Activity 2: Teaching Diverse Students
In this task we needed to each make three case studies about students who we teach which need differentiation. Ina small group, we shared and analyzed each other's case studies. You can see the case studies below. We then met in a virtual meeting and discussed strategies for helping these students.
Module 2 - Student Case Studies
Florence Hagan
James Sharp
Ryan Steinberg
James Sharp
Need for Differentiation
Last week we learned just how important it is to encourage our students to have a grow mindset. A growth mindset is important for teachers too. Teachers who have a growth mindset embrace differentiation and realize that there is more than one way to achieve a goal.
Differentiation is an important thing for every teacher to implement in their classroom. Differentiation takes into account students’ unique backgrounds and learning styles in order for them to learn content which they may otherwise not succeed at under old, traditional education styles. There are numerous examples of teachers implementing differentiation in the classroom to allow students to arrive at the same goal, via different methods.
How and when to differentiate instruction
When thinking about differentiation, it’s important to keep in mind John Hattie’s research which shows that between 95-97% of what teachers do is effective. As a result, we should shift our mindset from asking What practices are effective? to What practices are most effective. So what is most effective? Hattie argues that it’s not so much what teachers do, it’s how they think. Knowing this has motivated me to consider my students’ differentiation needs more in depth than I ever have before.
Differentiation can take place each lesson and it can come in various ways. There is not just one approach. Differentiation focuses on equity over equality. So students with different reading levels are able to choose books which suit their levels. Both students are reading different books, but working on a similar skill. Differentiation can continue from there. For example, a teacher could allow students to show their understanding of the story they read through various ways such as: writing a summary, making a comic of the story, writing a song about the story, acting out the story or making a quiz for their friends to answer.
Which students may need differentiation
At some stage or another, all students may need differentiation. For example, in Finland, around 90% of students are given extra special learning support at some stage in their education. Differentiation shouldn’t be viewed as something to only give to low level students. I though deeply about each of my classes and whether all students’ learning needs were being met. I came up with the following questions to determine which students might need differentiation within my classes:
I also thought about the group of students in the class and how this environment affects students and whether it is conducive to learning for all students. In my classes there isn’t much ethnic diversity, as most students are Han Chinese and speak Mandarin as a first language and English as a second. I used to think there wasn’t much diversity, but after researching the topic more in depth, I now know that there is a great deal of diversity in my classes. I have mixed gendered classes for a start, and although most students have English as a second language, their language abilities vary significantly from near native, to pre-A1 levels. I also have a mix of gifted students and those who are suspected to have learning difficulties. Unfortunately due to social stigmas prevalent in Chinese society, it can’t be confirmed. Motivation is also a huge divider among students. There are some who enjoy Western culture and enjoy travelling abroad and using English, while there are others who see learning English as a waste of time and those who even actively dislike it and view the entire subject as unpatriotic. It’s with these considerations in mind that I moved on to writing my three case studies.
Student One - Chris
Overview
Chris struggles in all his subjects. He especially struggles in English. He is a very kind student, yet often doesn’t try very hard in class as he ‘knows’ that he won’t be able to do the work. Chris is a very slow learner, and even with support, he takes a long time to do very simple tasks. Chris has been learning English every day since 5 years old, yet still can not understand basic questions. As he doesn’t understand much of what is being said, he is easily distracted and often enjoys acting as a class clown. Chris has a huge need for additional support.
Educational challenges
Academic development: Chris is years behind his peers. He is already in a small differentiated class, but the difference is still too great. The majority of the students in the class are an A2 level, with a couple A1. Chris is the only pre-A1 level student in the class.
Social-emotional development: Chris is quite immature for his age. He is coddled by his mum at home. For example she still physically feeds him during meals, assigns him no chores and lets him play unsupervised on his phone when most other students are doing homework. He is a sweet child, yet does not have much of a grasp of responsibility.
Physical challenges: N/A
Other relevant personal background information: I suspect that Chris has a learning difficulty, however we are not allowed to bring this up with his mother.
Impacts on achievement: Chris has not passed an exam in the past year. He usually randomly circles the multiple choice options and writes in Chinese for other questions.
Adaption
A huge challenge is that the school levels and tests students on age rather than ability. I believe Chris needs to be given level-appropriate work rather than age-appropriate.
More meaningful pair work and group work needed. The students in the class are very friendly and supportive of Chris, and do their best to help. I have tried to foster a welcoming environment to learn and have given his several ‘buddies’ over the year, but it usually just amounts to them translating tasks or letting him copy as the tasks are too difficult for him. It’s hard for them to know how to help him when the content I am giving him is so challenging for him.
I would like to implement more Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into my classroom in order to allow Chris to engage in learning in a more flexible way. Engagement is a key principle of UDL, which is why I have given Chris autonomy through choice of activity (on a limited scale so as not to overwhelm) and also incorporated his interests (golf, technology and food) into my lessons.
It’s also important to keep the classroom atmosphere a positive and supportive place. I mentioned before that the students are positive towards Chris, but he still knows he is the lowest in the class and often acts out to get attention. I try to lead the other students to praise him when he answers a question, rather than laugh at him when he tries to act silly.
I also give Chris additional tutorials during the lunch break when I have time. I try to let him know that it is not a punishment, but rather that I like him, so I want to help him. Generally I try to lift his confidence.
I also try to limit teacher talking time with Chris as I know he doesn’t understand most of what I say. I try to talk in short sentences and use as little new or unfamiliar vocabulary as possible. I also use hand gestures and body motion.
Development of an individual learning plan for Chris would also be a positive step. The challenge for me is that my Chinese isn’t good enough to explain such things to Chris and he can’t understand English. I have staff at the school who can assist me on this, but it is a difficulty and constraint to keep in mind. I also have limited experience in this area and would need the guidance of a more experienced teacher.
Student Two - Reina
Overview
Reina is a new student to the school. She is new to English and has only a basic level. She has a positive attitude, but struggles greatly being in an English-only environment. Reina often loses focus in class as it takes her so much effort to follow along. She is the lowest in her class by a fair way. It is difficult for her to keep up during class, and she struggles in pair work as often people dislike working with her. Reina needs differentiation within the classroom.
Educational challenges
Academic development: Reina is a smart child, but is new to English. As the lessons are conducted solely in English, it is very difficult for her to pick up certain things. This sometimes makes her feel less intelligent than others, when in reality she isn’t, she just doesn’t have the foundation level English to understand yet.
