Differentiating For and Anticipating Student Needs

By Zalino Bona

It’s Monday morning, and as I open my Grade 4 classroom door, I pause for a moment to take in the scene in front of me: bulletin boards on the walls, bookshelves filled with colorful books of different topics and levels, a rug for students to sit on when we have whole class meeting, tables with chairs around them for group work, and a couple of quiet areas for students who like to work alone. Is this a room where each student can find a place to work in at his/her comfort level?

I think of Jane, my ELL student. She has just moved to this country, and although she understands basic English, she is reading below grade level and struggles with vocabulary and comprehension when we read grade level books.

Loki, an ADHD student, needs help to stay focused, and works best alone and in a quiet place. He has a lot of energy and needs an outlet for them every now and then.
At the other end of the spectrum is David. David is a gifted child and is reading above grade level, and able to complete most assignments efficiently and speedily.

And of course, I have twelve other students with different talents, interests, weaknesses and strengths and ability levels, and who are more or less able to face and overcome challenges faced by all fourth graders daily.

How do I ensure that I am meeting the needs of all these learners? As I teach a lesson on a reading strategy today, how can I ensure that all my students are learning? In Carol Tomlinson’s words, a differentiated classroom is one that “provides different avenues to acquiring content, to processing or making sense of ideas, and to developing products so that each student can learn effectively.” How can I differentiate instructions so that every student is appropriately challenged and engaged and learning effectively?

I can begin by addressing content, process and product.

Content: I begin by thinking about what I want my students to be able to do at the end of the class. With what specific skills will they walk away? This is where my objective comes in: By the end of the lesson, the student will be able to use question words like who, what, when, where, when, how, or I wonder to gain information while reading an informational text

Everyone needs to participate in the Do Now and Mini lesson where I introduce new concepts. But I can differentiate content by letting students choose topics of their choice and providing books at their reading level. As John McCarthy points out, “The first step to differentiate for interests is to find out what students care about and like to do. When a topic connects to what students like to do, engagement deepens as they willingly spend time thinking, dialoging, and creating ideas in meaningful ways. Making learning contextual to real-world experiences is a key learning technique with differentiating for student interests.”

Students for whom I would need to differentiate content:

Jane ELL	-          Books at her reading level aligned with her interests and readiness level -          Visual aids -          She will watch the videos and join in whole class instructions, would need more individual help -          Access to audio versions of books to enable her to read and listen at the same time, and to help her with fluency
David	-          Books at his interest and readiness level -          Content rich, challenging and engaging activities

Process: How will my students learn the content? Students have different learning styles, and knowing them well will help me to know how they learn best. I would have to use different methods and strategies to reach all the students. Discussions, stations, purposeful groupings, think-pair-share, peer tutoring, graphic organizers and checklists are some methods I would consider using. Some students would need more help to reach their goals.

Students for whom I would need to differentiate the Process:

Jane	-          Peer help with assigned work -          Pair her with a partner who can explain assignments and tasks to her when the teacher is not immediately available. -          When needed, she will be given more time to complete assignments.
Loki	-          Would need short breaks every now and then to refocus his attention -          Assignments broken up into smaller chunks to enable him to complete them in a short period of time. -          Use graphic organizers for organizing ideas -          Use checklist to self-monitor performance

Product:
Students can demonstrate mastery of learning in a variety of ways:
Discussion
Written response
Oral presentation
Poster

The Learning Environment:

For effective learning to take place, an environment that is conducive to learning is imperative. A community of learners is built by setting specific goals and teaching rules and procedures. Creating a collaborative classroom where it becomes second nature for students to work together to solve problems and to find answers would be my goal. This would ensure that everyone in the class is working on being a responsible member of the class.

A good learning environment is important for all students, but more so for some than others. The learning environment would also include the physical layout of the classroom, and should be planned with the needs of the students in mind. A student for whom the physical layout would make a big difference is Loki. He is one person I would have in mind as I plan my classroom layout.

Some things I would need to think about:

Loki	-          A desk in a quiet area -          A high table if he needs to stand while working

Resources to support these students:

Jane	-          Books at reading level -          Audio books -          Rewordify (an online tool that simplifies difficult English) -          Picture dictionaries
Loki	-          WordQ: a software that helps with typing and proofreading by providing features like word prediction, highlighting, and auditory feedback -          Audio books -          Portable word processors for note-taking

If, through formative assessment, I find that some of my students are not understanding content, while others are grasping the material quickly, I will let those who are learning work independently at stations, or reading contracts, while I reteach those who are not getting it. I would consider using some of these strategies:

One-on-one instruction
Peer tutoring
Flexible grouping for discussions

Here's a flowchart that shows how I will address the needs of some students who need differentiation:

          

References:

Cox, Janelle. (n.d.). Differentiated Instruction Strategies: Tiered Assignments. Retrieved from http://www.teachhub.com/differentiated-instruction-strategies-using-tiered-assignments

McCarthy, John. (July 23, 2014). 3 Ways to Plan for Diverse Learners: Wat Teachers Do. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/differentiated-instruction-ways-to-plan-john-mccarthy

McCarthy, John. (August 25, 2014). Learner Interest Matters: Strategies for Empowering Student Choice https://www.edutopia.org/blog/differentiated-instruction-learner-interest-matters-john-mccarthy

Stanberry, K. & Raskind, M. (n.d.). Assistive Technology for ADHD Challenges at School. Retrieved from
https://www.additudemag.com/change-the-program/