Differentiating in the English Language Arts Classroom

     An effective learning environment is one that reaches the most students in ways they can comprehend and use. Universal design for learning and differentiated instruction are two strategic processes that increase the likelihood of this occurring. A classroom that incorporates these offers opportunities for student growth, student engagement, and student success.

     Getting students to accept, trust, and interact with a new teacher and new classes every year should be a priority. Using on-line or teacher-created surveys of learning profiles, learning styles, and interests helps a teacher learn a great deal about students in a short time.
    
     I plan to incorporate more time for individual conferencing and gathering information from students concerning writing assignments. This is a form of differentiation that is very effective in helping students improve their skills and build positive relationships. I believe that I should facilitate an environment where students are able to assess their strengths and weaknesses and feel comfortable asking for help and clarification as needed.

     The steps to adding differentiated elements to my classroom have begun. This week my students are using a technology assignment choice tic-tac-toe board to choose an assignment product that meets their interest and multiple intelligence profile. Each student will be assessed for content, collaboration, creativity, and conventions depending on the assignment he or she has chosen. The assessment criteria is the same for each student; it is applied differently depending on the project and the student.

     I'm proud of the work I am doing. As my students worked on their projects in the media center computer area, the differentiated assignments were shared with the media specialist, two social studies teachers, and a literacy coach. In an instructional leadership meeting earlier, I explained what I hoped to accomplish to an assistant principal and the technology teacher. I don't think it's bragging; I think it's more like cheering for the benefits of differentiation. When staff see that it isn't really that hard to do, they may be more willing to try themselves.

     I have been taking baby steps with this and other technology use, but I hope to increase and enhance these and future plans. A colleague used me as an example of a "digital immigrant with digital native tendencies."  I consider that a complement!  Technology offers opportunities to reach students’ strengths and weaknesses in a myriad of ways. My dream is to teach English language arts in a room with a laptop for every student!