Differentiated Instruction: Part Three

Today's assignment was to finish reading Differentiated Instructional Strategies (Chapters 6-8).  Now that I have read the whole book, and am nearing the close of the course I am starting to put my thoughts together on how this would look in my lesson planning.  Below are some reminders to myself:

SEVEN Reminders for lesson planning:

1. Know what the essential questions are.  Know it for the unit and know it for the lesson.  Keep that in the forefront of your planning because if you know it you will have confidence to change things as necessary.  It will allow you to be flexible.

2. Pre-assess before starting a unit..  It can be a quiz or informal survey.  (Exit cards, journal entry, KWL chart, observation, signal cards, etc.) It should focus on essential understandings, not be an assortment of facts.  It should be short and to the point.  Assessment of knowledge, skill and attitude each require different questions or activities. (See the BER handout on criteria of a good and useful pre-assessment.)  This will help you decide what instructional strategies to use and better help you decide when and how to incorporate choice into the unit. 

3. Have a "hook" or focus activity.  Start a lesson with an activity that will engage the learner and spark curiosity.

4. Decide how new information and skills will be acquired and how students will practice or rehearse the knowledge to make meaning. (see pg. 102 for different instructional strategies)  Don't forget to think of student interests and learning styles. (Think of Bloom's taxonomy and the ideas on multiple intelligences.   Once you know, let them know.  Communicate with your students about what they are supposed to learn and how they will do it and if necessary, why they need to learn it. 

5. Decide how students will receive feedback.  Do you need to make a rubric?  What sort of self-evaluation will you have the students do?  Self-evaluation helps the student become more aware of their learning (styles, progress) but it also holds them more accountable for their learning.  Circle time and exit cards could both be used for this.

6. Spend time training students in the skills you want them to have so that they can be successful at working in groups or individually.  Work at building stamina in how long they can work without direct teacher supervision.  Have students become accountable for their behaviour and work habits by having them self-assess these skills.

7. Don't forget to plan for anchor activities.  You could prepare different activities or simply have a rotating library bin or center set up.  If students know what they are allowed to do when they are done you will have fewer interruptions to your teaching of small groups or individuals. 

SEVEN things to DO before September:

1. Re-type daily plans to better reflect above. (Don't forget to include code for auditory, visual, kinesthetic activities)

2.  Make a learning styles/interest survey for the first day of school.

3. Type up a reading comprehension choice menu.

4. Type up a list of math journal prompts.

5.  Make skill cards or posters for independent and group work.  (Tell what it looks like, sounds like and feels like--see p. 110-111)

6. Make handy reference of:

• Bloom's Taxonomy
• Multiple Intelligence activities (see p. 42-43)
• Pre-assessment ideas
• Anchor activities

7.  Start small--Think BIG!

Differentiated Instruction: Part Two

Chapter Four is about assessing the learner.  Topics range from a variety informal pretests and surveys to choosing and creating tasks to evaluate learning growth.  This chapter is a treasure trove of ideas.  One of the little tips that I really like is doing your pre-assessment/survey two to three weeks before starting a unit to allow you to plan for the unit specifically for your class.  I realize that this is not always practical or possible to do so, but if you are going to try differentiating for one unit or project, this would be a great tip to follow--even if it is a few days instead of a few weeks.  By doing a pre-assessment well ahead of time it allows for some modification of a unit.  That is, not that the teacher would necessarily make changes to the unit, but may decide to introduce it differently, or focus more on certain aspects for teacher directed learning and allow students to work in groups or individually on projects on other content.

In my case, a lot of my students have undergone formal assessments to help us determine how to best develop their IEP. One of the "informal" pre-assessments that I have used in the past, especially in Language Arts, is a K-W-L chart.  I have used these when undertaking a non-fiction book study.  I find that the chart helps them make connections and help with the comprehension of the book.

One type of assessment that I have never used but would like to start this year is math journals. I will have a small group of grade 7 and 8 students who I will be teaching math (some on IEP, some just receiving some extra support).  I would like for these students (most of whom do not struggle in reading or writing) to reflect on their learning and attitudes toward math by writing in these journals.  My plan is to provide writing prompts each day and have this activity help them self-evaluate their learning as well as give me insight into their level of comprehension and their attitude towards math.  I do not plan to be fussy about sentence structure or the quality of writing since this is not a language arts class.  In fact, I would be quite thrilled to see illustrations to demonstrate their knowledge.  I am hoping that the journals will be another way to help measure content mastery and to chart progress.

