Below, is my philosophy on how educators differentiate content to their students. Not all students learn by the same means, so it is important to describe how and why differentiation can be applied to teaching, especially through technology.
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Differentiation Through Technology
Given the current awareness of varied learning needs in today's classrooms, differentiation is a necessity within instruction. Being that I currently sub in a middle school, I get even more exposure than the average teacher to utilizing differentiation through the means of technology in various disciplines. My certification area is social studies, so I try to focus my instruction there, however I have began to get a little bit of experience in other subjects as well.
A major topic that we discussed in our Twitter chat was how incorporating choice within assignments can be a major and beneficial form of differentiation. Smith and Throne discuss how teachers should give "students choices via a tic-tac-toe board or menu. Use learning contracts and set ground rules and objectives (Smith and Throne, 138)." Last month I was doing a leave replacement for an 8th grade social studies class for six weeks. During that span, a major assignment that the students had was to complete their National History Day projects. Students were all assigned the same enduring issue (Triumph and Tragedy) and was able to choose an American history topic that exhibited this theme. There was a recommended list, which a majority of students chose from, however a few chose their own topics after confirmation from me. Students had the choice of displaying their research through one of four means: research paper, tri-fold board visual representation, webpage, or documentary. My first week in this classroom we spent working on our projects. Each project medium had some degree of technology incorporated, which I would group students together by similar project type and mirror examples of usage. I also would display the NHD website on the SMARTBOARD and show examples of previous years' submissions. Students were given a requirement list of information needed in presentation with the same objectives needing to be met. Students also learned new technological skills in their projects (i.e paper: research paper formatting, tri-fold board: primary source finding, website: how to build a webpage, and documentary: audio recording). (Those are just a few of some new skills learned).
I've also had some exposure of technology differentiation in special education classrooms. According to the University of Texas, " Assistive technology increases functional capabilities for people with disabilities and learning differences." Students can communicate and express themselves through the means of technology. I have been with a special education student 1v1 for speech a few times this year. (This student for the most part is non-semi verbal). While doing speech exercises with this student, he uses a personalized Tablet to type and search for words he wants to say. Each word in his 'bank' has an accompanying image. I believe a previous teacher set up the program on his Tablet. While using this Tablet, I have noticed that he becomes a lot more semi-verbal as he tries to pronounce the words that he is choosing (based on the questions I am asking him). For example, we read the Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle last week and he searched and said the food items that I read aloud to him from the story.
Technology plays a major role in differentiation instruction in the classroom, today. Hope I gave some suggestions that some of you may want to use in your own classrooms. Thanks for reading.
-Dan B.
ASCD (2011). Using technology to differentiate instruction. Retrieved from https://pdo.ascd.org/lmscourses/PD11OC109/media/Tech_M4_Reading_Using_Technology01.pdf
Smith, G. E., & Throne, S. (2002). Differentiating instruction with technology in k-5 classrooms. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/images/excerpts/diffk5-excerpt.pdf
Smith, G. E., & Throne, S. (2009). Differentiating Instruction with Technology in Middle School Classrooms. Eugene, Or: International Society for Technology in Education [ISTE].
NATIONAL HISTORY DAY:. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nhd.org//
The Use of Technology in Special Education. (2017, September 15). Retrieved from https://degree.utpb.edu/articles/education/technology-in-special-education.aspx
A major topic that we discussed in our Twitter chat was how incorporating choice within assignments can be a major and beneficial form of differentiation. Smith and Throne discuss how teachers should give "students choices via a tic-tac-toe board or menu. Use learning contracts and set ground rules and objectives (Smith and Throne, 138)." Last month I was doing a leave replacement for an 8th grade social studies class for six weeks. During that span, a major assignment that the students had was to complete their National History Day projects. Students were all assigned the same enduring issue (Triumph and Tragedy) and was able to choose an American history topic that exhibited this theme. There was a recommended list, which a majority of students chose from, however a few chose their own topics after confirmation from me. Students had the choice of displaying their research through one of four means: research paper, tri-fold board visual representation, webpage, or documentary. My first week in this classroom we spent working on our projects. Each project medium had some degree of technology incorporated, which I would group students together by similar project type and mirror examples of usage. I also would display the NHD website on the SMARTBOARD and show examples of previous years' submissions. Students were given a requirement list of information needed in presentation with the same objectives needing to be met. Students also learned new technological skills in their projects (i.e paper: research paper formatting, tri-fold board: primary source finding, website: how to build a webpage, and documentary: audio recording). (Those are just a few of some new skills learned).
I've also had some exposure of technology differentiation in special education classrooms. According to the University of Texas, " Assistive technology increases functional capabilities for people with disabilities and learning differences." Students can communicate and express themselves through the means of technology. I have been with a special education student 1v1 for speech a few times this year. (This student for the most part is non-semi verbal). While doing speech exercises with this student, he uses a personalized Tablet to type and search for words he wants to say. Each word in his 'bank' has an accompanying image. I believe a previous teacher set up the program on his Tablet. While using this Tablet, I have noticed that he becomes a lot more semi-verbal as he tries to pronounce the words that he is choosing (based on the questions I am asking him). For example, we read the Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle last week and he searched and said the food items that I read aloud to him from the story.
Technology plays a major role in differentiation instruction in the classroom, today. Hope I gave some suggestions that some of you may want to use in your own classrooms. Thanks for reading.
-Dan B.
ASCD (2011). Using technology to differentiate instruction. Retrieved from https://pdo.ascd.org/lmscourses/PD11OC109/media/Tech_M4_Reading_Using_Technology01.pdf
Smith, G. E., & Throne, S. (2002). Differentiating instruction with technology in k-5 classrooms. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/images/excerpts/diffk5-excerpt.pdf
Smith, G. E., & Throne, S. (2009). Differentiating Instruction with Technology in Middle School Classrooms. Eugene, Or: International Society for Technology in Education [ISTE].
NATIONAL HISTORY DAY:. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nhd.org//
The Use of Technology in Special Education. (2017, September 15). Retrieved from https://degree.utpb.edu/articles/education/technology-in-special-education.aspx
Reflection:
This assignment allowed me to reflect as a new teacher and the impact that my teaching methods have on my students. Given the current time period, students have various learning needs that need to be met in the classroom. There is not one way to learn information as there is equally no one way to teach or display information to be learned. Also, given that we are in a technological age, technology can be used as a new medium to convey information to students. Within my philosophy, I describe examples that I have used to differentiate content in my teaching. By incorporating choice and displaying the various examples through technology, students feel more comfortable and confident in their work to succeed. Also, by using a resource, such as the Tablet, that a student feels comfortable using, students with specific needs can be met in order to aid in their learning. I am a huge advocate of using technology in various ways to demonstrate differentiated instruction.
This assignment allowed me to reflect as a new teacher and the impact that my teaching methods have on my students. Given the current time period, students have various learning needs that need to be met in the classroom. There is not one way to learn information as there is equally no one way to teach or display information to be learned. Also, given that we are in a technological age, technology can be used as a new medium to convey information to students. Within my philosophy, I describe examples that I have used to differentiate content in my teaching. By incorporating choice and displaying the various examples through technology, students feel more comfortable and confident in their work to succeed. Also, by using a resource, such as the Tablet, that a student feels comfortable using, students with specific needs can be met in order to aid in their learning. I am a huge advocate of using technology in various ways to demonstrate differentiated instruction.