1's on the FCAT, with only 1 student who is academically high. Even within this class, I have levels. I try to meet their needs by a lot of modeling from the teacher, hands on and visual assignments, and some accomodations for certain students who are non-readers, I have them on computer based reading programs. My classroom is a good fit for students that are struggling because I try to teach with multi-sensory approach thereby trying to reach my students at all levels. Different learning profiles and interests are met by varying teaching methods and using technology. My students are grouped by ability to read: non-readers, reading levels 1-2, and 3-4.
ReplyDeleteI feel that I have a lot to learn about differentiated instruction and my weak point is data gathering.
I teach 2nd grade to 1st and 2nd graders. My 2nd graders are my struggling readers. I used the FAIR results to group the students, and address individual needs when we meet during the teacher lead center. My students' self esteem is constantly reinforced reminding them that they all go to school to learn, and it's o.k. to make mistakes. Positive feedback is an ongoing process. The most improved student is also awarded and recognized at the end of the month. The individual progress is kept accessible to all, to encourage friendly competition. I do have a lot to learn about differentiated instruction, and how to implement it more efficiently in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteCurrently I'm working with 4th grade students preparing them for the FCAT Writing. Meeting students' varying learning needs is easier for me to do because a lot of conferencing goes on during writing. Whether students are struggling or learning with ease, my classroom is a good fit. Conferencing is prescriptive, therefore, every student is taught the strategies she/he needs. One student may need strategies to elaborate while another might need transitional devices. During conferencing sessions, I address the many different learning profiles and interests. I also try many strategies for example graphic organizers, technology, mentoring texts, groups, peer editing, modeling, publishing, visuals, etc. Student grouping is extremely flexible in writing because it depends on the skill you are focusing on. If you are working on great grabbers, then you might want to create a group of students that are struggling to meet with you while the others can work on take away endings. I would love to be able to learn how to differentiate instructions when we have a crunch time pacing guide rushing us to teach all of these benchmarks. I feel differentiated instructions are easier to implement in some subjects better than others. Differentiating instructions has always been easier for me to implement after the FCAT madness is done with.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it has been difficult for me to change my mind set, I have recently begun to implement classroom assignments to respond to the varying needs of my students with the support of a District curriculum specialist who comes to my class once a week.We have established goup rotations every 20 - 25 minutes during the class and the students are held responsible for the completion of the different tasks. I have been trying to include assignments that require graphic, oral, written responses from the students to satisfy their learning styles, but I think I still have a lot to learn. I also believe that the initial part of the class should still be teacher-centered, in order to guarantee that the essential content is grasped by all the students, whether advanced or low-level readers. I have grouped my students according to their performance in the FAIR, but I need to know how to make these groups more flexible.
ReplyDeleteTo meet students'varying learning needs is a very challenging task,so I try to use any means that I consider "useful" to reach each of my first graders.I draw,use the board, show pictures,act out,do oral and hands on activities,etc. Whenever I teach a content I take into consideration the different academic levels of my students,the complexity of the questions, activities, and tasks given to the students correspond to their academic level.I address different learning profiles and interests by implementing flexible small groups (similar learning styles,academic level, interests)and literacy-related centers.The literacy centers permit me to teach a small group and to meet individual children's needs while other children are working on reinforcing what they learned.I continually evaluate children's progress and I regularly vary student groupings to meet their needs.Eventhough I utilize differentiated instruction in my classroom, I think that there is a lot to learn about it.
ReplyDeleteI honestly feel that I am short of doing a hand stand to meet my student needs. I work with ESOL students and many times pictures, examples, and anything else considered visual works best for them. Although I do my best with what I know; that certainly does not mean that I am doing it correctly...or at least at times I feel I'm not. I believe my classroom is a good fit for learning because I am the first one to admit that I am not perfect and am constantly learning. Believe it or not, telling my students this "little secret" of mine helps. They feel normal when they make mistakes in the classroom. I address learning profiles by appealing to the student likings. One example is by allowing them to read what they like(sport and fashion magazines) while teaching them the skills or strategies that they need to know. Grouping them has been a challenging task for me. I want to make sure that those who master a skill feel challenged and those who don't do not feel inadecuate, to sum it up I need help when it comes to grouping students. I need to learn everything there is to know about differentiated instruction.
ReplyDeleteI am currently one of two Reading coaches at my school. I work with a fourth grade small group (10 students)and a fifth grade small group (11 students). These students are all FCAT level 1's and 2's and they come to me to receive Voyager intervention. Because Voyager is scripted, it is very difficult for me to incorporate DI. I incorporate DI when we are using the fluency books that come with the kits. When I worked as thrid grade teacher, I had more opportunities to include DI in my classroom. We rotated between the teacher led center, the computer center and the writing center. I would also conduct whole class instruction, but I made it a point to meet with small groups and meet the needs of the students. I feel that there is always room for growth; therefore, I look foward to learning more about DI in this course.
