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When is it My Turn? Technology and differentiation in the classroom
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by Dr. Elizabeth D. Purvis | photos by Joshua Dunn
All teachers face challenges, but the diversity of skills and knowledge possessed by a group of students in first grade can be daunting to the most veteran of teachers. Today, I spent some time in Colleen Collins’s first grade class to understand how she does it. It’s just after spring break, so there is a bit of spring fever in the air. At first glance, there is a lot going on. Ms. Collins is at the front of the room sitting on the floor with a group of six children working on math facts. Rosalia Lopez, the classroom teaching assistant, is sitting at a child-sized table reviewing written sentences with four children. Two other small groups of children are sitting at tables working independently with what teachers call “manipulatives,” objects that are used to help little ones internalize math concepts. Then, on the south side of the room under the windows, there is a bank of four computers. Two girls and one boy are busy at three of them, each child wearing a headset you are more likely to see in an air traffic control
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tower than an elementary school. At first glance, it looks like the students are playing video games. On the fourth computer is a picture of first-grader Delila, who sees it and makes her way over to the computer, eager for her turn to play. Differentiated instruction isn’t new. In the early years of America, most community schools, especially in rural America, were taught by a single teacher in one large room that housed schoolchildren of all grade levels. Teachers were expected to use whatever was available to support students as they mastered literacy skills, mathematics, and history. Although the goal of the one-room schoolhouse hasn’t changed, the definition of differentiation has become more complex. Dr. Tracey Hall, Senior Research Scientist with CAST (Center for Applied Special Technology) defines differentiation this way:
To differentiate instruction is to recognize students of varying background knowledge, readiness, language, preferences in learning, and interests, and to react responsively. Differentiated instruction is a process to approach teaching and learning for students of differing abilities in the same class. The intent of differentiating instruction is to maximize each student’s growth and individual success by meeting each student where he or she is, and assisting in the learning process.1
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The question for the teacher is, how? Over the past three years, the Chicago International campuses managed by American Quality Schools have used a number of different techniques to support teachers as they individualize instruction. None is more popular with children and teachers than the Waterford Early Learning computer program. The Chicago International West Belden and Bucktown campuses use the Waterford Early Reading Program™ to deliver an individualized program of early reading skills—including phonics, comprehension, vocabulary, language concepts, and phonological awareness— on the computer. Structured much like popular video games, the program is individualized and sequenced for each child, 1
requiring skill mastery before moving to the next level. Once Ms. Collins taught Kaevon how to use the program, his interest and skill in reading just took off. The children love the program. Kaevon reports, “It’s fun. There are songs. It teaches me how to read and how to learn better.” Delila said about Waterford, “I like the ABCs because it tells you what sound each letter makes. I can make flowers on it, too!” It’s not just the little ones who are enthusiastic. In addition to the instruction the children are receiving, Lisa Blake, the Chicago International West Belden lower team leader, said, “Because each student rotates through the program daily, it allows Ms. Collins and Ms. Lopez to work with
smaller groups of students throughout the rest of the day. They are strategic about the groupings, too. Students of similar abilities work on the program simultaneously. This allows Ms. Collins and Ms. Lopez to more smoothly work with groups of children by ability level as they address specific content and skill development.” Modern urban classrooms. Rural 18th century classrooms. Who would have thought that both demonstrate differentiation at its best!
Source: http://www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_diffinstruc.html#definition
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