Social-emotional development: Reina seems to have a good home life and is happy enough in school. She is a nice student. She occasionally suffers from some rude remarks from peers. They are not meaning to be rude, but point out that she answered an easy question wrong etc. This obviously makes Reina feel bad.
Physical challenges: N/A
Other relevant personal background information: Came half way through the semester.
Impacts on achievement: Reina has not passed an exam yet, but her scores are improving.
Adaption
It has been very hard for Reina to adapt to a new school. Not only has she had to make new friends and meet new teachers, she’s had to have English immersion classes too.
Some of the students think that because Reina isn’t good at English she isn’t intelligent. I have tried to explain that she’s not good at English yet, and the reason is that she hasn’t been studying it for a long time. I also use it as a positive and turn it back on the students by telling them that a couple of years ago, their English level was even lower. So it’s nothing to do with intelligence, but with the amount of effort they have put in.
Like with Chris, I also try to limit teacher talking time with Reina as I know she struggles to understand most of what I say. I try to talk in short sentences and use as little new or unfamiliar vocabulary as possible. I also use hand gestures and body motion.
I try to do lots of pair work and group work for Reina as that way she can learn from peers (which also strengthens her peers’ skills).
I have not differentiated lessons for Reina as much as I should have. While a low level, her cognitive abilities are far higher than those of Chris (they’re in different classes), so she is able to complete all the work we do in class (even if she doesn’t understand it all). Thinking about it, I have been too focused on the fact that she is completing it, rather than checking if she actually understands it.
I think Reina would benefit from me implementing more of the principles of UDL into the classroom. She needs the opportunity to approach things of an appropriate difficulty level in her own way. I need to spend more time considering how I can make the classroom environment a productive place for her.
I make sure to give Reina a lot of positive attention and praise. She isn’t a shy student and is happy to try to answer a question and is not scared of failure. I want to nurture this attitude and am trying to do so by publicly praising her effort in class.
Reina has an in-school English tutor once a week. She has her own personal learning plan for these classes, however upon reflection I have not worked with her tutor closely enough to incorporate this plan into my lessons. I think if I were to work more closely with her tutor, it could benefit Reina greatly.
Student Three - George
Overview
George is a very challenging student to teach. He is extremely disruptive and has little desire to learn. He craves attention from both teachers and peers, positive or negative. On the first day of class he threw his textbook in the trash in front of me. He broke the door to the staff-room trying to get a confiscated toy back. He has bitten students causing hospitalization and also stabbed a teacher with a pencil. He is fairly bright, yet only works when motivated. We believe he has various special needs, but these can not be tested due to social reasons in China. George would really benefit from a great deal of additional support and differentiation within the classroom.
Educational challenges
Academic development: George has a fairly decent level of English all things considered. He is a bright boy and can be very friendly at times. However due to constantly being out of the classroom and not focusing when in the classroom, he has way behind where he could, or should, be. He rarely writes anything on tests papers,
Social-emotional development: I believe that George has special needs. George is extremely hard to keep focused and is very stubborn. He has a one track mind and will do what he wants. He takes delight in distracting others. Unfortunately there is no policy at the school for students such as George, so when he misbehaves and is removed from the classroom, George is sent to an office where he can sit at a computer. It seems like a reward for him to misbehave.
Physical challenges: N/A
Other relevant personal background information: George’s family will not admit that he has special needs.
Impacts on achievement: George is way behind his peers.
Adaption
I’ll admit that it has been a huge challenge for me to teach George. There have been times where I’ve felt like giving up. In hindsight, I have not adapted the class or differentiated it anywhere nearly as much as I should.
It’s really hard to get George to do group work. He doesn’t like working with others and other students usually dislike working with him. But he also doesn’t like working alone when others are in groups as he feels left out.
George really struggles with focusing and paying attention, so I try to limit teacher talking time. I also try to break the lesson up into many small segments to keep his attention and move onto something new before he has got a chance to get bored and lose interest.
I have tried to incorporate UDL into my lessons to help George. He is keen on football, so I use pictures of famous footballers to get his interest up. I also try to give him (limited) choice, but he usually just rejects either choice. I have been thinking about having him set his own goals for each class, but am at a bit of a loss on how to implement this. I think allowing George multiple ways to interact with content, rather than just two slightly different ones might be a good start.
George needs to have a special needs teacher assigned to him.
I have not written an individual learning plan for George. I think that developing one could be a positive step, however I think that this would have to be a plan that George either wrote or collaborated with me to write. As stated before, I have limited experience in this area and would need the guidance of a more experienced teacher.
Ryan
Differentiation:
Everyone is a unique individual, and as such, we all learn and operate in our own particular ways. This is the basis of differentiation. Not all students grasp a subject in the same way, or share the same ability or backgrounds. Furthermore, how a student learns is dependent on the individual student’s preference - visual, auditory or kinasthetic. Thus, differentiated teaching is needed in order to elicit the best possible outcome.
When to differentiate instruction:
With regards to my classroom, I differentiate instruction for multiple reasons. My learners, even though the class is small, learn in diverse ways - visual, auditory and kinesthetic, and thus, my lesson plans need to be quite broad in order to include these learning styles. My learners also have their own preferences with regards to the subject matter of the lesson, and thus, a differentiated plan is necessary to meet all my learners passions as much as possible. Culturally, I need to ensure that the work provided to them is culturally sensitive and relevant as my learners come from diverse backgrounds. The way concepts and ideas are communicated/presented also needs to be differentiated as my learner’s English abilities range from intermediate to advanced in the same class. Lastly, I need to take into consideration my learners personal needs - depression, anxiety, higher thought processing speeds and motivational elements.
How to differentiate instruction:
The first way I differentiate my lesson plans for my learners is through the content. I ensure that every unit has a range of different topics to allow for each learner to become engaged at one point or another. I also ensure that the content is culturally relevant for them. The process through which I provide the content to my learners differs in each lesson - images, videos, articles, PPTs, or conversational topics - this allows for those not completely proficient in English to better understand the concepts being taught. Furthermore, I allow them to work alone and together - in small and big groups - to ensure everyone is feeling comfortable, but also growing through diverse experiences. The final products of each unit are also differentiated in order to ensure all the learners get to explore their strengths/passions, but also mold their weaknesses into new found strengths. In my classroom, I change the learners' chairs at least once a month to ensure everyone feels comfortable in the classroom - no matter where they are, and to provide them with an opportunity to sit next to someone new and learn from them. I also have large tables that allow the learners to come together and be a team.