 

Chapter four also talks about authentic tasks and assessment for final grades.  I have two students who I will be teaching again next year for Language Arts.  I feel like we have been doing the same reading comprehension activities for the past two years.  Needless to say they aren't the most thrilling activities.  I am hoping to allow some student choice in demonstrating that they understand the reading.  As I reflect on this chapter as well as what we have discussed in class I want to use more novels as opposed to readers and create (or have the students create) meaningful activities from them as opposed to depending as much on student reading comprehension workbooks.  Baby steps.  One unit at a time. Of course, I will need to pass this by my co-SERT--but I think that she will be excited as well.

 

Chapter five is about adjusting, compacting and grouping.  I am always adjusting assignments every day.  Of course, I have the luxury of having very few students at a time.  It is much easier for me to give individualized attention to my students than it would be for a classroom teacher.  I am assessing students work daily and adjusting or compacting almost immediately.  This is part of what I love about Special Education.  It excites me to think that regular classroom teachers may also be doing this for all of their students.

 

I must admit that I was not really a fan of group work as a student.  I often felt that I could work better on my own (unless we were allowed to pick our own partners).  As a teacher I had a love-hate relationship with group work.  Ideally, it teaches students inter-personal skills that are valuable and it allows for curiosity and creativity in a way that seat-work often does not.  However, it can lead to misbehaviour and can be very difficult for a student that already struggles socially.  One of the keys to successful group work has got to be clear expectations:  expectations of what needs to happen; how much time will be spent on the activity; and how to work in a group.  I saw this demonstrated in class and outlined in chapter five.  Seeing it done both in class and on the video really helped me see how it can be done well.  I will end my post with a quote from p. 84:

 

Groups need

• Ample space to work
• Clear directions and procedures
• Rules and guidelines established
• Individual roles assigned for on-task work
• To tap into all members' strengths

Good to remember.

 

Differentiated Instruction: Part One

It has been a while since I last posted but I am taking another course (Differentiated Instruction) and I like the permanency of a blog post so that I can find my recollections again later.  I hope to make this course as practical as possible which means applying some of the strategies meant for a regular classroom to a Resource Room setting.  For our first homework assignment we were given the first three chapters of Differentiated Instructional Strategies: One Size Doesn't Fit All by Gayle H. Gregory and Carolyn Chapman to read and respond to.

Chapter One is an introduction to differentiated instruction.  It is the "Why" and the "How" in brief.  This chapter has a template for a lesson plan that looks helpful.  Differentiated lesson planning is an area that I would like some more instruction in.  I have the general idea but I would love to see it modeled in multiple subjects and grade levels to feel like I have a good grasp on it.  For my own daily lesson plans I have thought about including a code for whether an activity is visual (v), auditory (a) or tactile-kinesthetic (t-k).  Although I work with students on IEP, which is a bit different, I think that this addition to my plans will help remind me to teach to a variety of learning styles.  It will remind me to teach to the students preferred learning style but also to include activities in a style that they perhaps need to develop skills in.

Chapter Two is titled: "Creating a Climate for Learning".  One of the main points of this chapter is about creating a safe place in which learning can take place.  Hopefully my room is already a positive learning environment but as with anything, there is room for improvement in this as well.  While reading this chapter I was reminded that social and emotional factors can be a huge barrier to learning.  Next year I will be teaching a few small groups and I am thinking that I would like to include a "circles" concept to my everyday teaching.  What I mean by that is that I would like to start each lesson by going around the group and give an opportunity to share.  Some classes I will give a prompt ("What is the best thing that has happened to you today?", "What are you most looking forward to during the break?") and others I will just allow for them to share some news.  Spending a few minutes in discussion of a more social nature allows some students to "let it out" so that they can then focus on what needs to be learned that day.  Which brings me to my next idea: a focus activity.  Sometimes it can be difficult to get back on track after talking about our social lives and relationships.  I hope to plan focus activities to start each lesson.  It will have to be something relevant to the lesson (or at least the subject area) and engaging enough to bring everyone's attention back to the subject matter.  I realize that this will not always be easy, but if I include it in my day plan it will help me be more intentional in creating the positive learning environment that I want my classroom to be.

