Differentiation
No two students walk into a classroom with the same abilities, experiences and needs, and therefore, teachers must differentiate instruction to ensure the success of all students. Differentiated instruction does not only mean adapting the content of instruction but also the process in which it is taught and the products that students produce to demonstrate their learning. Rather than ‘teaching to the middle’, with differentiated instruction, teachers match content, instruction and tasks to fit individual student needs. To do this, teachers must get to know their diverse students on a higher level than just knowing their test score; they need to understand students’ strengths, weaknesses, interests, experiences, and learning styles and must use this information to make accommodations to lessons. Teachers can use pre-tests to assess individual student needs, provide access to a variety of materials and manipulatives, and offer students a variety of assessment options. Also, the teacher can use centers and small-group instruction to support students’ needs. This type of instruction requires dedication and more planning time for it to be successful; a teacher must plan several learning options and provide appropriate levels of challenge.
Response to Intervention
Throughout this year, I have had a lot of experience with Response to Intervention or RTI. RTI is an educational support that uses data to drive instruction and targets instruction based on the data collected. In my placement, we used ongoing assessment data, assessing 3 or more times per year to determine student need. RTI is important because it helps target those students who are struggling and offers them research-based interventions that can help them reach their potential. I used RTI this year by:
- Assessing student achievement based on AIMSweb testing and using the data collected to target students who needed intervention.
- Math intervention: after identifying students who needed extra math support, we worked with the resource room to provide a math intervention for students needing to build their math skills
- Fluency intervention: after analyzing assessment data, we worked with the intervention team to provide fluency practice for a small group of students who needed to work on this targeted skill
- Reading groups: creating groups with three other classes to target and emphasize specific levels