Student Case Studies:
Student 1:
My first student is Lincoln. He is a complete anomaly. He is 13 years old, but is capable of thinking at a much higher level than most learners his age, and has never lived abroad, but has an English ability that resembles that of a native speaker. He is an incredibly outgoing student and loves to be heard. In the classroom, he provides his opinion on every point discussed. At the same time, he also comments on other students' opinions – needing to be the dominant voice in the classroom. He sometimes exhibits inappropriate behavior, such as going into teachers lockers or expressing incredibly dark thoughts. When receiving verbal warnings, he stops completely, and agrees with the teacher. In his assessments, he generally meets all the standards set out, but has recently provided subpar work – possibly due to his depression. His father is absent, but mother cares for him and works together with his teachers to help him be the best version of himself.
Adaptation:
With Lincoln being both mentally and educationally at a more advanced level than his peers, I differentiate the content for him. I provide him with work that is still in the same vein as the content I am teaching the other learners, but on a higher level in order to keep him interested and challenge him further. Furthermore, I provide him with extra material, as he generally finishes before everyone else and begins to disrupt his peers. With him being more of a visual - reading/writing - learner, I provide him with a lot of activities that revolve around these abilities, but also other forms of material to ensure he is growing his other skills. Due to the fact that he enjoys being heard, I allow him to produce speeches and presentations for his final products. However, I also ensure he produces other forms of work, again, in order to grow his other skills. In the classroom, when teaching, I allow him to air his opinions as it helps him to focus, and others can learn from him. That said, If he is disruptive, I do provide him with verbal warnings to which he adheres to. I also allow for a lot of group work so that Lincoln can talk with his peers.
Student 2:
My second student is Daniel. He is 13 years old, introverted and incredibly creative. He loves drawing – often when I am discussing a point, he will be drawing something unrelated to the lesson. In the classroom, even though he understands the question, and is able to answer, he never does. Even when called upon to answer, he often does not provide an answer – I believe it is the fear of being wrong that prevents him from answering. In his assessments, he never follows the guidelines set out for him, and when asked why he didn’t, he responds with ‘nobody knows’. He tends to do much better in creatively oriented assessments, as opposed to the theoretical – essays and speeches. That said, even in the creatively oriented assignments, any criteria he needs to meet that are outside the creative realm, he tends to provide subpar results. He comes from a good home where both his mother and father care about him, his choices and how to make him better.
Adaptation:
The content I teach explores multiple aspects, but because I know that Daniel enjoys art, I always relate it to art in one way or another/at one point or another to make it more interesting for him. With Daniel being more of a visual learner, I provide processes that are more so in this vein - pictures, videos and/or graphs. When providing him with this sort of learning, he tends to become more attentive and participative in the class - more motivated. In order to ensure he is passionate about the work he is producing, I allow for creative elements - posters, advertisements, comics. That said, some outcomes need to be more theoretically inclined, which I believe is helping him strengthen his abilities - even though he does not completely enjoy it. In the classroom, and while teaching, I allow Daniel to draw as it helps him focus - confirmed when I asked him about this and when asking him questions in the classroom. When other learners answer questions and get them wrong, I continuously explain that getting a question wrong just means that they are learning something new, and that there is nothing wrong with getting something wrong. This I feel has aided Daniel in feeling okay with answering questions.
Student 3:
My third student is Kyra. She is 13 years old, extroverted and slightly precocious – she does not enjoy movies, fast food or playing games (kids things). All she wants to do is read. She alienates herself from the other students with the things she says, making collaboration incredibly difficult. During lunch, she generally sits by herself and does not speak to anyone – if she does, it is to the much younger students or teachers. In the class, she gets excited to answer questions, but when it is her turn, she says she was going to say what the person before her said. According to her parents, she has a high thought processing speed, which they say means she gets bored in the class, but at the same time, can’t remember anything because her mind is moving too quickly. Thus, she generally does not do well in her assessments, forgetting to meet the requirements set out. In the classroom, she understands the structures and ideas being taught, but in her assessments, is unable to utilize the skills she learned. Her father cares a great deal about her, but her mother expects only greatness from her – I believe this is also why she does badly in assessments; the fear of failing/disappointing her mother.
Adaptation:
Being that Kyra loves reading fictional works, I often provide resources that are based in this vein - reading helps learners be more creative and increase their language abilities. With Kyra being more of a visual learner, and with her high thought processing speed, I make sure to write instructions down on the board or have them on a PPT. Furthermore, and to ensure that she remembers everything, I provide her with a checklist to go through after completing her work. To combat her boredom, I ask her to reread the text as she tends to miss out on aspects due to her condition. With reading comes writing, and she loves to write, and thus, I provide written assessments for her. However, as with the others, I also provide her with other forms of assessment - speeches and presentations - in order to grow her other abilities. In the classroom, I allow her to work with others or by herself - she prefers to work by herself. I always explain to the class why working with others is beneficial as it pushes ideas further and allows for the generation of more impactful and novel ideas - she has yet to listen, and still prefers to work alone. On the other hand, others tend to refrain from working with her as she is condescending and slightly arrogant. I have provided multiple opportunities for her to work with others, and even after explaining that she needs to work with her partner, not against them, she continues to alienate herself.
Florence I am fascinated by differentiation and providing different ways of learning according to my students' needs. I think this challenges and excites me as a teacher to be the best teacher especially in the world that we live in now. I also think differentiation allows us to never stop learning or training as teachers as we are having to creatively analyse and find appropriate strategies to meet our students' diverse learning needs.There are so many different ways to do this depending on each student. Every student learns in so many different ways-visual, physical, auditory, kinesthetic- and it's something teachers need to consider and implement in order for students to succeed.
When and how to differentiate instruction In the context of my classroom there are various places when I differentiate my instruction. I’m an English Language Learner teacher so I help differentiate learning for my students as they are normally pulled out of their classroom and I teach them in a 1:1 setting or very small groups of up to 2 or 3 students. I also normally put them in small groups according to their level of English Skills that they have rather than the grade that they are in as well. I always ensure in my lesson plans that it is mostly student-led. I mostly go with the formula of I do, we do, you do. I ensure that students get more time to practice or have guided practice the still they’ve learnt. This helps me ensure they’ve processed and really grasped the content so then they have confidence to use it when using their English skills. I also make sure the lesson set is culturally appropriate for them or is a topic that is not foreign to them and am mindful of the different cultural backgrounds that they come from. I also use aspects of their cultural background that interest them as a topic to talk about or something that they will identify with so they feel valued and represented in the classroom.
