Leer knee gal anguishes art twerk*
Designing Differentiation for the Second Language Classroom
Katy Arnett
*Learning a language is hard work
Defining Differentiation
Differentiation occurs when students are provided different paths or tasks to complete/explore a topic and/or share their understanding/skill. Differentiation is about giving students a voice and a choice in their learning.
Differentiation is more than making an adjustment to an activity to support a single student, but it is also NOT about creating/providing a different activity for every single student in the class.
Types of Differentiation
- Differentiation by Content: The topic/theme students explore varies.
- Differentiation by Process: The way(s) in which students complete the task varies
- Differentiation by Product: What students create to show understanding/mastery varies.
- Differentiation by Linguistic Complexity: The language needed to navigate the tasks varies.
Photo Folders: Differentiation by Content (and then some!)
To consider:
1. If you want to designate certain folders for certain paths, avoid marking the folders themselves; this will allow you to use them later for other paths.
2. This activity works well as an "anchor activity," meaning that this activity is one that students could be expected to do as they finish other work. Students can continue to work with their photo folder over the course of several classes; you don't need to build in the expectation that they finish the work in one sitting, but rather work at it over time.
Dice Questions: Differentiation by Linguistic Complexity
Talking about the Weather, Path 1
Talking about the Weather, Path 2
Talking about the Weather, Path 3
Tips for managing/using this activity
1. For this activity, students roll a die and answer the question/prompt that corresponds to the number on the die. If they roll the same number twice, depending on the question, they can still be expected to answer it.
2. Drawing on the work of Storch (2001), be mindful of student pairings, should you opt to do this as a paired activity. Students who need more support can/should be paired together, but students who need challenge may work better with a student who is working well independently, rather than with another student who needs to be challenged.3. To help keep track of which card is which (especially after you change the fonts to reflect the global paths provided by each card), use Question 2 on the card to 'mark' the path this card creates for students.
For the most complex card, I put Question 2 as the create your own question prompt. For the least complex card, I put Question 2 as the sentence starter prompt. For the mid-range card, I put Question 2 as a basic question requiring a response.
4. More information about this activity can be found in greater detail on p. 87-88 of my book, but know that the structure/goal of this activity is slightly different than that of the book.
Differentiation as a Structure
Looking for more ideas?
Continue the Conversation!
Email: languages.for.all.13@gmail.com
Twitter: @KatyArnett
References
Storch, N. (2001). , 'How collaborative is pair work? ESL tertiary students composing in pairs', Language Teaching Research,5,(1).
Tomlinson, C.A. (1999). The differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Tomlinson, C.A. (2001). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.