Chapter Three is about the importance of knowing the learner.  Learning styles or multiple intelligences remind us that not only do we want to teach to a variety of styles but we also want to allow for students to show their knowledge/learning in a variety of ways.  When I create IEPs I look at learning styles as well as try to tap into student interests as well.  I have a few new students next year that I have never worked with before and I hope to do an introductory activity with them in the first week.  I am not yet sure what format I want to do this in (discussion, questionnaire, survey on the computer or game) but I am searching Pinterest for ideas.  If I don't find anything that way I will probably make my own.  Figure 6. on page 27 and Figure 12. on page 39 seem like good places to start.

Tech plans

Well, I am done my Digital technology in the Classroom course.  I have learned so much in six weeks and I feel excited and motivated to continue to explore digital options for my own classroom.  Here are my top three wishes:

1. Use Google docs to share and collaborate with other teachers and EAs in my school.  I think that this will be more efficient when writing report cards and IEPs.  I also hope to create shared documents to use for our TRDP sessions and keep for an up-to-date and growing list of resources that we can all use.

2. I see so many possibilities for Photo Story 3.  I am envisioning things from book reports to science presentations.  I have several students who I think are going to love this and who it will benefit from being able to express their ideas without the pressure and anxiety of having to read in front of their peers like they would during a power point presentation.

3.  I am going to request two ipads for the Resource Room.  I don't know if they will fit in the budget but I am hoping that they can.  Not only are there a lot of apps that I think will be very educational but the motivational aspect of the ipad is huge for students.  Keep your fingers crossed for this one!

Creativity

The Need for Creativity

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  Genesis 1:1

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  Genesis 1:27

Humans are creative beings. We are because God is and He created us in His image. Creativity is a wonderful gift of God and its value should be encouraged in the educational setting. 

Often when we think of creativity we think of visual art, music or creative writing.  However, creativity is equally important for science, mathematics and even sports.  Without creativity we no longer have innovation, research or originality.

Recently I watched another TED talks video on the subject of creativity.  Ken Robinson spoke on the topic: Do schools kill creativity?   His premise is that they do.  Consider the following two quotes:
"We are now running national education systems this way; where mistakes are the worst thing you can make. And the result is, we are educating people out of their creative capacities."
"We don't grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out of it."  Robinson believes that we are squandering children's talents of inate creativity by creating a heirarchy of subjects--mathematics and language being at the top and the arts being at the bottom.

 

Now, I question whether many of Robinson's premises are true.  The fact that he states them and gives a cute anecdotal illustration has not quite convinced me. Who is to say that it is the educational systems and not just brain growth and development that changes how much risk people are willing to take in creative pursuits?  In addition, my view of humanity is quite different than his.  Whereas he believes the world would be a better place without humans, I disagree. However, what we do agree on is the importance of creativity in education.  I also agree with his statement that,  "Many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they are not because the things they were good at at school wasn't valued and stigmatized actually."

Often we tend to teach content.  We become curriculum driven.  At least I have felt the need to get the curriculum "done" by June and I have heard many of my colleagues express a similar sentiment.  What we tend to forget is to encourage creative thinking and allow for flexibility in the curriculum.  I need to remember to encourage curiosity in all subject areas and allow some freedom in how learning is demonstrated.  I try to remind students that mistakes are something we can learn from, but I am not always successful in getting this message across.

What I try to do regularly is celebrate different abilities.  Not everyone has strong literacy or math skills but quite often those individuals have strong artistic, athletic or people skills.  I try to create opportunities where those who may have weaker academic abilities can showcase their strengths.  I also try to remind parents in parent-teacher conferences that some "disabilities" can become marketable "abilities" if given the right context.

I wonder if the rise of technology is going to shift education away from content learning (you can just Google it anyway) to more skills-based learning. Perhaps with more digital technology in the classroom there will be more emphasis on creativity.  I only hope that the pendulum doesn't swing so far over to the other side that we forget that we have much to learn from what others have discovered and developed and that we will accomplish more if we stand on the shoulders of giants as Isaac Newton once said.