A useful tool I have to differentiate in instruction is through my ELL testing. I test students at the beginning of the school year on their English Language Skills. The testing I use is called IPT and it's an online platform that tests students on their Oral, Reading and Writing. What I love about this resource is it gives clearly what the students' level is and instruction recommendations for what I should be teaching them. Therefore every student I have has a clear path of instruction that they need to follow in terms of content and that’s something thats different for every student I have. I also try to use resources that are appropriate to my students' learning styles. For example I have students that really engage with technology and video games so apply that kind of style for their lessons. For my younger students who are very physical, I use coloring in activities or motor skill based activities and also activities where they can move around the room such as copying actions to a video or acting out a scene to help with their speaking. Finally I like to ask my students for feedback either at the end of every quarter or semester and also at the start to make goals for what they want to achieve with their English for the semester or the whole school year.
Student Case Studies:
Student 1:
My first student is Lawrensa. I started doing extra tutorioring for her over the month of June. Her writing, speaking and maths are on grade level but her reading is very very low and she is quite behind compared to most of her grade. This is mostly because of COVID. Her mum is not very good with technology so missed a lot of her virtual classes half way through Kindergarten and the first half of grade 1. She is currently on a level C (KG level) for her Reading. She is the second eldest child of 6 children and her youngest three siblings are triplets. She is the daughter of a famous church minister here in Accra who is known to also be quite controversial. She lives in a very extravagant home. The parents spoil her but don’t help in taking responsibility for her education and hire tutors or rely on school for that. Lawrensa is a very sweet child and wants to learn but craves for attention and is very talkative and has poor focus. She also isn’t monitored and watches a lot of cartoons and videos on her phone or TV and sometimes to quite late at night. This resulted in some lessons where she fell asleep in the middle of it or being too tired to engage with me.
AdaptationThe ways I have used differentiation for Lawrensa are by giving her tutoring during the summer break; this will hopefully allow her to catch up quicker than if she didn’t have any one helping her during the summer break. In my content we use a reading program called Guided Readers. I read one book a week with Lawrensa and give her the vocabulary before reading it. I’ve also helped her learn vocabulary through games like tic tac toe which she really engaged with. Lawrensa also enjoyed making her own rules to some of the games so would let her adapt it and she would also want to record herself reading aloud which challenged her to be able to read more fluently. I would also give her choices in what she wanted to do in terms of activity or subject which was either reading or math. I know her content teacher did a lot of intervention for her for her reading but came across the same challenges and often sent her to the nurse for falling asleep. She still has a long way to go and I think going into grade 2 will start to get difficult for her. I think more intervention is needed for her during the school year and she needs to be taken out for 1:1 intervention support a few times a week. I’m not sure if there’s a lot we can do regarding her home environment.
Student 2
Andrii and his family came to Ghana as his mum works for Unicef in January 2021. They first were in another international school but it was virtual learning only so they were admitted to our school in February 2021. He is 12 years old but was put back into 5th grade because of his English level. Andri has a younger brother and sister and all their English is low proficiency so they were all admitted into the ELL program. Andrii is very nice and polite but unfortunately is very lazy and very unmotivated to learn anything. His English is very low level and he doesn’t know how to write sentences properly and is very lazy with this. He has challenging behavior in that he has a tendency to not listen to the teachers instructions and would also rush his assignments in order to get out to lunch break quickly. His mother expressed challenges in trying to parent him and advised that the school should be stricter with him. I believe his Dad travels back and forth from Ukraine so isn’t consistently around him a lot of the time. His English levels have shown no signs of improvement since he came to the school.
AdaptationPersonally I’ve found teaching Andrii quite challenging to teach. Sometimes I felt no matter what I tried to do he would have the same attitude. I think this lack of English proficiency highlighted his behavior. He was also in a large class of 17 students compared to average class size here in the school. I noticed he liked computer games so tried to use resources and content on a computer to engage him better. I also took him for extra tutorials afterschool, however he would get easily distracted and continue to rush his work. I think moving to middle school next year is going to help him settle down as there’s some good male teachers I think he can look up to as role models. Due to clashing schedules I taught him with another ELL learner. I think next year teaching him in a 1:1 will help so I will be prioritizing this. I plan to discuss with him about developing a growth mindset and allowing his lessons to be more student centered and give him choices as well as well as giving him a good classroom routine may help as well.
Student 3
AdaptationAs the ELL teacher to resolve this issue, Yukiho came for extra ELL lessons during her Bible class to get her proficiency levels up. I was also asked to teach her some basic bible, more in the form of the stories that are in the bible rather than look at the beliefs. I was also aware that her and her family were not christian so didn’t want to impose on this but wanted to give her the basics for when she will attend class in grade 7. I managed to find content that mixed English Language Learning and learning some of the stories of the bible so Yukiho was able to achieve both goals. Yukiho also bought a bible of her own that was in English and Japanese. Yukiho was also having classes with another student from Japan who would translate to her a lot so having her alone to do these lessons really helped her learn more English skills and acquire more confidence with it on her own. I also taught her some key vocabulary words and she would learn the meanings and write the translation in Japanese in her notebook every lesson.
Florence Hagan
James Sharp
Ryan Steinberg
James Sharp
Need for Differentiation
Last week we learned just how important it is to encourage our students to have a grow mindset. A growth mindset is important for teachers too. Teachers who have a growth mindset embrace differentiation and realize that there is more than one way to achieve a goal.
Differentiation is an important thing for every teacher to implement in their classroom. Differentiation takes into account students’ unique backgrounds and learning styles in order for them to learn content which they may otherwise not succeed at under old, traditional education styles. There are numerous examples of teachers implementing differentiation in the classroom to allow students to arrive at the same goal, via different methods.
How and when to differentiate instruction
When thinking about differentiation, it’s important to keep in mind John Hattie’s research which shows that between 95-97% of what teachers do is effective. As a result, we should shift our mindset from asking What practices are effective? to What practices are most effective. So what is most effective? Hattie argues that it’s not so much what teachers do, it’s how they think. Knowing this has motivated me to consider my students’ differentiation needs more in depth than I ever have before.
