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!

Spring

GAME Over!

Reflection: Final Blog Post


Developing a GAME plan seemed like an artificial exercise to me at first; just another way to do the same thing. However, as I paid attention and went through the process, I noticed that although goal setting and monitoring are steps I often take in planning lessons, I didn’t have a systematic approach. The GAME plan approach is easy to follow, makes sense, and is user friendly. With it in mind, I found that I was able to think through several teaching ideas and devise procedures for my students that seem to work better.

Using the GAME plan impacts my teaching because lesson delivery, monitoring, and assessments will be more timely and systematic. I also envision teaching my students to use it as they set personal writing and reading goals. With this in place, students have a way to monitor their learning on their own. Being able to see the path knowing where you are and where you need to go creates self-directed learning habits that apply to schoolwork and life in general.

I have made adjustments to my instructional practice as a result of my learning in this course. I’m adjusting curriculum documents to include technology. These additions enhance and extend the locate and state standards I must teach since they bring in more student engagement and interest. I plan to continue adjusting and enhancing. The next step is to share these ideas with other teachers in my building so that more students receive the extensions to their learning. I’ve learned a lot in this course and from my colleagues and hope to continue learning new strategies for innovation.

GAME Plan and Students

     The GAME plan process is to set goals, take action, monitor the goals and actions, evaluate and extend. In the classroom, this step-by-step process can help students individualize their learning. For instance, when teaching the writing process, a teacher could have students review their writing portfolios and make a list of areas needing improvement. Each student could create his/her own GAME plan to improve writing skills. A possible scenario might be that the student sets a goal of two or less errors in punctuation in the next several writing assignments. As students write each assignment, they pay particular attention to the punctuation error types on their list. At the end of a designated period or the end of a quarter, students chart their scores and evaluate teacher comments. If progress has been made, the student moves on to another area of need or to an area of enrichment. The GAME plan can be implemented for the next step.


     Teaching students to implement GAME plans creates reflective, self-directed learners which to me is teaching an important life skill.

More monitoring

So far, my Wiki experience is a little frustrating…the class wikis are set up, the handouts and explanations are ready to go, the computers are reserved, the students are excited, I’ve set up their accounts and passwords, and eureka! Their access is denied!


I had an emergency plan ready (just in case) and, unfortunately, I used it! I have been in contact with the site managers, so I’m still hopeful that things will be ironed out by tomorrow, but I have a back-up plan ready again just in case.

Based on the NETS-T, I still need to work on technology operations and concepts. I love all of the ideas, but I’m still not skilled enough to know what to do when a problem occurs. I am getting better, but there’s a long way to go. My approach to the need to increase my technology skills is to give different products a try.

And the GAME goes on...

How effective were your actions in helping you meet your goals?


What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice?

What do you still have to learn? What new questions have arisen?

How will you adjust your plan to fit your current needs?


Last week I talked about creating classroom wikis.  Permission slips have been distributed and I'm waiting to get them back.  Honestly, I thought the kids would be so excited to have this opportunity. The permissions are dribbling in rather slowly.  In reality, I think I am the one who is excited...they blog/text/IM/ect. already so this will probably be "old hat" to them.  I'm the one who's new to the game! 

Anyway, I still need to play (learn) with the wiki before its maiden voyage next week.  Everyone who has used one seems so happy with the experience and says how easy they are to use.  I hope this is true!  A new question:  on a wiki, can you hide the discussion application? Can you delete discussion posts?  That's something I need to find out. 

Although I am a bit apprehensive about this project, I am very excited as well.  Learning about the new technologies and using them with my classes has added interest and engagement for me as well!

Monitoring My GAME Plan

This week my students used the web quests to research information.  They read information from a lot of sites, used Word documents to take on their findings, and seemed interested in the assignment.  Some of them will be creating a character based on the 19th century, gold rush era, as they begin reading The Call of the Wild.  Others will be creating brochures, news articles, Powerpoint presentations, etc. and sharing the information they learned about aviation, heart attacks/health, survival, or the Canadian wilderness as they prepare to read Hatchet.  One student discovered she had a relative who rushed to the Klondike and participated in the gold fever.  Once the project is completed, students will post their work on a class wiki and participate in the discussion forum there. 

I have created a wiki for each class.  I've written and copied the parent/student information letter & permission slip and will distribute this next week.  I haven't done any more personal reading about using the wiki yet, and I need to learn how to personalize it and navigate around it a bit.  I also want to practice adding images and other document types so I have a general feel for how to do it.  I feel that I can get help from some of my students and my media specialist if we get stuck. 

I have learned that students like to have choices in assignments, that most of them enjoy using technology, and most are interested in using their creativity rather being "told" what to write about.  I'm glad I made the time to create this opportunity for my students.  My question is, despite my interest & enthusiasm for this project, why are there always a few students who find it "boring...?"  Happy Thanksgiving!