Shardha SANDAPEN
16 October 2007
Port Louis — Mixed-ability classrooms offering differentiated instruction make good sense for teachers and students. For many teachers, though, this instruction type requires a paradigm shift.
Teachers who become comfortable with differentiated classrooms would probably say their role differs somewhat from that of a more traditional teacher. When teachers differentiate instruction, they move away from seeing themselves as keepers and dispensers of knowledge and come to see themselves as organisers of learning opportunities. While content knowledge remains important, teachers focus less on knowing all the answers, and focus more on "reading their students." They then create ways to learn that both capture students' attention and lead to understanding. Organising a class for effective activity and exploration becomes their highest priority.
Teachers who differentiate instruction focus on their role as coach or mentor, and give students as much responsibility for learning as they can handle. These teachers grow in their ability to (1) assess student readiness through a variety of means, (2) "read" and interpret student clues about learning needs and preferences, (3) create a variety of ways students can gather information and ideas, (4) develop varied ways students can explore and "own" ideas, and (5) present varied channels through which students can express and expand understanding. "Covering information" takes a back seat to making meaning out of important ideas. Most of us have not been trained to look at teaching in this light, but we are learners, too. We may not be able to transform our image of ourselves in a flash, but we can change over the course of a career.
Before looking at specific ways to modify content, process and product for students in our mixed ability classroom, it helps to understand several general guidelines.
Be clear on the key concept and generalisations or principles that give meaning and structure to the topic, chapter, unit, or lesson that we are planning. Few learners can amass and recall on multiple topics, let alone organise and use all that data. All learners would probably fare better if lessons focused on key ideas and meanings. When the curriculum covers 500 pages it is difficult to do much more than drag everyone through those pages in the time available. On the other hand, focusing on key concepts and generalisations can ensure that all learners gain powerful understandings that serve as building blocks for meaning and access to other knowledge. Key concepts act as springboards to help all learners make connections between the topic under consideration and expanded studies. And these learners are more likely to find their school experiences more memorable, useful, and engaging.
Lessons for all students should emphasise critical thinking. In the imperfect world of teaching, we may not always accomplish this but it should be our clear goal. In other words, it is not acceptable for remedial students to do " low-level" tasks that require only memorisation of information and minimal comprehension. All tasks should require that students at least understand and be able to apply the meaning of the ideas.
Lessons for all students should be engaging. Again, we may not always achieve this goal, but it should still be something to strive for as a measure of growth as an educator. Although all students will sometimes have to do drill and practice to accumulate needed data, it is not acceptable for struggling learners to spend most of their time trying to master basic information while other students get to use it. In fact, many learners who struggle would find learning more natural and sensible if they were consistently presented with problems, issues, dilemmas, and unknowns that required them to use more of what they have learned.
In a differentiated classroom, there should be a balance between student-selected and teacher-assigned tasks and working arrangements. This balance will vary somewhat for each student, based on the student's maturity, the nature of the task, classroom conditions, and so on. But all students should regularly be matched with tasks compatible with their individual learner profile. Again, struggling students should not typically work alone on a teacher-assigned task while other students typically work together on tasks of their own choice.
(Reference: Tomlinson.C.A, 1995, How To Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms, ASCD, Alexandria, Virginia)
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