Differentiation can take place each lesson and it can come in various ways. There is not just one approach. Differentiation focuses on equity over equality. So students with different reading levels are able to choose books which suit their levels. Both students are reading different books, but working on a similar skill. Differentiation can continue from there. For example, a teacher could allow students to show their understanding of the story they read through various ways such as: writing a summary, making a comic of the story, writing a song about the story, acting out the story or making a quiz for their friends to answer.
Which students may need differentiation
At some stage or another, all students may need differentiation. For example, in Finland, around 90% of students are given extra special learning support at some stage in their education. Differentiation shouldn’t be viewed as something to only give to low level students. I though deeply about each of my classes and whether all students’ learning needs were being met. I came up with the following questions to determine which students might need differentiation within my classes:
- Is the student passing tests?
- If yes, is the student scoring to the best of their ability?
- If no, are the tests appropriate for the student?
- If yes, is the student scoring to the best of their ability?
- How long has the student been learning English?
- Does the student get outside tutoring?
- What’s the student’s home life like?
- Does the student have any disabilities?
- Does the student have behavioral issues?
- Does the student easily get distracted in class?
I also thought about the group of students in the class and how this environment affects students and whether it is conducive to learning for all students. In my classes there isn’t much ethnic diversity, as most students are Han Chinese and speak Mandarin as a first language and English as a second. I used to think there wasn’t much diversity, but after researching the topic more in depth, I now know that there is a great deal of diversity in my classes. I have mixed gendered classes for a start, and although most students have English as a second language, their language abilities vary significantly from near native, to pre-A1 levels. I also have a mix of gifted students and those who are suspected to have learning difficulties. Unfortunately due to social stigmas prevalent in Chinese society, it can’t be confirmed. Motivation is also a huge divider among students. There are some who enjoy Western culture and enjoy travelling abroad and using English, while there are others who see learning English as a waste of time and those who even actively dislike it and view the entire subject as unpatriotic. It’s with these considerations in mind that I moved on to writing my three case studies.
Student One - Chris
Overview
Chris struggles in all his subjects. He especially struggles in English. He is a very kind student, yet often doesn’t try very hard in class as he ‘knows’ that he won’t be able to do the work. Chris is a very slow learner, and even with support, he takes a long time to do very simple tasks. Chris has been learning English every day since 5 years old, yet still can not understand basic questions. As he doesn’t understand much of what is being said, he is easily distracted and often enjoys acting as a class clown. Chris has a huge need for additional support.
Educational challenges
Academic development: Chris is years behind his peers. He is already in a small differentiated class, but the difference is still too great. The majority of the students in the class are an A2 level, with a couple A1. Chris is the only pre-A1 level student in the class.
Social-emotional development: Chris is quite immature for his age. He is coddled by his mum at home. For example she still physically feeds him during meals, assigns him no chores and lets him play unsupervised on his phone when most other students are doing homework. He is a sweet child, yet does not have much of a grasp of responsibility.
Physical challenges: N/A
Other relevant personal background information: I suspect that Chris has a learning difficulty, however we are not allowed to bring this up with his mother.
Impacts on achievement: Chris has not passed an exam in the past year. He usually randomly circles the multiple choice options and writes in Chinese for other questions.
Adaption
A huge challenge is that the school levels and tests students on age rather than ability. I believe Chris needs to be given level-appropriate work rather than age-appropriate.
More meaningful pair work and group work needed. The students in the class are very friendly and supportive of Chris, and do their best to help. I have tried to foster a welcoming environment to learn and have given his several ‘buddies’ over the year, but it usually just amounts to them translating tasks or letting him copy as the tasks are too difficult for him. It’s hard for them to know how to help him when the content I am giving him is so challenging for him.
I would like to implement more Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into my classroom in order to allow Chris to engage in learning in a more flexible way. Engagement is a key principle of UDL, which is why I have given Chris autonomy through choice of activity (on a limited scale so as not to overwhelm) and also incorporated his interests (golf, technology and food) into my lessons.
It’s also important to keep the classroom atmosphere a positive and supportive place. I mentioned before that the students are positive towards Chris, but he still knows he is the lowest in the class and often acts out to get attention. I try to lead the other students to praise him when he answers a question, rather than laugh at him when he tries to act silly.
I also give Chris additional tutorials during the lunch break when I have time. I try to let him know that it is not a punishment, but rather that I like him, so I want to help him. Generally I try to lift his confidence.
I also try to limit teacher talking time with Chris as I know he doesn’t understand most of what I say. I try to talk in short sentences and use as little new or unfamiliar vocabulary as possible. I also use hand gestures and body motion.
Development of an individual learning plan for Chris would also be a positive step. The challenge for me is that my Chinese isn’t good enough to explain such things to Chris and he can’t understand English. I have staff at the school who can assist me on this, but it is a difficulty and constraint to keep in mind. I also have limited experience in this area and would need the guidance of a more experienced teacher.
Student Two - Reina
Overview
Reina is a new student to the school. She is new to English and has only a basic level. She has a positive attitude, but struggles greatly being in an English-only environment. Reina often loses focus in class as it takes her so much effort to follow along. She is the lowest in her class by a fair way. It is difficult for her to keep up during class, and she struggles in pair work as often people dislike working with her. Reina needs differentiation within the classroom.
Educational challenges
Academic development: Reina is a smart child, but is new to English. As the lessons are conducted solely in English, it is very difficult for her to pick up certain things. This sometimes makes her feel less intelligent than others, when in reality she isn’t, she just doesn’t have the foundation level English to understand yet.
Social-emotional development: Reina seems to have a good home life and is happy enough in school. She is a nice student. She occasionally suffers from some rude remarks from peers. They are not meaning to be rude, but point out that she answered an easy question wrong etc. This obviously makes Reina feel bad.
Physical challenges: N/A
Other relevant personal background information: Came half way through the semester.
Impacts on achievement: Reina has not passed an exam yet, but her scores are improving.
Adaption
It has been very hard for Reina to adapt to a new school. Not only has she had to make new friends and meet new teachers, she’s had to have English immersion classes too.
Some of the students think that because Reina isn’t good at English she isn’t intelligent. I have tried to explain that she’s not good at English yet, and the reason is that she hasn’t been studying it for a long time. I also use it as a positive and turn it back on the students by telling them that a couple of years ago, their English level was even lower. So it’s nothing to do with intelligence, but with the amount of effort they have put in.
