Learning Design and Technology M.Ed.: March 2017

March 30, 2017

Week 10

Week 10 Blog Five Elements of Differentiated Instruction

Differentiated instruction is a way to guide learning to reflect each student’s ability to learn and level of learning. As teachers, we need to provide opportunities for all students to grow as a student and as a person. There are many elements of differentiated instruction but here are five that I feel like it stuck out from the rest.

The first element of differentiated instruction is flexibility. All who are involved with the learning process need to be willing to be flexible in what content is being covered, how much time is needed to cover the content, when to switch gears if different instruction is needed than planned, and the time needed to work with individuals if needed. Smith and Throne explains that “DI is guided by the constructivist or student-centered approach to teaching and learning.” (pg.31, 2009)***

The second element of differentiated instruction is the use of grouping students in different ways in order to provide authentic and creative learning experiences. Thomlinson explains that DI is used in the classroom by blending whole-class, group, and individual instruction and that there are “multiple approaches to content, process, and product.” (pg.4, 2001) Creating these opportunities for students to learn in different settings will give students the ability to learn in the environment that is most conducive to them and also get the chance to grow in other learning environments.

The third element that I find to be very important is to provide or facilitate instruction and assessment in a variety of learning styles so that students are being taught and assessed in their own mode of learning. Small explains that a student might respond in various ways such as wait for the teacher to help them, draw a picture of the situation, use a round about way to solve the problem algebraically, use a direct way to solve the problem algebraically, act out the situation, or refuse to answer the question (2012). In giving students the options on how to learn according to their learning styles and what type of assessment, students will be confident in the manner and will only need to focus on the content itself.

The fourth element of differentiated instruction is the use of assistive technology and technology to help differentiate in the classroom. The positive aspects of providing assistive technology are that it provides access to curriculum, helps teachers overcome roadblocks in learning, scaffolds students from where they are to where they could potentially be, and potentially gives students some independence(ATiA, 2007).

The fifth element of differentiated instruction is having brain-based learning environment. Degen explains brain-based learning has become a cognitive-science and it “promote learning in accordance with the way the brain is naturally designed to learn.” (2014) It’s important to teach students knowing what their brains are capable of learning at that moment. For example, students can only learn new material in chunks of 10-15 minutes and this means that I need to break up direct instruction in the classroom.

In my UbD lesson plan, it does not explicitly address all five elements of differentiated instruction that I have identified. A few of the elements that I have chosen are difficult to write into a plan but other than realize that it needs to happen. I plan on having flexibility as the unit goes on and to move on or stay with a concept in accordance to the data from an assessment. I can write in that if 80% of the students have mastered this concept then we will move on and the other 20% will be provided more support through various ways such as individual instruction, organized step processes, work with someone who understands, etc. I have written specifically some of my assessments and learning events in what type of grouping. Usually I decide in that moment what type of grouping to use to keep in mind of how students are feeling and how the concept learning is going. I need to go back and add in what type of groups for each activity. I do have a variety of ways to learn and assess students according to their learning styles. Students can show what they have learned verbally, in writing, through making a poster, and listening/watching to videos. I don’t have any students who need assistive technology at this point in my classroom but I do think it’s a very important aspect of differentiated instruction. With this said, it is important to use technology in the classroom so that students are working on the required skills continuously. Lastly, providing brain-based learning needs to be addressed in my lesson better. I didn’t know how much into detail I needed to go but I do plan to use many of the concepts of brain-based learning in the lesson.

References

ATiA, (2017). What is AT? Assistive Technology Industry Association. Retrieved from https://www.atia.org/at-resources/what-is-at/

Degen, R. J. (2014). Brain-Based Learning: The Neurological Findings About the Human Brain that Every Teacher should Know to be Effective. Amity Global Business Review, 915-23.

Small, M. (2012). Good Questions: Great Ways to Differentiate Mathematics Instruction. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ZCDX0SolMN0C&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=NCTM+differentiated+instruction&ots=V6RrhLuEcf&sig=ZH39DLKAsI7CPKi8fVESpF60WyA#v=onepage&q=NCTM%20differentiated%20instruction&f=false.

Smith, G. E., & Throne, S. (2009). Differentiating Instruction with Technology in Middle School Classrooms. Eugene, Or: International Society for Technology in Education [ISTE].

