Strategies to support students’ differentiated learning needs and cultural/linguistic backgrounds, including, but not limited to, technology-based practices, tutoring, collaborative teaching, instruction in study skills/strategies, reading for purpose, content-reading strategies, etc.
How would you feel if you walked into a clothing store and only saw items in one size, one color, and one style? When we shop for clothes, we look for items that fit our particular needs--size, style, colors, textures, print, fit, etc. I have to try everything on to see if the clothes fit my body, style, and personality. Choosing strategies to support students' differentiated learning is similar. A "one-size-fits-all" strategy or program is not feasible and does not exist. Students' individual needs and backgrounds effect their learning. Effective educators draw from knowledge of their students to select appropriate strategies that will support their learning.
The first artifact is pages 59-61 in Miller & Moss' book No More Independent Reading Without Support (2013). The authors describe using Reading Workshop and individual reading conferences as a means for differentiating instruction for all learners. The second artifact is chapter 5 in Dudley-Marling & Paugh's book, A Classroom Teacher's Guide to Struggling Readers (2004). This chapter gives a teacher's description of two of his students and the strategies he chooses for each of them based on specific observations. The authors also highlight a different teacher's organization and strategy choices for his flexible guided reading groups. This teacher groups students based on ongoing assessment of instructional needs. The third artifact is chapter 6 in Dudley-Marling & Paugh's book, A Classroom Teacher's Guide to Struggling Readers (2004). This chapter discusses various supplemental independent learning activities that can be designed with students' needs and backgrounds in mind. Activities include word study, cloze tasks, innovations on text structures, completing the story tasks, reading response journals, author studies, research projects, symbolic representation interview, visual art, and partner reading. The fourth artifact is a video of my students working during Daily 5. They are either independently reading, working on reading-related activities, word study, or writing. Each student is engaged in personalized tasks. Their book buckets are filled with books at their reading level as well books they have chosen from the library and/or classroom reading area. Their writing is either in response to their reading or an extension of skills learned during Writing Workshop. The word study activities align with whatever our current focus is (i.e. beginning sounds, rhyming, middle sounds, etc.). There is student choice between a few options within each category that I have selected based on student needs. These artifacts exemplify my understanding of gathering information about students and using this knowledge to design and implement appropriate reading instruction.
How would you feel if you walked into a clothing store and only saw items in one size, one color, and one style? When we shop for clothes, we look for items that fit our particular needs--size, style, colors, textures, print, fit, etc. I have to try everything on to see if the clothes fit my body, style, and personality. Choosing strategies to support students' differentiated learning is similar. A "one-size-fits-all" strategy or program is not feasible and does not exist. Students' individual needs and backgrounds effect their learning. Effective educators draw from knowledge of their students to select appropriate strategies that will support their learning.
The first artifact is pages 59-61 in Miller & Moss' book No More Independent Reading Without Support (2013). The authors describe using Reading Workshop and individual reading conferences as a means for differentiating instruction for all learners. The second artifact is chapter 5 in Dudley-Marling & Paugh's book, A Classroom Teacher's Guide to Struggling Readers (2004). This chapter gives a teacher's description of two of his students and the strategies he chooses for each of them based on specific observations. The authors also highlight a different teacher's organization and strategy choices for his flexible guided reading groups. This teacher groups students based on ongoing assessment of instructional needs. The third artifact is chapter 6 in Dudley-Marling & Paugh's book, A Classroom Teacher's Guide to Struggling Readers (2004). This chapter discusses various supplemental independent learning activities that can be designed with students' needs and backgrounds in mind. Activities include word study, cloze tasks, innovations on text structures, completing the story tasks, reading response journals, author studies, research projects, symbolic representation interview, visual art, and partner reading. The fourth artifact is a video of my students working during Daily 5. They are either independently reading, working on reading-related activities, word study, or writing. Each student is engaged in personalized tasks. Their book buckets are filled with books at their reading level as well books they have chosen from the library and/or classroom reading area. Their writing is either in response to their reading or an extension of skills learned during Writing Workshop. The word study activities align with whatever our current focus is (i.e. beginning sounds, rhyming, middle sounds, etc.). There is student choice between a few options within each category that I have selected based on student needs. These artifacts exemplify my understanding of gathering information about students and using this knowledge to design and implement appropriate reading instruction.