ReplyDeleteMidaly
I teach ESOL and Language Arts through ESOL classes, which means that I have to face a lot of differenciation in the classroom due to the fact that my students come from many different backgrounds, cultures and even age levels because I have 6th, 7th and 8th grade students together in the same classroom. I try to meet my students need implementing learning centers based on their strongest learning tecnique (visual, mechanical, auditive, ect.). My classroom is a good fit for all my students because I do my best to make learning as didactic and fun as possible. As I said before I try to address the different learning profiles and interests by focusing on the students' best way of adquire the knowledge. I vary my students' grouping by interests, age, learning levels and language levels. I need to learn new tecnique and grouping methods.
ReplyDeleteI currently meet my students varying learning needs through a scripted process. My class opens with SIPPS and then the students have 15 minutes of IDR, in which they are placed in a book according to their Lexile level. We then have whole group for about 25 minutes where instruction is delivered in a scaffolded manner. Lastly, we have small groups in which the students are given instruction in their reading deficiency area based on the FAIR. I feel the class is a good fit due to different levels due to the scaffolding built into the program (Edge. Honestly, it's extremely difficult to address different learning interests since we are so scripted. I try to assign different types of assignments - projects, graphic organizers, writing responses, oral responses, art, etc. I adjust my groupings according to FAIR and any progress monitoring assessments. I probably need to learn about best practices when it comes to differentiated instruction and classroom management - how to give engaging and meaningful assignments to the rest of the class. :)
ReplyDeleteAs the reading coach for grades 3-5 at my school, I assist teachers meet students' varying learning needs by helping them analyze the data for their students. Based on this data, DI groups can be set up, addressing specific needs of students. What makes the classroom a good fit for various learners is the flexible grouping and Differentiated Instruction. Struggling learners go to the Teacher Led Center every day, while students who learn with ease visit this center twice a week, usually for enrichment. A rotation schedule is set-up to accomodate flexible groupings. Independent centers address student needs and their levels; while the Teacher Led center addresses specific skill instruction and providing instruction at the student's current instructional level. I would like to learn how to make teachers realize how important DI is and how to make the implementation easier for them.
ReplyDeleteDavid Osborn
Currently I teach 6 & 7 grade Intensive Reading as well as 2 Intensive Reading Plus classes. The children in my Intensive Reading Pulse classes average between 1st to 4th grade reading levels. This is my first experience teaching in a middle school but I have found that my 14 years as a first grade teacher have been very helpful in meeting the gaps in my students reading abilities. My classroom is a safe haven, I have created an environment where the children feel that they can express themselves without the fear of being ridiculed. In order to best meet my students needs I create my groups depending on their needs and the lesson being taught. I refer to the FAIR assessment as well as the Voyager Assessment to identify my student strengths and weaknesses. As an early childhood teacher I found no problem in differentiated instruction but now in middle school that I have to teach directly from a manual and adhere to such demanding pacing guides I am having a great deal of trouble. I hope to learn how I can incorporate differentiated instruction affectively in my classroom regardless of the demands of the program that I am currently teaching.
ReplyDeleteI am an 8th grade hourly reading teacher, essentially teaching students how to improve their score on the FCAT. It is my first teaching job and has been rewarding thus far. I rarely have created groups in my classroom so far, but when I have it has been just done randomly as all the kids in my classes are mostly at the same level. I identify the students' strengths and weaknesses by simply listening to them read and analyzing where they excel and where they struggle. Since I only have six students at a time, this is not such a difficult task. Differentiated instruction is difficult in my classroom because of the lack of students. However, I do see where I could be a little better in this area. Differentiated instruction is a new concept to me and I have much to learn about it. I look forward to hearing everyone's experiences and hopefully taking some of them and applying the knowledge to my class.
ReplyDeleteThis is my second year teaching at a middle school and my first year co-teaching. I move around the building all six periods and I co-teach with four different teachers. Each of them is different so my job varies in each class. In addition to that I have students with different learning disabilities in each period. So, in general I could say that we all use DI in one way or another. Here are some example sometimes I pull the lowest level students to a side of the room and work with them in small groups, occasionally we mix them up and other times I work one on one or we use the computer to do compass learning, Gyzmo or any other program. I think that having this flexibility gives me an advantage that other teachers don't have. I could say that this makes it easier for me to reach out each of my students needs.