Like with Chris, I also try to limit teacher talking time with Reina as I know she struggles to understand most of what I say. I try to talk in short sentences and use as little new or unfamiliar vocabulary as possible. I also use hand gestures and body motion.
I try to do lots of pair work and group work for Reina as that way she can learn from peers (which also strengthens her peers’ skills).
I have not differentiated lessons for Reina as much as I should have. While a low level, her cognitive abilities are far higher than those of Chris (they’re in different classes), so she is able to complete all the work we do in class (even if she doesn’t understand it all). Thinking about it, I have been too focused on the fact that she is completing it, rather than checking if she actually understands it.
I think Reina would benefit from me implementing more of the principles of UDL into the classroom. She needs the opportunity to approach things of an appropriate difficulty level in her own way. I need to spend more time considering how I can make the classroom environment a productive place for her.
I make sure to give Reina a lot of positive attention and praise. She isn’t a shy student and is happy to try to answer a question and is not scared of failure. I want to nurture this attitude and am trying to do so by publicly praising her effort in class.
Reina has an in-school English tutor once a week. She has her own personal learning plan for these classes, however upon reflection I have not worked with her tutor closely enough to incorporate this plan into my lessons. I think if I were to work more closely with her tutor, it could benefit Reina greatly.
Student Three - George
Overview
George is a very challenging student to teach. He is extremely disruptive and has little desire to learn. He craves attention from both teachers and peers, positive or negative. On the first day of class he threw his textbook in the trash in front of me. He broke the door to the staff-room trying to get a confiscated toy back. He has bitten students causing hospitalization and also stabbed a teacher with a pencil. He is fairly bright, yet only works when motivated. We believe he has various special needs, but these can not be tested due to social reasons in China. George would really benefit from a great deal of additional support and differentiation within the classroom.
Educational challenges
Academic development: George has a fairly decent level of English all things considered. He is a bright boy and can be very friendly at times. However due to constantly being out of the classroom and not focusing when in the classroom, he has way behind where he could, or should, be. He rarely writes anything on tests papers,
Social-emotional development: I believe that George has special needs. George is extremely hard to keep focused and is very stubborn. He has a one track mind and will do what he wants. He takes delight in distracting others. Unfortunately there is no policy at the school for students such as George, so when he misbehaves and is removed from the classroom, George is sent to an office where he can sit at a computer. It seems like a reward for him to misbehave.
Physical challenges: N/A
Other relevant personal background information: George’s family will not admit that he has special needs.
Impacts on achievement: George is way behind his peers.
Adaption
I’ll admit that it has been a huge challenge for me to teach George. There have been times where I’ve felt like giving up. In hindsight, I have not adapted the class or differentiated it anywhere nearly as much as I should.
It’s really hard to get George to do group work. He doesn’t like working with others and other students usually dislike working with him. But he also doesn’t like working alone when others are in groups as he feels left out.
George really struggles with focusing and paying attention, so I try to limit teacher talking time. I also try to break the lesson up into many small segments to keep his attention and move onto something new before he has got a chance to get bored and lose interest.
I have tried to incorporate UDL into my lessons to help George. He is keen on football, so I use pictures of famous footballers to get his interest up. I also try to give him (limited) choice, but he usually just rejects either choice. I have been thinking about having him set his own goals for each class, but am at a bit of a loss on how to implement this. I think allowing George multiple ways to interact with content, rather than just two slightly different ones might be a good start.
George needs to have a special needs teacher assigned to him.
I have not written an individual learning plan for George. I think that developing one could be a positive step, however I think that this would have to be a plan that George either wrote or collaborated with me to write. As stated before, I have limited experience in this area and would need the guidance of a more experienced teacher.
Ryan
Differentiation:
Everyone is a unique individual, and as such, we all learn and operate in our own particular ways. This is the basis of differentiation. Not all students grasp a subject in the same way, or share the same ability or backgrounds. Furthermore, how a student learns is dependent on the individual student’s preference - visual, auditory or kinasthetic. Thus, differentiated teaching is needed in order to elicit the best possible outcome.
When to differentiate instruction:
With regards to my classroom, I differentiate instruction for multiple reasons. My learners, even though the class is small, learn in diverse ways - visual, auditory and kinesthetic, and thus, my lesson plans need to be quite broad in order to include these learning styles. My learners also have their own preferences with regards to the subject matter of the lesson, and thus, a differentiated plan is necessary to meet all my learners passions as much as possible. Culturally, I need to ensure that the work provided to them is culturally sensitive and relevant as my learners come from diverse backgrounds. The way concepts and ideas are communicated/presented also needs to be differentiated as my learner’s English abilities range from intermediate to advanced in the same class. Lastly, I need to take into consideration my learners personal needs - depression, anxiety, higher thought processing speeds and motivational elements.
How to differentiate instruction:
The first way I differentiate my lesson plans for my learners is through the content. I ensure that every unit has a range of different topics to allow for each learner to become engaged at one point or another. I also ensure that the content is culturally relevant for them. The process through which I provide the content to my learners differs in each lesson - images, videos, articles, PPTs, or conversational topics - this allows for those not completely proficient in English to better understand the concepts being taught. Furthermore, I allow them to work alone and together - in small and big groups - to ensure everyone is feeling comfortable, but also growing through diverse experiences. The final products of each unit are also differentiated in order to ensure all the learners get to explore their strengths/passions, but also mold their weaknesses into new found strengths. In my classroom, I change the learners' chairs at least once a month to ensure everyone feels comfortable in the classroom - no matter where they are, and to provide them with an opportunity to sit next to someone new and learn from them. I also have large tables that allow the learners to come together and be a team.
Student Case Studies:
Student 1:
- Name: Lincoln
- Gender: Male
- Ethnic and racial backgrounds: Chinese
- Socioeconomic status: High-class Wealthy
- Native language: Chinese
- Grade: 7
- Literacy Skills: Completely proficient in all four areas
- Special needs: Depression
- Other: Needs to continually speak
My first student is Lincoln. He is a complete anomaly. He is 13 years old, but is capable of thinking at a much higher level than most learners his age, and has never lived abroad, but has an English ability that resembles that of a native speaker. He is an incredibly outgoing student and loves to be heard. In the classroom, he provides his opinion on every point discussed. At the same time, he also comments on other students' opinions – needing to be the dominant voice in the classroom. He sometimes exhibits inappropriate behavior, such as going into teachers lockers or expressing incredibly dark thoughts. When receiving verbal warnings, he stops completely, and agrees with the teacher. In his assessments, he generally meets all the standards set out, but has recently provided subpar work – possibly due to his depression. His father is absent, but mother cares for him and works together with his teachers to help him be the best version of himself.
