Is Differentiation Done?
Is differentiation done correctly? I sat down with the principal of my school and we looked at our Campus Improvement Plan and TAKS data from the AEIS report for our school. In completing the needs assessment, the following groups were the one we saw in need. In the area of Reading, our White students scored in the exemplary level and all our other groups African American, Hispanic, and Economically Disadvantaged were in the recognized range. In the area of Math, our White students performed in the recognized range and the other groups African American, Hispanic, and Economically Disadvantaged scored in the acceptable range. In the area of Science, our White students scored in the exemplary level and all our other groups African American, Hispanic, and Economically Disadvantaged were in the acceptable range. In all these indicators we see failure the close the achievement gap. At our school, we want all the students to hit the exemplary range or at the very least we want to begin the process of closing the achievement gap.
We will implement the Differentiated Instruction philosophy at our school to help close the achievement gap between the white student group and the other groups including African Americans, Hispanic, and Economically Disadvantaged. The vision of our school is that all children will learn, and we will find the best way to educate all children no matter what they bring to the table. I will be looking at the impact of Differentiated Instruction Lessons on student achievement on district benchmarks. By January 2012, we will see the closure of the achievement gap between white students and the other groups. Currently the white students are performing at eighty-eight percent passing and our African American students are performing at eighty-two percent passing, the Economically Disadvantaged group is performing at eighty-four percent passing, and the Hispanic group is performing at eighty four percent passing. I expect the teachers to use Differentiated Instruction to close the achievement gap on district benchmarks.
The first book that I am including in my literature review is The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners by Carol Ann Tomlinson. This is a good starting point when looking at Differentiated Instruction. It discusses what a differentiated classroom looks like, and it looks at the ways one can differentiate instruction. One can differentiate the content, process, or product for the students and they can differentiate by the level of the students’ readiness, interest, or learning style. The book goes on to talk about the instructional strategies that lend itself to differentiation. A second book that helped me in this process was Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom: Strategies and Tools for Responsive Teaching by Carol Ann Tomlinson. This work talks about how students needs must be met for them to be successful at school and one of the best ways to do that is to differentiate. Part of differentiation is giving students some choice. If the teachers give the students some sort of control, they are more likely to actively participate. This book also shares some different ways for teachers to differentiate assignments. It is a good way to show teachers that they can be successful with the process, and they probably already do some part of differentiation. This will get teachers interested and hopefully they will eventually move from strategies to embracing it as a philosophy. A third book is Green Light Classrooms: Teaching Techniques That Accelerate Learning by Rich Allen. This book talks about the difference in traditional type classrooms where there is stand and deliver type of instruction where the students are sitting and learning from the teachers. The author urges to include the students in the classroom and learning. They are to be equal partners in the learning process. This is at the heart of differentiation. Students help design their learning. The students should have a choice in the way that they learn. The teacher and student should work together to combine the learning style of the student with the lesson. In the differentiated classroom there should be multiple ways that the learning can take place. The final book that I will discuss is Teaching with Poverty in Mind: What Being Poor Does to Kids’ Brains and What Schools Can Do About It by Eric Jensen. This book talks about understanding the background of your students and then using purposeful teaching to overcome the economic status of your kids. This book really talks about pre-assessment and that is one way that you can understand your students so you can properly differentiate for their individual needs. Jensen also discusses the issue of respect. Differentiation embodies respect because it gives the students a part in the learning process by sometimes giving the student a choice in their work. It is valuable to let the student know that the teacher values and respects the students because they did not tell them which assignment to complete they gave a couple of choices and they let the students select the one that will help them be the most successful. In a perfect world the teacher might even let the students’ decide on an option for an assignment. My principal and I sat down and decided on a topic for my action research project. This is an area that our building and district have provided a lot of financial support. We have had training with a small group over two years and we have had multiple full staff professional development days on the topic of differentiated instruction. We see differentiate instruction as a way to improve the achievement of our students. We want a staff that views their students as learning partners because that should be the goal of a twenty-first century learner. The school house of old where the teacher tells the students what to do needs to come to an end. The avenue that we have decided to help our campus reach that goal is differentiated instruction.
Selling your product is essential. My research project has to have the cooperation of my department. I am the instructional support for my department, so I get many opportunities to help get them on board with differentiated instruction. I was part of the original group that got the training with the consultant from outside our district. This put me in the position of being the go to guy for my department with regards to differentiation. I also am in the position to dictate what kinds of professional development we take part in. I have offered classes where we focused on differentiated instruction. I also collect differentiated lessons from my teachers and share them with the other members of our department. I also have them lead the professional growth sessions so my department members see their coworkers being successful using differentiated instruction. Additionally, we get buy in from students by letting them have a choice in their education. I teach at middle school level, and the students’ biggest complaint is not having any control over their lives. They feel that teachers and parents are united in telling them what to do from the time the sun comes up to the time the sun goes down. Differentiation gives the students some control of their learning and they are willing to go the extra mile in our classes.
I will admit that I felt we did have some troubles in implementing the project. I had teachers implementing differentiated instruction at different levels. This year we have full and proper implementation in my department. I had to convince my department that teachers needed to seriously look at the types of lessons that they were teaching to make sure that they included differentiated lessons in their curriculum. This is an expectation from our building leadership and our district leadership. So I was really helping and supporting them by helping them meet the districts’ goals for them. I insured that the individual students’ data is being protected because we are not looking at individual data we are looking at their scores as a whole on district benchmark exams.
I led the department through the process I am using to analyze data by using the same data that we go through as a campus. We look at AEIS reports and benchmark data all the time. I wanted to use this project as another data point for them. I know, as a teacher, I am always looking for more data points to use to help my students. There has been a little resistance to using differentiated instruction. I used the strategy of making the use of differentiated instruction something that was required of us by the district and building leadership. They were going to have to do it whether they liked it or not. I urged them to get on board by showing them the successes of other campuses where differentiated instruction has proven successful. I also showed them that I will be there for them at every step, and I led them by example. I created some differentiated lessons for them at first and had them try them with me modeling in the room with them and later on their own. The next step was to have them generate and use differentiated instruction lessons on their own with their students.
We have a big economically disadvantaged population. We have really had to work hard with these and all of our students. Our district and community is always asking us what are we doing to help and reach these students. One of the ways is to push the differentiated instruction model. Whenever we have a parent meeting, we are always talking about the philosophy and the potential impact that it has on our students. We have a wall in our staff lounge that shows all the different types of differentiated lessons and which content teams have taught a lesson using that particular type of strategy. When you explain that you base the lessons off the strengths and weaknesses of the students to drive instruction as opposed to regular lessons that are given to everyone in the class no matter what their level, it lets the community know that we are helping and reaching out to all of our students.
References
Allen, R. (2008). Green light classrooms:teaching techniques that accelerate learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin ASAGE Company.
Jensen, E. (2009). Teaching with poverty in mind:what being poor does to kids'brains and what schools can do about it. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). The differentiated classroom, responding to the needs of all learners. Alexandria, VA: ASCD
Tomlinson, C. A. (2003). Fulfilling the promise of the differentiated classroom:strategies and tools for responsive teaching. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
