Weekly Vitamins: The Colorful Dinner Plate of Differentiated Instruction

Anyone ever say to you that your dinner plate should have a lot of color? They weren't just saying that so it looked pretty. They were trying to get you to realize that fruits and vegetables are food items that come in many different colors, so to make sure your plate is full with many different kinds of healthy foods--not just carrots or blueberries. This is because each fruit and vegetable carries different vitamins and minerals in it that can benefit different things in the human body.

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Just like this is important for your dinner plate, it's also an important visual to keep in mind when implementing differentiated instruction into the classroom.

The three characteristics

Differentiated instruction, as explained by the article for the reading, include readiness, interests, and learning preferences of students. 

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I like that differentiated instruction includes these components because it focuses the attention on the students and not so much standards or mandates or even teacher preferences. Students should be respected and listened to if they are to gain anything from the lesson. As hard as it sounds to have essentially a specific and individualized lesson for each student, there are some ways that the article shares which can make it easier for teachers to implement.

The power of choice

The article mentioned giving students choices but make it manageable. For example, a student can choose their research topic, but must still follow the criteria on the assignment's rubric. This is something that I learned early on.

The other thoughts that were expressed in the reading talked about reflection. Instead of asking the students if they enjoyed the assignment (and #KIR, some students who dislike school may be likely to immediately answer no anyway) ask the students what about the assignment helped them learn or what could in the future help them learn. Not only will that help the teacher reflect but it will also get the student thinking about their choices, and make them feel they are heard. 

I may have brought up this topic in previous blogs, but in my summer reading book, Teaching Outside the Box: How to Grab Your Students by Their Brains, Johnson talks about how students need to know that they have the power to choose and that instruction is specialized to them and their needs. It is then that they begin to feel comfortable. 

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Something else relating to choice that she talks about is how teachers also have this underlying job of teaching students how to make choices or how to perform tasks. What she means is that we need to teach students how to work in groups or how to take on challenges. When I read that at first, I thought it was silly. What do you mean, teach them how to work in groups? You just get into a group, divide the work, have a discussion and present the findings. Who doesn't know how to do this? But she made the point that yeah, on the surface, group work sounds easy. But there is probably a point in my life where the teacher taught us what it meant for everyone to have a task and for everyone to do their fair share of the work, and to be held accountable.

Even in some of my college course I see students that fail at group work, and the whole group feels that weak link. Reading this article and hearing Johnson's thoughts now really makes me wonder if I'm taking for granted the skills I learned in group work or the skills I learned in taking risks.

Focus on Individualized Instruction

The idea of differentiated instruction focuses on individual instruction based on needs of the students. My above scenario of group work was just an example of individual skills I learned on how to be an effective group member. But the core of that idea is that I needed to learn my own individual traits and qualities in order to be that effective group member. 

Differentiated instruction is the teacher's ability to see those traits (as outlined by the ideas of readiness, interests, and learning preferences) and adapt that to the main instruction. 

The Methods of Teaching Agriculture textbook describes some ways teachers can implement this including student workbooks, supervised study, skill sheets, and more. Each of these allow students to express their skills and work in the most efficient way applicable to their needs. 

An empty plate; a full belly

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Trying to find the balance between equality and inclusion in the classroom on one side, and differentiation and diversity on the other side can be pretty challenging. I think there will be a lot of trial and error as I work my way through teaching, but I'm hopeful that I will be able to find the right balance between the two to maximize my students' learning. So even though my head may be full of thoughts, ideas, questions, and concerns, (or in this case, my stomach!) I know that I've been able to take a little serving of each food group and can hopefully serve up the right mixture in my classroom.

Leaving Thought

"Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow" --Plato