Page 12 - Priorities #22 2003-April

real life. The students can come up with their own ideas, too. One might want to do a radio broadcast, or write an article for a newspaper. This is where the flexibility and diversity comes in. Mitch can encourage each student individually to stretch his or her skills and knowledge. At the same time, he makes sure everyone gets that basic skill of writing a persuasive paragraph.
How do students like it?
S—I think they really like having us capitalize on their strengths. When we see that kids really love something we’re doing in our class, we can change the plan right on the spot to get everything we can out of that moment or that activity. A good Middle School teacher already has that capability. That teacher can stop right in the middle of a lesson and say, "Hey, this isn’t working—let’s try it a different way." The differentiated learning structure simply builds on that.
M—Students are more interested in their social lives than anything else and there are strategies we can use tocapitalizeonthat. Oneistomakeclassessocial.It means allowing a lot of conversation—talking to each other in the whole class or in small groups. It means sharing homework instead of just turning it in to the teacher. It means doing projects together instead of working alone. We find that our students really like to perform, so many of us give them opportunities to do skits.
Our eighth graders go on to high school with almost no academic "bump." This year, the overall change in GPA from eighth grade to Priory freshman year was almost too small to measure, and in many cases students improved. How does the teacher assure that everything the high school expects is learned?
M—As a teacher, it takes a really clear sense of priorities, especially when you are using differentiated learning. In addition to making sure
How prevalent is this or will it be?
S—It’s not new, but we’re looking at using more of it. Teachers will decide individually how much of the differentiated learning strategy they can use. I
don’t see anybody going to 100 percent differentiation. We are still a traditional college prep school. There are certain academic skills that all students will have to acquire in traditional ways.
If I walk into a classroom where the teacher is using differentiated learning concepts, what will I see?
M—In sixth grade, we’re doing persuasive writing right now. If you walked in, you
could observe the whole class talk about the building blocks of a good persuasive piece, then the different products—how people persuade each other in the world. Then, you’ll see kids choose their own topics, their audiences and their products.
Later on in the process, you will see some people creating a video, other people working on a poster or a pamphlet, people working on a whole variety of products. I haven’t reached this stage yet, but I am working towards it.
With some lessons, students won’t all learn the same thing, then. If they work on different products they will have different skills—photography versus producing a skit, maybe.
S—Before beginning, Mitch knew his desired academic outcome—the effective persuasive paragraph—and he shared that up front with the students. In the end, everyone learns that. He gave some ideas about topics and products—ways that his students can go about using their paragraphs in
Students up and moving, working independently and in small groups on a variety of projects while the teacher consults is typical of a diversified-learning-based lesson.
Differentiated learning is a less traditional, project- based way of teaching. . . gifted students can really fly with this.
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