Adaptation:
With Lincoln being both mentally and educationally at a more advanced level than his peers, I differentiate the content for him. I provide him with work that is still in the same vein as the content I am teaching the other learners, but on a higher level in order to keep him interested and challenge him further. Furthermore, I provide him with extra material, as he generally finishes before everyone else and begins to disrupt his peers. With him being more of a visual - reading/writing - learner, I provide him with a lot of activities that revolve around these abilities, but also other forms of material to ensure he is growing his other skills. Due to the fact that he enjoys being heard, I allow him to produce speeches and presentations for his final products. However, I also ensure he produces other forms of work, again, in order to grow his other skills. In the classroom, when teaching, I allow him to air his opinions as it helps him to focus, and others can learn from him. That said, If he is disruptive, I do provide him with verbal warnings to which he adheres to. I also allow for a lot of group work so that Lincoln can talk with his peers.
Student 2:
- Name: Daniel
- Gender: Male
- Ethnic and racial backgrounds: Korean
- Socioeconomic status: Middle-class - Fairly wealthy
- Native language: Korean
- Grade: 7
- Literacy Skills: Moderately proficient in all four areas
- Other: Lack of motivation
My second student is Daniel. He is 13 years old, introverted and incredibly creative. He loves drawing – often when I am discussing a point, he will be drawing something unrelated to the lesson. In the classroom, even though he understands the question, and is able to answer, he never does. Even when called upon to answer, he often does not provide an answer – I believe it is the fear of being wrong that prevents him from answering. In his assessments, he never follows the guidelines set out for him, and when asked why he didn’t, he responds with ‘nobody knows’. He tends to do much better in creatively oriented assessments, as opposed to the theoretical – essays and speeches. That said, even in the creatively oriented assignments, any criteria he needs to meet that are outside the creative realm, he tends to provide subpar results. He comes from a good home where both his mother and father care about him, his choices and how to make him better.
Adaptation:
The content I teach explores multiple aspects, but because I know that Daniel enjoys art, I always relate it to art in one way or another/at one point or another to make it more interesting for him. With Daniel being more of a visual learner, I provide processes that are more so in this vein - pictures, videos and/or graphs. When providing him with this sort of learning, he tends to become more attentive and participative in the class - more motivated. In order to ensure he is passionate about the work he is producing, I allow for creative elements - posters, advertisements, comics. That said, some outcomes need to be more theoretically inclined, which I believe is helping him strengthen his abilities - even though he does not completely enjoy it. In the classroom, and while teaching, I allow Daniel to draw as it helps him focus - confirmed when I asked him about this and when asking him questions in the classroom. When other learners answer questions and get them wrong, I continuously explain that getting a question wrong just means that they are learning something new, and that there is nothing wrong with getting something wrong. This I feel has aided Daniel in feeling okay with answering questions.
Student 3:
- Name: Kyra
- Gender: Female
- Ethnic and racial backgrounds: French/Spanish
- Socioeconomic status: High-class Wealthy
- Native language: English
- Literacy Skills: Completely proficient in all four areas
- Special needs: Anxiety and high thought processing speed
- Other: Alienates herself from others in the class/narcissistic tendencies
My third student is Kyra. She is 13 years old, extroverted and slightly precocious – she does not enjoy movies, fast food or playing games (kids things). All she wants to do is read. She alienates herself from the other students with the things she says, making collaboration incredibly difficult. During lunch, she generally sits by herself and does not speak to anyone – if she does, it is to the much younger students or teachers. In the class, she gets excited to answer questions, but when it is her turn, she says she was going to say what the person before her said. According to her parents, she has a high thought processing speed, which they say means she gets bored in the class, but at the same time, can’t remember anything because her mind is moving too quickly. Thus, she generally does not do well in her assessments, forgetting to meet the requirements set out. In the classroom, she understands the structures and ideas being taught, but in her assessments, is unable to utilize the skills she learned. Her father cares a great deal about her, but her mother expects only greatness from her – I believe this is also why she does badly in assessments; the fear of failing/disappointing her mother.
Adaptation:
Being that Kyra loves reading fictional works, I often provide resources that are based in this vein - reading helps learners be more creative and increase their language abilities. With Kyra being more of a visual learner, and with her high thought processing speed, I make sure to write instructions down on the board or have them on a PPT. Furthermore, and to ensure that she remembers everything, I provide her with a checklist to go through after completing her work. To combat her boredom, I ask her to reread the text as she tends to miss out on aspects due to her condition. With reading comes writing, and she loves to write, and thus, I provide written assessments for her. However, as with the others, I also provide her with other forms of assessment - speeches and presentations - in order to grow her other abilities. In the classroom, I allow her to work with others or by herself - she prefers to work by herself. I always explain to the class why working with others is beneficial as it pushes ideas further and allows for the generation of more impactful and novel ideas - she has yet to listen, and still prefers to work alone. On the other hand, others tend to refrain from working with her as she is condescending and slightly arrogant. I have provided multiple opportunities for her to work with others, and even after explaining that she needs to work with her partner, not against them, she continues to alienate herself.
Florence I am fascinated by differentiation and providing different ways of learning according to my students' needs. I think this challenges and excites me as a teacher to be the best teacher especially in the world that we live in now. I also think differentiation allows us to never stop learning or training as teachers as we are having to creatively analyse and find appropriate strategies to meet our students' diverse learning needs.There are so many different ways to do this depending on each student. Every student learns in so many different ways-visual, physical, auditory, kinesthetic- and it's something teachers need to consider and implement in order for students to succeed.
When and how to differentiate instruction In the context of my classroom there are various places when I differentiate my instruction. I’m an English Language Learner teacher so I help differentiate learning for my students as they are normally pulled out of their classroom and I teach them in a 1:1 setting or very small groups of up to 2 or 3 students. I also normally put them in small groups according to their level of English Skills that they have rather than the grade that they are in as well. I always ensure in my lesson plans that it is mostly student-led. I mostly go with the formula of I do, we do, you do. I ensure that students get more time to practice or have guided practice the still they’ve learnt. This helps me ensure they’ve processed and really grasped the content so then they have confidence to use it when using their English skills. I also make sure the lesson set is culturally appropriate for them or is a topic that is not foreign to them and am mindful of the different cultural backgrounds that they come from. I also use aspects of their cultural background that interest them as a topic to talk about or something that they will identify with so they feel valued and represented in the classroom.
