Group items tagged

Differentiating instruction is a time-tested way of thinking about meeting students' needs as they make progress toward achievement or learning targets.  Differentiation is an elegant mindset that suggests to teachers a framework that permits them to engage students while focusing on learning results, and digital technologies offer many opportunities to differentiate instruction in meaningful ways.  However, differentiating instruction takes a concerted planning effort on our parts as teachers and teacher educators. This is especially so as we develop a mindset that differentiation can be effective. In this post, I propose a three-phase approach to planning differentiated instruction: Where do we start planning for differentiated instruction with technology, What are considerations for who we teach, what we teach, and how we plan? How do I put it all together?

Differentiated Instruction resources.

Here is an entire website with resources, videos, tools and more dedicated to differentiated instruction.

There are new web 2.0 tools appearing every day. Although some of these tools were not originally meant for use in the classroom, they can be extremely effective learning tools for today's technology geared students and their venturesome teachers. Many of these teachers are searching for the latest products and technologies to help them find easier and efficient ways to create productive learning in their students. More and more teachers are using blogs, podcasts and wikis, as another approach to teaching. We have created a list of 100 tools we think will encourage interactivity and engagement, motivate and empower your students, and create differentiation in their learning process.

There are new web 2.0 tools appearing every day. Although some of these tools were not originally meant for use in the classroom, they can be extremely effective learning tools for today's technology geared students and their venturesome teachers. Many of these teachers are searching for the latest products and technologies to help them find easier and efficient ways to create productive learning in their students. More and more teachers are using blogs, podcasts and wikis, as another approach to teaching. We have created a list of 100 tools we think will encourage interactivity and engagement, motivate and empower your students, and create differentiation in their learning process.

Great collection of Differentiated Instruction resources.

Unique Learning System is the ONLY online, dynamic, standards-based curriculum specifically designed for special learners. Subscribers download monthly instructional thematic units of study. Each unit contains 30 lesson plans and downloadable materials that teachers can readily implement into classroom learning activities. All materials are created using SymbolStix graphics. The unit lesson plans define three levels of differentiated tasks to accommodate the diversity of learners with significant disabilities.

"Unique spaces allow children flexibility to move, collaborate, and express themselves in creative ways. And as a result of changing the learning environment, classroom instruction changed to fit students' needs too. The innovative spaces were a product of teachers changing how they taught and viewed student learning. Teachers realized that differentiated methods and changing their learning expectations for students required an environment that was radically different than rows or groups of desks.  Creating comfortable spaces that reflected the world outside of the classroom began to take shape."

This blog has some great lesson ideas for math, language arts, wrting and technology.  Theses ideas take your students into the higher levels of Bloom.

In today's age of big data, words and phrases like "adaptive learning," "personalization" and "differentiation" are getting tossed around with increasing frequency. What exactly do these terms mean and to what extent do they overlap?