ReplyDeleteI teach a Developmental through Language Arts class Levels 3/4,grades 6,7,8th. I implement Differentiated Instruction by grouping students based on their academic levels and needs. I group them by mixing levels 3 and 4 or strong & weak learners to help each other after a whole class instruction. I 'm trying to learn how to use the FAIR report effectively for this class, so I could based my DI through data. I use visuals,video clips, organizers, and song lyrics about any lesson taught in class. I rotate them every other week depending on their behaviour.(they are very talkative). My classroom is fit for my students needs,they work on the computer on Reading plus or Teenbiz, while I monitor the other groups. I need to learn more about DI by example, in theory it sounds easy but I think that I still haven"t implemented an effective DI class.
ReplyDeleteI teach 7th grade and I meet my students' varying learning needs by analyzing data and score reports, I also gave them a pre-test in order to identify the students' strengths and weaknesses. After this is when I prepare my mini lessons or I use quizzes from Reading Plus, targeting the students’ needs. In addition, I create my groups depending on their needs and the lesson being taught. In summary these are the methods I utilized to detect where they excel or struggle. For sure I feel I need to learn more about differentiated instruction, and how to incorporate new strategies as part of my daily lessons, and with this course I think it will be possible.
ReplyDeleteI am an elementary reading coach. I conduct data chats with my teachers and we use the data to group the students to effectively deliver a data-driven instruction. I used screening assessments, ORF, FAIR,monthly, Interims and OPM to monitor our students growth. Our students are in a very challenging inner city school. I will also conduct parent-coach data chats to make the last push before FCAT.
ReplyDeleteTo make sure that our students needs are been provided, I make sure that our students get all the instructional support that they can get. Interventions for the struggling students are been supervised constantly, FAIR data is used to group the students and provide the right instructional tools to the teachers to address their needs. Modeling lessons, coaching and reflective conversations are a crucial part of our school environment. I analyzed the data and share the information with the parents, teachers, administrators and support staff.
I think I have learned so much this year but been in such a needy school this class is the right fit for me.
I teach ninth graders. I currently have two V.E English I, Two Int. Reading, and four co-teaching classes. My students' levels vary between 2nd and 7th grade.I group them so that the higher readers can assist lower readers when working in groups. I meet my students' needs by having a rotation of activities. They are divided in two groups. One group completes sessions in Reading Plus for thiry minutes while the other group works with me on the Edge curriculum. I provide them with a new set of vocabulary words from Reading curriculum every two weeks. I quiz them at the beginning of class and assisgn homework. In the English classs I use the same strategies. The vocabulary words are more challenging due to the fact that we have to follow the general curriculum with some modifications. The VE English classes recieve instruction as a whole group. They work on the FCAT Explorer and complete activities from text.
ReplyDeleteAs a reading coach, I have used many methods to meet the needs of our students. The first thing I do, is look at our data. I use FAIR and interims as wells as SAT and FCAT levels. But, do REALLY determine the area of disconnect for our students, I administered the Cool Tools Phonics Inventory. This pinpoints exactly where our students need help according to the Phonics Continuum. After this assessment, we grouped our students by their levels on the Continuum and met with the teachers to address how we will instruct our students. One of the most effective ways to meet the needs of our students using Phonics is to use Word Sorts. For reading comprehension, I use the students' Lexile scores as well as their lowest benchmarks.
ReplyDeleteMy school is a great fit for students who struggle as well as students ho are in need of enrichment, because we correctly place them and we make sure to determine true student needs. Our students have consistently made gains, with about 60% making at least 20% gains on each monthly/interim. We also meet continuously to discuss our students' progress and what teachers and interventionists are doing well and which ones need to adjust instruction.
The one area our school would do well to explore a little further is the use of student profiles. At the moment, we only provide books with a high-interest level to do so.
I love differentiated instruction and have used it extensively as a classroom teacher and done quite a bit of research on it. I would like to continue to creatively group and make effective, explicit activities tailored to students' data.
Christine A. Rodriguez
As a reading teacher I group my class heterogeneously. After I teach a lesson, I allow the high learners to explain the lesson again to the low learners. I do this so that the higher learners have more of a challenge trying to explain it differently (put in their own words). This also helps the low learners because they are able to have one-on-one instruction. This type of classroom instruction helps all students because they aren’t just learning from me, they are learning from their peers. The fact that there are different types of learners in my classroom it provides the greatest learning environment. I have a low learner in my classroom that has sports intelligence and I use examples of vocabulary words in a sports setting. I work in a middle-low income community where the students can relate to the issues and setting in the Bluford Series novels. Because I have realized that, I use these books in my classroom to grasp the student’s attention and make them want to read more. Because I teach intensive reading, there is a high percentage of students who have a low interest in reading and I find that these books have made them more interested the material. Although I use differentiated instruction in my classroom, I would like to learn more about classroom management while using it.
