Description
The focus of reading and discussion in EDAT 6115 this week
was about grouping, differentiation, and technology. Students can be grouped to accommodate the
needs and differences among students.
Within those groups the teacher can differentiate the lessons to reach
an achievement level of each student.
One way a teacher can differentiate is through the use of technology. Slavin (2012) states, “Perhaps the
fastest-growing technology applications in U.S. schools involve the internet”
(Leu, 2000; Lewin, 2001; March 2005/2006).
Analysis
As a teacher “you must know how to
adapt your instruction to the students’ level of knowledge. You must motivate
students to learn, manage student behavior, group students for instruction, and
assess the students’ learning” (Slavin, 2012, p.250). All of those qualities are what intentional
teachers do to meet the needs of their learners. Students come to teachers at the same age
level, but at all different levels of learning.
In order to give effective instruction beyond a good lesson teachers
need to be aware of all levels of their students’ needs.
John Carroll came up with a model of
school learning that “describes teaching in terms of the management of time,
resources, and activities to ensure students learning” (Slavin, 2012, p.250). In addition, Slavin came up with a model that
focusing on some of the elements of Carroll’s model. Salvin’s model is called the QAIT model and
is broken down into four elements. Quality of instruction, appropriate levels
of instruction, incentive, and time are the degrees that are important in a
quality lesson. In order for students to learn all four elements must be
present.
Students come to us as educators
from a variety of backgrounds, situations, and ability levels. If we want to help our students be successful
we cannot teach all of our students the same way. There are a variety of ways that we can teach
students to ensure the instruction meets their needs. One way is by between-class ability
grouping. In this type of grouping, students
are grouped based on their abilities.
Another way is untracking.
“Untracking recommendations focus on placing students in mixed ability
groups and holding them to high standards but providing many ways for them to
reach those standards, including extra assistance for students who are having
difficulties keeping up” (Burris, Heubert, & Levin, 2006; Hubbard &
Mehan, 1998).
Technology has also become such a
vital key to students of this generation.
Students become accustom to using technology devices at younger and younger
ages. In order to keep up with the
demands of student’s high knowledge of technology devices, teachers need to
incorporate technology into their instructional strategies. Another positive about using technology in
education is opening up student’s minds to other perspectives from around the
world. When students are using
technology to communicate with others around the world they “are exposed to
perspectives different from their own” (Lever-Duffey et al., 2003).
Reflection
The concept of grouping and differentiation
means a lot to me. As a collaborative
teacher I feel like all of my lesson are differentiated in some type of
way. When you have learners of all
levels in order to best meet their needs you need to put thoughtful planning
into each individual child and how you can group them so they will best
learn. I normally focus on regrouping in
my classroom. I have mixed ability
groups that I plan based on assessment data.
Students are grouped with other students who fall into close the same
range as others. I find this beneficial
because then you can focus on the individual skills the learners need rather
than teaching one big concept to a variety of learners.
This
concept is very important concerning the context of my classroom. My classroom is composed of resources
students, general education students, and a few gifted students. If I were to teach all my lessons in a
lecture style, it would not benefit my learners. While in some cases that type of teaching is necessary,
when you have such a variety of learners that style does not lend itself as
well. Untracking is useful for those
types of learners. The students are in
mixed ability groups, held to high standards, but they also receive the extra
support that they need to be successful.
Untracking provides avenues for students to perform at a level they
might not be able to otherwise perform.
One
aspect that I can take with me to become a better teacher is the use of
technology. I incorporate such
technologies as laptops, smartboards, and nooks/kindles into my classroom
currently. Looking into the future I
would like to incorporate problem-solving programs into some of the strategies
that I use. Allowing the students to use
technology to promote problem solving is a technique that is important for this
generation of students. Children have
their personal devices attached to their hips on a daily basis. If I can incorporate their learning into a device,
they enjoy they might be more apt to better comprehend the information or find
more of an enjoyment in the material. Also the use of multimedia projects could
encourage students to be better invested and motivated in the concepts that
they are learning about. Students could
learn a new program to present their material in addition to learning the
content.
One
positive from this chapter is about compensatory education programs for
low-income communities. Title I provides
extra services and funding to schools in low-income areas. I currently teach at a Title I school and I
have seen the benefits in action. Our
students are able to attain resources and extra staff support because of Title
I funding. Our school has put our budget
towards technology resources, computer programs, and EIP support. All of these things benefit our students, and
they would not have the opportunity to receive these resources had it not been
from Title I funding. In addition,
having more staff support allows our students to receive small group
instruction. When students receive small
group instruction they are able to perform better and increase academic
achievement.
References
Burris, C.,
Heubert, J., & Levin, H., (2006). Accelerating mathematics achievement using
heterogeneous grouping. American
Educational Research Journal, (43)1, 105-136.
Lever-Duffy,J.,
McDonald,J., & Mizell,A. (2003). Teaching
and learning with technology. Boston:Pearson.
Slavin, R.
E. (2012). Educational
psychology: Theory and practice (10th
ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
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