Innovative Differentiation

We have a saying at our school, we can get them to do anything if they think they are "watching tv" or playing a game. This makes tech resources wonderful for differentiation, and especially assessment.

I created a basic game as a pre-assessment for students. 

Give it a try and play to test your knowledge!

Here's the quizlet: https://quizlet.com/_2bipfd

How'd you do?

Imagine if you fell into one of three categories

  

As your teacher what can I do to help accommodate your learning best through Differentiation and Assessment??

The first word that comes to mind is "Collaboration"

Using my ability to instruct and create a learning environment that is differentiated appropriately based on the pre- assessment to produce the best possible learning outcomes for students regardless of which "group" they are in.

The most innovative classrooms, and in my opinion, the best classrooms are where the students do more talking than the teacher. Using the students with stronger foundational knowledge in the subject matter to pair up and work together AND with the students who are at a lower level. The trick here is balance because the students who already know about the topic need to be challenged so that they truly are learning. It's a delicate balance and it takes a lot of work but as educators I believe it is our job to serve our students the best way we can. This is much more effort and prep than standing in front of the class and giving direct instruction and worksheets. However, the learning outcomes are far more authentic.

The teacher needs to be the facilitator, and know where the direct instruction has its time and place, setting students up to learn, explore and collaborate.

So the next question is how do we differentiate for these varied results on the pretest? 

Group 1 is likely to be able to need the most support, Group 2 is likely able to follow the content, and group 3, is similar to group 2, but will be pushed to take their learning to the next level with projects and/or activities designed for higher order thinking. 

Assessments: 

Group 1: To monitor their progress they will need the most formative assessment. It can be informal, but especially with language learners of students with special needs (if that is the case), the teacher will likely need to differentiate activities and use a variety of methods including visuals. 

Group 2: Assessments will be formative, and can also be done as peer assessment. They are likely to be able to work more independently, or be partnered with students form group 1. 

Group 3: Group 3 will need to be challenged, offering assessments that promote higher order thinking skills such as short answers, or assessments designed to apply their base knowledge and take it one step further. 

In the end, it depends on your students, the dynamic of your classroom community, and how well you know your students. Pre- assessment is an extremely useful tool for differentiation and knowing which assessments to use for ensuring the strongest learning outcomes. Meeting learners where they are at is a top priority!