ReplyDelete• I am an ESE science teacher; I meet my students varying needs by using minilessons, assessment resources, and class collaboration.
ReplyDelete• I try to create a community learning involvement for my struggling learning and use my para. For my students that is not making prophecy. The social setting allows my students to read, discuss, and write about any science activities.
• I support my student’s reading and writing as I demonstrate, guide and teach.
• I have a small classroom size. I vary students grouping by grouping my students in pairs and one to one with the using of my para.
How do you use Differentiating instruction :
ReplyDeleteI teach Reading , Language Arts and Math to kindergarten, 1st and 2nd graders . Differentiate instruction takes place in my class everyday. I services kids with a learning disability. I teach whole group than I move about giving my students one to one and there accommodation. I also try to reach my kids through there styles of learning auditory, visual or kinesthetic. At the end of everyday I ask myself what can I do to reach the kids who did not understand the lesson of the day differentiating works when you have the time.
The varying needs of my students are met through whole group lectures and modeling, independent group work, small group assignments; as well as proximity control, longer completion times, and modified assignments.
ReplyDeleteMy classroom is a good fit because I have an awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of my students (gained through dialogue and work samples). I don't really address learner profiles or interest and this is an area that I could use more help with. My groups are heterogeneous and fluid based upon student strengths as independent workers. I make use of the computers in the classroom through Discovery Learning and FCAT Explorer.
I differentiate alot but I am working on developing a flow for easier transition between group activities. My students are sixth and seventh graders in Reading and Language Arts.
I meet the student’s varying learning needs in my classroom in different ways using different strategies to guarantee that they learn in one way or another. Fortunately, the science workbook has different assignments that cover different needs in the same chapter. The works are graphic organizers, completing concepts with pictures and of course; questions and answers with different difficultly levels. This way, I made my classroom a good fit for those who either struggle to learn or learn with ease. The ones with the advantage to help other students, I usually group them with the ones who have a little more trouble. I need to learn a lot about differentiated instructions because it is the only way that I have to improve my students to a higher standard.
ReplyDeleteNancy Lopez
Honestly, I haven’t been able to do much grouping in my classes. I have been in the process of getting to know the various learning needs of my students, and I did not have much experience teaching reading and comprehension. However, taking this course has taught me a great deal of teaching strategies, and I am looking forward to putting them to practice as soon as next week! I promise to get back to you to share my experiences.
ReplyDeleteEffective curriculum is having the materials that cover the missing benchmarks in my students FCAT scoring. Usually lessons that are short (30 minutes) and quick or we will never get through a lesson in a session.Being flexible means adapting to the students who show that day and giving them shared responsibility for the accomplishing of their learning. Contract can really help accomplish this. Sharing responsibility comes from the realization that the student will walk independently into their own future therefore, must assume the lessons as an independent, self benefiting journey.The work load in my class is sometimes shared by all using verbal, oral sharing of their work or writing and independently looking introspectively to develop their own voice and reasoning by doing classwork. My students LOVE team word games where they have to out do the clock with their responses. From the lowest level to the highest they are equally involved and learning however word games cannot make the impact of looking up words in a dictionary and studying the roots and multiple definitions. So in my estimation the challenge is to alternate competition (possibly as a reward) with the mental tasks of researching and defining through bookwork. I am still a little out of the loop when it comes to engaging my low level learners with enough stimulating work that doesn't frustrate them after a few minutes. I am planning to present the contracts after the writing FCAT test Mar.1
ReplyDelete- Basically, I meet my students’ learning needs reading their IEPs goals, strengths, weaknesses and needs. Also, according to the curriculum, grade level, chronological age, cognitive, psychomotor and social- emotional level, interests, likes and dislikes, I present the new content and the activity, and I will observe how the student’s respond to modify or accommodate each one according to their needs.
ReplyDelete- All the students can fit in the classroom if the teacher has flexibility in her teaching process, and if she/he has a differentiated classroom how the teacher can modify and accommodate the content- activities- space- time according to the students’ needs or possibilities.
- I think the way to identify the students’ learning profiles, interests, and also to know how to do the grouping is to use the different teachers’ tools/ assessment. The key is to identify the kind of assessment that I have to use to assess or evaluate a specific skill, abilities, interests, knowledge, etc.
- I do not know what else I need to learn about “differentiated instruction”, but what I know is that whatever you teach me it will be welcome.