108 Assignment 1: Strategies

Wow. These chapters gave me tons of ideas for how to better differentiate activities in my classroom. In the middle of reading, I tried to devise a new plan for how my Reader's Workshop time would work this week based on giving my students activities to complete that would truly address their needs. Right now, I have four table groups made up of a more or less random groups of students at varied reading levels. Our center time is simple: four tables, four tasks, four blocks of time, with small groups coming to read with me or individuals getting to use the listening center. It is running smoothly and the quality of the work has been good, but all the students are more or less completing the same activities every day. Sometimes I differentiate the passage they have to read, but mostly it's 21 students doing the same tasks. I have been relying on "one size fits all" (8.83) activities that do not support or challenge all my students. I have been thinking about different systems for a while now, but this chapter has given me concrete ideas for how to make a change that will be truly differentiated.

Although I still have some clarifying questions about the application of these techniques, I was still able to gain a lot of useful information from the description of various types of differentiation strategies. What first caught my attention was the description of stations: "They invite flexible grouping because not all students need to go to all stations all the time. Not all students need to spend the same amount of time in each station, either" (7.62). I was trying to get all my students to complete all activities when I should have been more concerned about what they were getting out of each activity. The Differentiate Why piece further solidified my desire to switch to these tactics:

"Motivation is high be cause of the variety of approaches to learning, varied materials and product options, and the opportunity to work with a variety of students. Further, both teaching and learning are more efficient through the targeted use of stations than would be the case in either whole-class instructionor by having all students remain the same amount of time at each station to complete the same work in each station" (7.65).

I realize that I can actually become more efficient at reaching out to all my students even if it requires a little more work in planning. I also like how Tomlinson explained that centers could be differentiated by interest as well, having certain students go to a station that was focused on sports one day (7.65).

I also want to incorporate some aspects of the other methods discussed in this chapter, although using them for the entire class during Reader's Workshop may be beyond my abilities of planning and their abilities of independent work. What I liked about the agenda system is that groups of students must present their own plan to complete a task that meets all objectives (7.66). I would also like to create some complex instruction tasks for my students, especially those who need an added challenge and can become easily bored or feel left out by simpler activities at stations. Last week, I talked with one of my Guided Reading groups about producing their own version of a book that we read, written from another character's perspective. As I began planning this week's stations, I can have this group make all the decisions about characters and plot together, and then work individually to write and edit chapters before coming together to create the book. I'm not quite sure if this is an example of complex instruction but it definitely allows students to "call on a much wider range of intellectual skills," is "open-ended," and "requires many different talents in order to be completed adequately" (7.69).

The way that orbital studies were explained makes it hard for me to envision an application for elementary school students. However, I would love to adapt these ideas for some of my higher students now (and later on, other students, possibly as a project to accomplish over spring break). I have a couple very high readers in my class that just don't seem motivated by the learning tasks that other students complete, probably because they are just too easy and these students don't see the value in practicing the same skills they have already mastered over and over. I would love to see these students take their learning into their own hands and choose what area they would like to study more deeply (as long as it involves using some reading strategies we have studied or connects to our UbD topics). Both of the students that I have in mind for this project are more science-minded and lack motivation in their homework and other class work. I would love to see one create some sort of research paper, model or presentation based on his knowledge of hte solar system. The other might want to create a comic book based on a chapter book he's reading. The biggest question that arises with orbital studies is with a younger group of students, how do you keep them on track? Even with an established schedule or learning plan, I can definitely see third graders getting off track or losing interest quickly. Maybe if I just combine the freedom of choice of orbital studies with the shorter time frame of complex instruction or the structured agreement of learning contracts, I can maximize the benefits for those students who would enjoy these projects.