Child-driven Education

This week we were asked to watch the TED talk video by Sugata Mitra on The Child-driven Education.  In this video Mr. Mitra described his "hole in a wall" experiments of placing internet connected computers in slums of India and Africa as well as in schools in England and Italy.  He noticed that children were teaching themselves and teaching each other how to use a computer, play games and search information without any teacher direction.

Over time his experiments grew to include what he terms the "Grandmother method of teaching" and what his students have termed the "Granny Cloud".  Here the "teacher" merely admires and compliments the students, occasionally asking questions like, "how did you do that?" and "can you do that again?"

Mitra has concluded that "Education is a self-organizing system, where learning is an emergent phenomenon".  He notes that part of the success of his experiment is small groups of children working together and discussing what they find.  He maintains that "A single child in front of a single computer will not discuss" and presumably will not remember as much as those who worked in groups.

Without a doubt, Mitra has had some astounding results and success from his experiments.  His method of engaging students but not giving them the information makes me think of it as a digital Socratic method of teaching.  He poses the questions and the students Google the information.  In his tests, retention of the material learned was astonishing.  I wonder though if as the students become more adept at finding information on the computer, their learning becomes less ingrained?  I wonder if the retention rates were so high because the effort that they required in finding them?

While I am not ready to dispose of teachers quite yet, it would be interesting to apply this method in a class for a lesson and see what the outcome would be in our culture--one that takes technology for granted and is always demanding to be entertained.

If you are interested in watching this video you can find it here.

Empathy Activities

A few people have commented on the empathy activities that I mentioned in the last class. For those who are interested, I thought I would briefly describe them on my blog.

They came about in a staff meeting when the grade seven teacher jokingly wished he could take his class to the Resource Room so his students could better understand what we did. Those of us in the RR looked at each other and thought, "why not?" After a brainstorming session we came up with five activities to share with a class to hopefully have them experience some empathy for those who have academic/physical struggles and explain some of the things that we might do to help. We split the class into five groups and stuck to a strict time limit for each activity. Here is a brief outline:

Visual:  We bought about 5 pair of dollar store safety goggles and scratched them up with sandpaper.  We then had the students try to copy off the board. I did this activity and I purposely used a faded marker on the white board and wrote quickly. I then proceeded to erase parts when I needed more room. I told any students who complained that they should have stopped fooling around and kept up with the class.

Speech:  We bought marshmallows and had students read a passage out loud for the class. The teacher who led this activity asked students to speak more clearly. She also asked them to repeat words multiple times. Many students started to speak more softly so she also asked them to speak up.  Several students had trouble with drooling. (This was the most popular activity by the way.)

Fine Motor:  We bought some nuts and bolts of various sizes from the dollar store as well as thick, fuzzy gloves. We had a competition to see how many nuts and bolts they could screw together in a minute. More points were given for the smaller screws. We also had them do the same activity after without any gloves to see how much easier it is.

Gross Motor:  We bought some cheap binoculars from the dollar store. Students tried to walk on a tape line while looking through the wrong end of the binoculars. They also tried skipping with twine.

Auditory:  We had the students write an "unfair spelling test" using a recording from this site.

After each activity we talked with the students about how it felt to struggle with these things. Most students expressed that they were surprised at how difficult these activities were. We also pointed out to them that they only had to struggle for a few short minutes after which they could remove their "disability". We tried to discuss with them how it might feel if your brain knew what it should do but your body wouldn't cooperate or if you found something difficult when everyone else seemed to master without difficulty. We also shared some of the activities we might do in the RR and also talked about physio, occupational and speech therapy. We talked about compassion, kindness and bullying.

It was very interesting to see that some of the students who have struggled in some of these areas spoke up and talked about how it felt for them to deal with their disabilities and what sort of things they have done to overcome them. Most students responded positively to it (only two or three made inappropriate comments and seemed unaffected by the visit--but that may just have been a social strategy for them).  All in all, we enjoyed being able to share a little of what we do in the RR and the grade 7 teacher said that it made a positive impact on his class.  I encourage others to try it at their school if space and time allows.

I also discovered this activity which I think would be fun to do with younger kids to teach why things don't have to be equal to be fair.

