Blog 6: Differentiating the Process

What does it mean to differentiate the process (content, strategies for instruction) in the classroom?

            To differentiate the process simply means to differentiate the how you teach a particular topic.  In order differentiate the process of instruction it’s important that you know the students in your classroom.  What are their learning styles? What are their interests? As an educator of these students you must know what areas your students struggle in, what reading level they are at, and what drives them to stay engaged in your lessons. 

            While researching this topic I found several ways in which you may choose to help aid in creating a differentiated environment within your classroom.  One suggestion that is technology based is the idea of using an interactive white board.  Interactive whiteboards seem to be very wide spread (we even have them in our Bush Alaska Classrooms) and are a great tool you can use to help differentiate the process of instruction.  You can do so by creating unique presentations that could include video clips, audio, reading, and interactive games.

            When differentiating your lessons to meet all learners’ needs, you are providing all students with an opportunity to learn.  Teachers can choose to meet these needs by grouping students according to ability level, according to interests, according to where they placed on an intelligence test, etc…  As an educator it’s important to think of what the goals are of your lesson before hand.  Once you’ve done that, you can now identify different ways in which students can meet that goal.  A few of these options could include peer tutoring, small group or 1 on 1.  If a student is struggling, you have the option of providing addition tools that could be of use to help aid in meeting the learning goal, such as: sentence starter lists, graphic organizers, number line, calculators…etc.  As a teacher you also have the option in modifying the workload for you student as to not overload them, but still provide an avenue in which each child could be successful. 

            By differentiated the process in the classroom a teacher needs to remain conscious of all their students learning needs, ability level and interest level.  By being aware of these needs a teacher is able to make accommodations accordingly.