Differentiation

Since differentiation was my first AR topic and I read most of the Differentiation articles for my AR paper, I was already beginning to implement my new learning. One of the things that I’ve learned through my action research is that differentiation is not making lessons different for every child, but keeping learning open ended. I am applying this to my Literacy Work Station time in my classroom. It is an hour of the day where my kids are at various areas of the classroom learning ideas centered on literacy. To keep my activities open-ended I have introduced activities that don’t have definite answers and the activities can be on-going. I’ve created activities (and used some activities from TPT) that are open-ended. For example, at the Alphabet Station I have provided an alphabet hunt where the letters of the alphabet are hidden around the room and the children grab a clip-board and walk around the room to find the letters. Depending on their ability and interest, some students might just find the letters and write them randomly on their paper, others might trace letters that are on a laminated paper, others might find the beginning sounds that correspond with the letter while others are finding the letters and recording them in alphabetical order. This is just an example of one out of the six-eight activities that would be found at the Alphabet Station. I’ve noticed that most of the kids are choosing the route that best applies to their learning ability. For those that are having more of a difficult time choosing how they want to record their answers it gives me the opportunity to teach them how self-monitor to figure out how they learn best.


I also learned that choice is an integral part of making differentiation successful. Instead of telling my kids what they need to learn at a specific Work Station, I have been introducing a new activity and just placing it in the station for them as a choice to work with. At each work station I have 6-8 different activities that they can choose to work on. This last week I noticed that the majority of the kids are choosing to work with the new activity that I introduce first. Not all of the kids are choosing to work with the new activity though, and I believe that they may want to finish a previous activity; or they are not ready to try the new one or they are just not interested in the new activity. Either way, they are still practicing the concept at the specific station and I am okay with that because they are making the learning meaningful to them.