A useful tool I have to differentiate in instruction is through my ELL testing. I test students at the beginning of the school year on their English Language Skills. The testing I use is called IPT and it's an online platform that tests students on their Oral, Reading and Writing. What I love about this resource is it gives clearly what the students' level is and instruction recommendations for what I should be teaching them. Therefore every student I have has a clear path of instruction that they need to follow in terms of content and that’s something thats different for every student I have. I also try to use resources that are appropriate to my students' learning styles. For example I have students that really engage with technology and video games so apply that kind of style for their lessons. For my younger students who are very physical, I use coloring in activities or motor skill based activities and also activities where they can move around the room such as copying actions to a video or acting out a scene to help with their speaking. Finally I like to ask my students for feedback either at the end of every quarter or semester and also at the start to make goals for what they want to achieve with their English for the semester or the whole school year.
Student Case Studies:
Student 1:
- Name: Lawrensa
- Gender: Female
- Ethnic and racial backgrounds: Ghanaian, African.
- Socioeconomic status: High Class/ Wealthy
- Native language: English, Twi.
- Grade: 1
- Literacy Skills:
- Special needs: n/a
- Other: daughter of a very famous Pastor in Accra.
My first student is Lawrensa. I started doing extra tutorioring for her over the month of June. Her writing, speaking and maths are on grade level but her reading is very very low and she is quite behind compared to most of her grade. This is mostly because of COVID. Her mum is not very good with technology so missed a lot of her virtual classes half way through Kindergarten and the first half of grade 1. She is currently on a level C (KG level) for her Reading. She is the second eldest child of 6 children and her youngest three siblings are triplets. She is the daughter of a famous church minister here in Accra who is known to also be quite controversial. She lives in a very extravagant home. The parents spoil her but don’t help in taking responsibility for her education and hire tutors or rely on school for that. Lawrensa is a very sweet child and wants to learn but craves for attention and is very talkative and has poor focus. She also isn’t monitored and watches a lot of cartoons and videos on her phone or TV and sometimes to quite late at night. This resulted in some lessons where she fell asleep in the middle of it or being too tired to engage with me.
AdaptationThe ways I have used differentiation for Lawrensa are by giving her tutoring during the summer break; this will hopefully allow her to catch up quicker than if she didn’t have any one helping her during the summer break. In my content we use a reading program called Guided Readers. I read one book a week with Lawrensa and give her the vocabulary before reading it. I’ve also helped her learn vocabulary through games like tic tac toe which she really engaged with. Lawrensa also enjoyed making her own rules to some of the games so would let her adapt it and she would also want to record herself reading aloud which challenged her to be able to read more fluently. I would also give her choices in what she wanted to do in terms of activity or subject which was either reading or math. I know her content teacher did a lot of intervention for her for her reading but came across the same challenges and often sent her to the nurse for falling asleep. She still has a long way to go and I think going into grade 2 will start to get difficult for her. I think more intervention is needed for her during the school year and she needs to be taken out for 1:1 intervention support a few times a week. I’m not sure if there’s a lot we can do regarding her home environment.
Student 2
- Name: Andrii
- Gender: Male
- Ethnic and racial backgrounds: Middle Class
- Socioeconomic status: Middle Class.
- Native language: Ukranian
- Grade: 5
- Literacy Skills: low proficiency in English.
- Special needs: n/a
- Other: low motivation and laziness.
Andrii and his family came to Ghana as his mum works for Unicef in January 2021. They first were in another international school but it was virtual learning only so they were admitted to our school in February 2021. He is 12 years old but was put back into 5th grade because of his English level. Andri has a younger brother and sister and all their English is low proficiency so they were all admitted into the ELL program. Andrii is very nice and polite but unfortunately is very lazy and very unmotivated to learn anything. His English is very low level and he doesn’t know how to write sentences properly and is very lazy with this. He has challenging behavior in that he has a tendency to not listen to the teachers instructions and would also rush his assignments in order to get out to lunch break quickly. His mother expressed challenges in trying to parent him and advised that the school should be stricter with him. I believe his Dad travels back and forth from Ukraine so isn’t consistently around him a lot of the time. His English levels have shown no signs of improvement since he came to the school.
AdaptationPersonally I’ve found teaching Andrii quite challenging to teach. Sometimes I felt no matter what I tried to do he would have the same attitude. I think this lack of English proficiency highlighted his behavior. He was also in a large class of 17 students compared to average class size here in the school. I noticed he liked computer games so tried to use resources and content on a computer to engage him better. I also took him for extra tutorials afterschool, however he would get easily distracted and continue to rush his work. I think moving to middle school next year is going to help him settle down as there’s some good male teachers I think he can look up to as role models. Due to clashing schedules I taught him with another ELL learner. I think next year teaching him in a 1:1 will help so I will be prioritizing this. I plan to discuss with him about developing a growth mindset and allowing his lessons to be more student centered and give him choices as well as well as giving him a good classroom routine may help as well.
Student 3
- Name: Yukiho
- Gender: Female
- Ethnic and racial backgrounds: Japanese
- Socioeconomic status: Middle Class
- Native language: Japanese
- Grade: 6
- Literacy Skills: fairly low English proficiency levels
- Special needs: n/a
- Other: anxious, shy, not confident to speak.
AdaptationAs the ELL teacher to resolve this issue, Yukiho came for extra ELL lessons during her Bible class to get her proficiency levels up. I was also asked to teach her some basic bible, more in the form of the stories that are in the bible rather than look at the beliefs. I was also aware that her and her family were not christian so didn’t want to impose on this but wanted to give her the basics for when she will attend class in grade 7. I managed to find content that mixed English Language Learning and learning some of the stories of the bible so Yukiho was able to achieve both goals. Yukiho also bought a bible of her own that was in English and Japanese. Yukiho was also having classes with another student from Japan who would translate to her a lot so having her alone to do these lessons really helped her learn more English skills and acquire more confidence with it on her own. I also taught her some key vocabulary words and she would learn the meanings and write the translation in Japanese in her notebook every lesson.