Tools of the Trade

Since taking a course on digital technology in the classroom, I have been spending a lot of my time thinking about technology.  This week I was thinking about how digital technology is a tool for teachers to use and like any other tool it can be used well, for its intended purpose; or used poorly, perhaps for an unrelated purpose; or simply forgotten about and left unused.  

Computers and tablets and interactive whiteboards are tools and not an end in themselves.  Simply having this technology will not make us a better teacher.  In fact, it is quite possible that it makes us a worse one.  Consider the scenario of a teacher who only uses their digital resources for "drill and kill" activities.  Or the teacher who spends a disproportionate time in their class trying to solve technical glitches thus losing valuable teaching time.  On the other hand, using something new such as a new digital resource can help us reflect on our teaching, help us reach students in different ways and may reinvigorate our lessons.

Recently I read a blog post (read it here) that had the following quote,

"No one who ever bought a drill wanted a drill. They wanted a hole. It's the task that matters."

As soon as I read this quote, I felt the figurative light bulb go on.  That is how I feel about digital technology.  I want it to DO something for me to improve my teaching. I can make "holes" right now without any digital tools, but if I get some new tools will my "holes" be better or easier? 

 The blogger rephrased this quote to read:

 "No teacher who ever bought an iPad just wanted an iPad. She wanted an engaged learner. It's the student that matters."

This made me pause.  Is this what I think?  I definitely want my students to be engaged in their learning.  I want to make learning easier, more effective and more enjoyable--but that is not all.  I teach in a Christian school.  The reason that I teach is to bring covenant children to a greater understanding of God and His creation.  It is God that matters. I don't mean to split hairs, in the end, I do agree with her quote.  The student also matters because God created them and they are image-bearers of Him.  

I want to be conscious of how I teach and why I teach.  I want to use technology to improve my teaching and I want to be wise in how  I use it.  If my school invests money in digital technology then I want to be a good steward of that and use it to its potential.  That will take time and practice.  I want to do this because when I teach well I serve God and honour Him.

You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.  Revelation 4: 11

Professional Development (part 2)

If you read my first post or my profile you will know that I am a part-time SERT.  I job-share with another woman and in addition to the two of us, we have four Educational Assistants (EAs) at our school.  We have students who are withdrawn from the regular class to work on a modified or alternate program and we go into classes to offer support within the classroom environment.  I love my job for many reasons but I particularly like working with a team of people. 

When I first started teaching I had my "own" classroom and while I enjoyed it, I sometimes felt isolated.  I would have loved to have a mentor or even another teacher who taught at the same level as me to bounce ideas off of (I started in a very small school with split grades).  When I started in the Resource Room I felt as if I was a first-year teacher all over again.  The learning curve was huge.  The difference this time was that I had another SERT to mentor me and a group of EAs to share ideas, difficulties and successes with. 

This year I am leading our own TRDP sessions for the Resource Room staff.  (Previously we had joined the rest of the staff.  I am leading them because my co-SERT has one of her days off on TRDP days.)  The primary reason that we are doing our own topic is that the classroom teachers are working on curriculum mapping and we in the RR don't have the same set-up.  Most of "our students" have an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) for a modified program and the IEP  is our curriculum map. The IEPs are the responsibility of the SERT but since the EAs have daily contact with their students they have valuable insight and have been a great help in developing the IEPs for the students that they work with.  Our TRDP sessions have generally consisted of three parts: 1. instruction on how to write a component of the IEP (done by a SERT)   2. opportunity to write goals/accommodations/etc. in consultation with me 3. discussion about reading strategies from this book.

This is the first year that we have had such direct input from the EAs on IEPs.  I think it has been a great success.  I am not sure if it would have been possible if we had not had the time to collaborate together at school on such a regular basis.  Our discussion on the reading strategies and our opportunity to share our experiences really helped us in our teaching but also had a team-building effect.  Our EAs have repeatedly expressed how much they have enjoyed the sessions this year.  Last year they did not feel that all of the topics were relevant to them but this year is quite the opposite.