Tomlinson, C. A. (2001). How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-ability Classrooms. Alexandria, Va: Assoc. for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

March 22, 2017

Week 9 Blog

Essential question: What assessments will I use in my UBD Unit, and what is the purpose of these assessments?

I am using the UbD unit in my Pre-Algebra class. This class is freshman aged and they are still learning the expectations of being in high school versus middle school. One large difference between the two schools is that the students need to pass a class and get credit to be able to graduate from school. Another aspect of the classroom that I need to help the students understand that assessments are important in the classroom to help the teacher know what the students are learning and what concepts need to be (re)taught next. Solomondiou found in his studies that students understood that assessments are necessary to track the progress of students but the students are not sure if teachers are using this information to plan what will happen next in class to improve student learning (2017, p.40). Keeping this in mind, I want my students to realize that their learning is what guides the classroom learning by having transparent assessments that are directly correlated to learning.

I will start out with a pre-assessment that I can always reassess my students with over time. Our school, recently, has the access to using STAR Math as a way to get data on what our students know and what they need to still learn. I plan to have my students to take this assessment a little bit before the unit so that I can use it for the moments I have set aside for RTI during class. The purpose of STAR Math is to have students in Tier 2 and 3 take it about every three weeks so that as teachers, we can focus our instruction and student learning on where the students are. This test is a low stakes test of which Simzar et al have found to be less motivational for students who are taking high stakes tests but they have found that “these studies suggest that one way to increase scores on low-stakes standardized tests is to increase students' math-course-specific mastery goals and self-efficacy.” (2015) After the students take the STAR Math assessment, I will be able to see specific content learning needs and I will make a list of five-ten similar goals that the students will need to try to master before they take the assessment again.

To aim for transparency of learning in my UbD unit, I will have frequent and very applicable assessment that the students can see growth in it on their own. Shores and Chester make a point that “daily informal and formal assessments provide a guide for targeted instruction throughout the week.” (2009, p.40) These frequent forms of assessments include a peer exit ticket that has three parts to the exit ticket. Students will solve a problem that is focused on the skill learned that day for example graphing a line from a given equation. Students then will randomly pair up and look at each other’s answer and talk about each part of the question either correct or incorrect. Lastly, to check if students took the feedback from their peers, they will complete a very similar problem on their own to turn in to me. Shores and Chester find that peer assessments are valuable because learning is happening within the assessment (2009). Another idea that I got from reading their book is using checklists to self-assess. I am going to have a checklist of five to seven skills that the students will learn or practice in the week and after each day, students will check to see whether or not they feel like they have mastered these skills.

I plan on giving a few high-stakes assessments in quiz and test form. About every week, students in my Pre-Algebra class take an assessment that is connected to their grade. Kohn points out that students begin cheating on assessments that are competitive and not well prepared (2008). I bring this up because often my students will want to cheat on tests and quizzes. To help students feel more prepared, I will give an example quiz and walk through it with them. I am always constantly working on the competitive aspect of my classroom by trying to make it a positive environment.

1. Many of assessments both document and contribute to the classroom learning. The assessments contribute in the peer exit ticket and document in the checklist and quizzes. All assessments will be transparent to students and used to guide learning in the classroom.

2. Most of my assessments are closed response because of the level of my Pre-Algebra students. The focus for this class is learning basic math skills, which can be thought of remote skills.

3. The performance assessment will have the students produce an experiment and graph the linear progression of this experiment.

4. On the assessments that are graded, students will know the point values of each question and what is expected to answer the questions correctly.

5. My assessments are both high- and low-stake assessments. It is necessary for students to experience both and there are good outcomes from both of them of which I talked about earlier in the blog.

Burns, V. (2015). 53 Interesting Ways to Assess Your Students. [N.p.]: Frontinus Ltd. Retrieved from http://egandb.uas.alaska.edu:2051/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1017975&site=ehost-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_Cover on March 11, 2017

Kohn, A. (2008). Who’s Cheating Whom? Phi Delta Kappan. Retrieved from: http://www.alfiekohn.org/article/whos-cheating/ 13 April 2015.

