S'More From The AP
Week Ending October 24, 2014
Guest Blogger: Lisa Stern
Differentiation and Technology
I see so many great things happening at Old Settlers. Students with a variety of learning styles and circumstances are given opportunities to participate with their peers in classrooms that offer differentiation and a multitude of teaching strategies. Technology is huge for all of our learners. It gives students with learning differences another tool that, when used appropriately, can help level the playing field.
One thing I heard repeatedly from our district last year, was that if there is a tool that helps our students be successful on a daily basis, it can and should be used EVEN IF THEY CAN’T USE THEM ON STAAR. In the past, our district often steered teachers away from doing this because they wanted students to experience their daily education in a format similar to how they would be tested. The “teach to the test” mentality played a part in that thinking and, lucky for our students, this way of thinking is now a thing of the past. Using technology can make all the difference in building confidence and providing the student with the tools for success. Here is short video shows one student’s story- from failure to super hero!
I recently started using Quick Voice for the iPad, which is an app that can be used by a student to record a “quick” response to summarize something they learned or read. Then, they simply email the response to you and you can listen at your convenience. This will especially benefit your reluctant writers because now they can fully express themselves without worrying about spelling or grammatical errors. Another great resource is Dragon Writer, a speech to text app for the iPad. Students can then print and edit what they spoke, ensuring that they didn’t miss punctuation or that the app didn’t “misunderstand” what was spoken.
Using a Chrome Book, you can easily use Voice Note, which is a speech to text app. Like most apps, this one does not insert punctuation. Copy documents, web pages, PDF files, and more; paste them into Speak It, and have the text spoken back to students with the high quality text to speech engine. Typing club is available on the chrome book and allows students to easily practice typing skills and track their progress. This will allow students to increase their typing speed and eventually assist them in being able to share their knowledge through a written format.
Another great app is NewsELA , this allows you to find a current event and then adjust the reading level for the student (for grades 3+), so I could research a current event, such as “Yosemite’s visitors, bears get an equal education” and then when the student pulls up this article there are settings on the side that would allow the readability to be adjusted. There is also a quiz for some articles and an option to print.
I hope you find some of these helpful in your class setting. Here is a shared document for our campus, which will allow OSE faculty to do a quick review of new apps. I hope this will be beneficial in helping all of us navigate the world of technology in order to better differentiate in our classrooms to help all students become super heroes with amazing learning powers!
The Principal Ponders
Don’t you just love the word DIFFERENTIATE? Spell check doesn’t recognize it most of the time, it’s a long word, and it isn’t easy to say……so is there really any way that it can be easy to DO?? Actually, yes! It is much easier than it looks and sounds!
I think everyone can think back to a time in school when there was a concept that they just didn’t “get.” Remember the feeling when everyone else around you seemed to be getting it but you? The funny feeling in your stomach? Was it panic? Embarrassment? Fear of having to admit that you didn’t understand? UGH! I can still feel it…and it was usually in math…but that’s another post. When we as teachers differentiate, we can prevent students from ever having to feel that yucky feeling we experienced.
Differentiated instruction is nothing new. The best teachers have always recognized the unique needs of their students and tailored their instruction to meet those needs. How? Just like students, differentiation can take on many forms and can be achieved in a variety of ways. Teachers can differentiate through:
- Content – what the students learn
- Process – activities used to assist in student learning
- Product – demonstration of student learning
Determining whether to differentiate by content, process or product should be based on student needs such as readiness, how a student learns, and student interest. This is how teachers can ensure they are getting the most bang for their buck.
So what does differentiation look like? Most of you know (flexible grouping, tiered assignments, open-ended tasks), so how about looking at what it doesn’t look like? It doesn’t look like:
- “Advanced” students teaching or tutoring “struggling” students
- Ability grouping
- Giving “advanced” students more free time in class
- Allowing students to simply choose their own books to read from a list
We have ALL been guilty of some of these and I am not convinced that there are not specific situations where one of those strategies may actually be effective. However, as we strive to meet the needs of all our learners, we need to focus on student readiness, student learning styles and student interest in order to truly reach each individual student. My challenge to each of you is to take just one upcoming lesson and plug it into this template.
Consciously think about how you can differentiate for just this one lesson and see what happens… with your “advanced’ students, your “struggling” students, and even your “average” students. You just might be surprised!