Now I am planning for the next term--TRDP will start again in March.  I had originally planned to continue working with IEPs and the monthly plans that correlate with them and was also planning to do some sessions on mathematics instruction.  However, since starting this course, I am thinking more and more about the possibility of incorporating more technology into our instruction.  I am thinking of sharing the resources that I have learned about and using our time to try out some different digital lesson ideas.  I am even thinking about how to better lead these TRDP sessions--perhaps by using this blog or perhaps a webpage (which I don't yet know how to do).  Definitely lots to think about.  Any suggestions?

Ongoing Professional Development

I wrote in my last post that I am taking a course on Digital Technology in the Classroom as part of my own professional development.  What I didn't share is that I teach at a school where ongoing professional development is encouraged in somewhat of a unique way.  At my school, we have two 10-week sessions of what we term: Teacher Resource and Development Program (TRDP).  Once a week, for 10 weeks at a time, we dismiss the students one hour early to allow the teachers regular and ongoing professional development.  The rationale for this is that, while PD days are often enjoyable and informative, there is seldom time to implement and develop the ideas that we learn during these workshops and seminars.  TRDP allows for learning new ideas (often we get speakers in for the first week or two) as well as time to spend in our classroom working these new ideas into our lesson plans.  Generally we meet together as a staff for the last few weeks to share what we have done.

This year my school is spending most of our TRDP sessions on using an online curriculum mapping program.  This is quite a large undertaking since what has previously always been in the teacher's binder in now being uploaded online.  The benefits of curriculum mapping are that more sharing can take place between teachers; either of the same grade, or for teachers who would like to know what their students have learned in previous grades or will learn in later grades.  The program that we are using (Atlas Rubicon) allows us to not only share with teachers within our school, but also share lessons and lesson ideas with teachers from around the world.

Admittedly, not all teachers on staff are thrilled with using online curriculum mapping.  Several would prefer to stick with their trusty binders and not spend all of this time transferring the information onto the computer.  However, our principal and our Education Committee are looking at the long-term benefits of this program.  When I read the document Essential Conditions
for using technology for learning I immediately thought of our TRDP sessions.  Not only does my school have a shared vision, but by providing regular time to work with this program they are providing teachers with guidance and training (and technical support) so that teachers are able to implement the vision into their curriculum and planning practices.

Next time I will write about my own TRDP experiences and plans for the next session.

It begins

Well, after much trepidation I have started a blog.  I have read blogs, contributed to other blogs but this will be my first venture in putting myself "out there".

My name is Marsha.  I am married to the perfect man for me, mother to four wonderful kids and a part-time SERT (Special Education Resource Teacher).  I love teaching and I love staying at home so I really have the best of both worlds by teaching part-time.  I love to read and I have a wide variety of interests.  Some of my passions in education include: children's literature (I am always reading kids books to look for good additions to our library); language arts instruction (I am always striving to help students work on improving their fluency, comprehension and enjoyment); working in collaboration with occupational/physio/speech therapists (I have learned so many things from these professionals and the students benefit so much when their therapy is incorporated into their school life); IEPs (Individualized Education Plans) and how to make them relevant and helpful to classroom teachers.

I have just started taking a university course on "Digital Technology for Learning" as part of my professional development (and thus the impetus of this blog).  I am not going to lie, I was pretty nervous about starting this course since I am pretty old-school when it comes to technology.  I prefer books to e-readers, I don't have Facebook or Twitter, I just got a cell phone about two year ago and I don't even know how to text.  However, I love to learn and I figured that this was an area that I could definitely learn and grow in.  I also figured that it will have a direct impact on my teaching (new skills and resources) and improve my ability to relate to my students who love digital technology.

I firmly believe that technology can either hinder or assist in learning depending on how it is used.  There is nothing inherently good or evil about digital technology but it can be used for good or evil.  (For a good read, check out The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion by Tim Challies.)  What I am concerned about is how the use of technology is changing our brains and our ability to sustain deep thought and concentration. (see links at the bottom of this post).  I know that technology has a place in education--I am not a technological Luddite--but at this point in my career, I am not certain to what extent I am comfortable with it (thus another reason for taking a course on the subject).  I guess I am looking for the right balance.

-http://www.challies.com/writings/books-e-books/the-next-story
-http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-565207/Modern-technology-changing-way-brains-work-says-neuroscientist.html
-http://news.cnet.com/Why-cant-you-pay-attention-anymore/2008-1022_3-5637632.html