Shores, C., & Chester, K. (2009). Using RTI for School Improvement : Raising Every Student’s Achievement Scores. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Corwin. Retrieved from: http://egandb.uas.alaska.edu:2051/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=473693&site=ehost-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_34

Simzar, R. M., Martinez, M., Rutherford, T., Domina, T., & Conley, A. M. (2015). Raising the stakes: How students’ motivation for mathematics associates with high- and low-stakes test achievement. Learning and Individual Differences, Vol 39: 49-63. Retrieved from http://egandb.uas.alaska.edu:2066/10.1016/j.lindif.2015.03.002

Solomonidou, G. & Michaelides, M. (2017). Students’ conceptions of assessment purposes in a low stakes secondary-school context: A mixed methodology approach. Studies in Educational Evaluation, Vol 52: 35-41. Retrieved from www.elsevier.com/stueduc

March 12, 2017

Week 8 Reflection

This week I commented on Rachelle’s, Jim’s, and Cherie’s blog. It was amazing to see how each one of them had a different focus than each other. All of their ideas really helped me reflect on my own week with a student that needs more than learning support because of the fact that his home life is not stable.

I learned quite a bit this week but the main thing that I am going to apply to my classroom is that learning can’t happen if the brain is not ready. I am going to add in activities to help the brain get ready for learning. For example, I would like to have about a one-minute exchange from Math Review to new material in direct instruction. My plan is to have a different student each day ready with a school appropriate song to play for the minute while the students are getting out their notebook, homework, math book, etc. Another thing I would like to have the students do when they walk in is let me know if they are ready to learn today or not. In what way I am not sure but I am thinking about having multiple ways to do this such as telling me when they walk in the door via verbal or planned communication such as sign language. Maybe I will have them answer a 2-3 survey that only I can see via computers or text. The reason I want to know is so that I can work with each student in the way that they need it for that class period.

Lastly, a revelation that I need to think on more that I got while reading Jim’s post is how the brain needs time to fully learn something. Where do I get this time or how do I carve it into my classroom? Is the direct instruction time to long? How can I break up this class better so that learning can be committed to memory? Lots of questions I am still asking myself as a somewhat new teacher.

March 8, 2017

Brain-Based Learning Week 8

Essential question: What is brain-based learning and how can it inform differentiation?

Challenge! I challenge you to outline three “ways of being” that will lead to ongoing differentiation and brain based learning in your classroom.

Degen explains that brain-based learning is take what is known about how the brain functions in terms of learning and applying this in any situation or environment that includes learning. The study of the brain and how it learns has become to be known as cognitive science of which the focus is to “promote learning in accordance with the way the brain is naturally designed to learn.” (2014) Jensen brings to light the following seven key factors that effective our brains that influence learning: engagement, repetition, input quantity, coherence, timing, error correction, and emotional states (2005). Brain-based learning is differentiation because its looking at what each students’ brains are capable of and applying teaching strategies that will provide learning opportunities that connect to how the brain works. For example, as I was reading my resources for this week, I started out feeling great and then about 30 minutes later I was super exhausted and fought through it. Then once again after 30 minutes, I woke right back up and had high energy again. This refers to the fact that the its important to know the timing of our brains and energy. Jensen explains how naturally the brain has high and low energy levels in a cycle of 90-110 minutes (2005, p.49).

In my own classroom there are many ideas that I want do after reading more in depth about brain-based learning. My students who are most affected by their home life and peers are all in the same class. Getting my students in an emotional state that gives release to their brain to learn is one of my main focuses. There are three of my students in my class who sometimes arrives or sometime during class goes into an emotional state that seems more like a crisis and stress state than learning. As an ongoing differentiation, I will begin trying to interrupt this stressful state by physical movement, talking out problems with a close friend, or taking a moment for every student to switch from peer mode to math mode by a song or a dance. Similarly, I need to start providing settling time for information to be stored in the brain. I plan on having a set routine on this settling time such as 5 ways to settle the brain and let the students pick which gives them the opportunity to make some of their own decisions.

Kapadia collected data through a survey of teachers in the greater Mumbai area. He found that on average teachers understood brain-based learning and also that the teachers believed in and practice this in their classrooms. However, the teachers felt the need to have training formally through professional development so that they can confidently implement the strategies in their classroom (2014). In Kegen’s book Teaching with Poverty in Mind, he suggests that teachers need to all have a mindset that we can help mold our high need students, that staff needs to be invested in so that they can take care of the students, staff needs to have ongoing supported collaboration about the fact the brain can be changed, and encourage dialogue between the staff to celebrate in successes of working with students and forming their brains and to support each other in failures (2009).