P2 – Practice differentiated instruction.
This standard focuses on how teachers can modify their instruction in order to accommodate the diverse needs of students, particularly in relation to language development (acquisition, academic), in order to achieve individual and whole-class learning objectives [1]. This program standard was demonstrated through an observation of an English class reading a fictional novel.
Figure 1 serves as an example of how the observed teacher differentiated activity length and assessment throughout the observed lesson.
The teacher employed a variety of instructional strategies to differentiate the materials for the students. One of the most significant things she did was vary the activities required of students in order to reach the lesson objectives. For instance, the students were supposed to read and then answer questions to test their reading comprehension of the materials. To differentiate instruction for different learner needs, the teacher had three quizzes at varying levels of difficulty in order to access the same skill but at the developmentally appropriate level for each student. For instance, two of the students with reading comprehension goals completed the beginner level quiz, whereas the other students completed the intermediate and advanced, respectively. In addition, the length of the reading material was adjusted for varying student need; the first set of students completing the beginner quiz were asked to read a shorter set of pages than the student completing the advanced quiz. However, when examining the different quizzes, it was clear that they sought to measure the same skill but at different levels as appropriate to the individual learners. She also changed the amount of support that she provided to each student based on their need. For instance, students with more significant reading comprehension issues were given paraeducator support, whereas a student with significant reading comprehension issues was scaffolded by being read to by the teacher. Other students were asked to complete the reading passages independently based on their ability level [2]. Figure 1 shows the PowerPoint slide demonstrating different assignments based on student need, exemplifying the differentiation I observed in my mentor teacher throughout the lesson [3].
This observation really emphasized how differentiated instruction can impact several areas in the classroom, from delivery to content to assignment length. I learned a lot about the complex interplay of factors when differentiating instruction for special education students during this observation. The teacher not only varied the instruction itself, but also the level of support and assignment requirements in order to provide each student with the best instruction to suit his or her needs. This helped me see how I, too, will need to rely on different instructional strategies and modify a variety of different areas in the lesson to suit student need and ability. It also provided a good example of how differentiated instruction truly looks in actuality and not in abstract theory [4]. I liked how she used PowerPoint to display what each student needed to do.
What I learned from this observation is significant for student learning, because the student population I will be working with are entitled to a free and appropriate public education. And differentiated instruction is how I provide an appropriate education for my students [5].
One specific step I could take is to continue practice differentiation modeled after my mentor teacher in my internship. As I continue to teach Targeted English, I will incorporate a PowerPoint slide that addresses what each student needs to be doing to meet the lesson objectives and will allot paraeducator support to students who need more scaffolding [6]. Overall, I felt the teacher was well-balanced with differentiated instruction and do not have any suggestions.
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