#16: What is Differentiated Instruction (DI) and how I can use it in my Teaching & Learning - Notes

9 May 2022: Sharing by Regent Sec & Teck Whye Sec

Differentiated Instruction:

Means of differentiation:

Instructional Strategy for DI: Tic Tac Toe

• Provide students with alternative ways of exploring and expressing key ideas and using key skills.

• E.g. Create different TTT boards based on readiness OR learning styles/learning preferences.

Example of Sec 1 Geography lesson - Water (Acquisition)

• Activity 1 & 2 - Activating Learning: Teacher uses rubrics to assess the students' responses and groups the into 3 groups respectively

• Activity 3 - DI by process (level of scaffolding given)

Geography Lesson - Teck Whye Secondary School Sharing

• Differentiation by content based on student readiness

  • Stretching more advanced learners - lengthier worksheets vs bite-sized content

• Differentiation by process based on students' learner profiles

  • Choice of video/textual source/song/maps before creating map (product)

Tapping on SLS in designing DI

[Words in blue = pointers I want to be more mindful of/consider experimenting with when enacting lessons]

1. Learn at own pace

• Build a virtual classroom with lesson materials, activities and clear instructions, make available for all students, anytime, anywhere.

• Release a few activities at appropriate time based on readiness of class or pre- or on-going assessment data

• Students move at their own pace. Maximize their progress in learning. Optimise their time in class.

• Focus class time on supporting individuals/group of students who needs help

2. Flexible Grouping

• Assign different learning activities to different group of students e.g. based on pre- or on-going assessment data and/or student learning preference [Assigning sub-groups]

3. Appropriate Degree of Challenge

• Students access to learning activities that are within their zone of proximal development to maximize their progress in learning

• Embed scaffolds such as thinking tools and learning strategies in the learning activity

4. Student Choice

• Give students choice of learning materials e.g. in text/media file formats

• Give students choice of learning activities e.g. inductive approach using “examples and non examples” or “adding up facts”

• Students could choose based on learning preference, or assessment of own knowledge level

• Give students choice of questions that assess the same intended learning outcomes to check for own understanding

• Give students choice of demonstrating their learning e.g. using different graphic organisers, and whether to work on their own or with others

5. Student Voice

• ITT - Students make own thinking and learning visible, comment on others’ responses, refine own work from teacher/peers’ feedback

6. Building Community

• Students learn from/with one another e.g. exchange ideas and perspective to refine own understanding and ideas

7. Pre- & Ongoing Assessment

• Use different question-types to support different type of learners, identify individual students’ prior knowledge or learning gaps for intervention

• Students receive immediate feedback from the system e.g. built-in explanations for correct/wrong answers (e.g. MCQs) or suggested answers (e.g. FRQs) and annotate on student response

• Heatmap - analyse student response(s):

  • By class e.g. alert teachers to concept/s that majority of students face difficulty

  • By question and options to identify common misconceptions

  • Individually by question and options to provide targeted and actionable feedback

Notes/Reflections:

• Respectful tasks -- motivate and challenge all students; work should challenge students just enough to stimulate them with new learning, but not be so challenging as to overwhelm

• Building community

  • DI ≠ personalising lessons according to individual needs; requires a fine balance between catering to individual and classroom learning needs; teacher needs to be discerning of the most ideal social plane at which classroom interaction should take place for each activity + knowing when to calibrate pace of different groups (if any)

  • Consider providing students with checklist/rubrics/sentence starters to give peer feedback - as they do so they will also hopefully be clearer of the success criteria/ demands of the assignment by reflecting on their own responses as well (see slide below)

• Practicality -- the need to find balance between amount of time needed to prepare these lesson resources + wanting to give students choice/autonomy

• DI is flexible! -- don't fixate on differentiating content/process/product

  • Allowing choice of a target group to focus on when investigating 'Are there sufficient support given to meet the needs of people with disabilities in Singapore?" [Sec 3 II 2022] > DI in terms of interest

  • Even though the spreadsheet/guiding questions used is the same for all, through slight variation in terms of content, students would be studying different policies implemented to help different groups of people with disabilities

  • They can then come together and synthesis the information as a class (community), and perhaps look at the similarities between these policies, and eventually reach a common ground (i.e. there are people with disabilities in our society > they need different types help > the government has stepped in to attempt to meet their needs > actions may be insufficient > hence other groups have stepped in to complement governments' efforts)

Unanswered Question(s):

• Allowing differentiation by product would promote greater ownership of students' learning, but I'm unsure whether there would be an issue of standardisation when it comes to weighted assessments? (in the sense that: e.g. how do we pit a video against an infographic?)

Padlet planned for Sec 2 Geography with DI in mind: [To reflect in the future haha]