Differentiation 0Rpersonalized learning
The biggest mistake of past centuries inteaching has been to
treat all children as ifthey were variants of the same
individualand thus to feel justified in teaching themall the same
subjects in the same way.
-Howard Gardner
Session plan What the session hopes to achieveChange a challenge
for everyoneWhy differentiate? a major exponent gives her
viewsThree areas where we can differentiateSeeing differentiated
teaching in actionFocus on most effective teaching strategiesFocus
on a tool to help us set tasks and ask questions differing in
difficulty levelSubject groups share some strategies they can
use
DISCLAIMER!I DID NOT INTRODUCE CO-ED SCHOOLSI DID NOT TURN YOUR
SCHOOL FROM A JUNIOR LYCEUM TO A COMPREHENSIVEI DID NOT INTRODUCE
SETTING AND TRACKING ..
..ALSO..I HAVE NO IDEA OF YOUR PRIOR KNOWLEDGE. I MIGHT SAY
THINGS YOU ARE ALREADY FAMILIAR WITH.I COULD VERY WELL SUGGEST
THINGS YOU ARE ALREADY DOING.
HOWEVER, ITS UNLIKELY THAT ALL OF YOU SHARE EXACTLY THE SAME
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLSPURPOSE OF THIS SESSION FOR THE WHOLE TEACHING
COMMUNITY TO HAVE A COMMON BASELINE ON A FEW ISSUES SURROUNDING
DIFFERENTIATION.
Change or, Will someone stop the world spinning I want to get
offChange creates disequilibrium, which can be uncomfortable.
People have to make sense of the process for themselves.Fullan
believes that to begin the change process you must first have a
moral purpose.Moral Purpose means acting with the intention of
making a positive difference in the lives of the people it affects.
Moral purpose is difficult because you have to contend with the
different ideas and cultures that people in an organization bring
to the community.
.how to cope?Understand as well as possible why changes have
been proposed its not useful to look only at the consequences of
change in policy (for example, co-eds or setting) familiarize
yourselves with the rationale that prompted all this.Being critical
in a useful way can actually help in making new policies
better.Keep an open mind. Dont decide too quickly if the change is
for the better or the worse there will probably be an element of
both whatever we do in schools!Be gentle to yourselves: trying
something new is difficult. Manage change by setting achievable
goals.Relationships are essential team work within and even across
subjects is indispensable.
What is differentiated teaching?
Lets look at the three areas in a little more detailLets look at
some lessons where differentiated teaching is
happeningGeographyMathsHistoryChemistryEnglish/Languages
How to pitch tasks and Ts questions and exam questions at the
right level of difficultyBloom and the taxonomy.
The cognitive domainLets put these in order starting from the
easiest to the most difficult thinking process.12
The following are all modes of teaching, ways in which we can
present the knowledge that students need to take on board. Form
groups as shown below and think about which aspects of your
teaching whether content, process, and product, you will adjust in
such a way that you reach more of your learners in class.Lets look
at the three areas againLets look at the three areas in a little
more detail