Differentiation in the Classroom

            I have learned a lot about differentiation while taking this class. Through discussions in class and watching videos on what differentiation means, I am thoroughly educated on what differentiation does for a child. Differentiated instruction involves providing several options for students to demonstrate what they are learning. It’s about working together to work out problems. This all begins with good teaching.

            When you have a diverse classroom, it is sometimes very hard to meet the needs of everyone. By having differentiated instruction, this helps out the students in a lot of ways. It organizes students into groups to talk about different parts of a topic based on their needs. There are designed stations for students to go to with different tasks to perform with different equipment. By using differentiated instruction it benefits not only the child but the teacher and school too. It benefits the child by helping them work on what they need to work on themselves as an individual, it helps the teacher because they can make sure each of their students is getting the education they need and it helps the school because when every individual student is getting the help they need, parents will be saying good things and their classrooms will all be doing well.

            There are many different examples of differentiation that can be used in the classroom. One example of a good way to use differentiated instruction in a classroom, lets say third grade reading, would be flexible grouping. This strategy is when students are part of many different groups based on the match of the task to student readiness, interest, or learning profile. There can be skills-based or interest-based groups. There can also be group assignments that are purposeful and sometimes they are random. As said in the Youtube video called Differentiated Instruction in the Classroom, you can have students share their reading response logs with partners or take turns summarizing what you read together.  By using flexible grouping it allows for both collaborative and independent work. That way while reading they can read to themselves but if they have a problem they can ask their partner if they know a word. It also keeps students from being labeled as advanced or struggling because while reading in flexible grouping, you are able to help each other out. Also, in the video, they talk about different types of leveled reading like small group reading, peer tutoring and partner work.

Finally, giving the children a chance to work with a large variety of peers is very useful in any classroom because it gives you different opportunities to work with different people when in the long run that’s what life is going to be.

            

Montlieu Project

            I had a very educational experience working at Montlieu this semester. I got to work with the iPad’s in a way I never worked with them before. I also got to work with two new apps that I hadn’t worked with before and they were very interesting to me and I found that when I teach I will definitely want to use those in my lessons.

            The girl I worked with during this time was named Jerney. She was a very sweet girl but also very shy. When I would ask her what her goals were, she would just keep shrugging her shoulders. Then when I asked her questions about what her goals were she would keep shaking her head. So I just decided to stay in the general area of goals like stay healthy, make good grades etc. She also didn’t seem very into doing the slideshow until the end when we could animate the pictures and words to go in and out with every slide presented.  Then we worked on another project that talked about our favorite hobbies and subjects in school. She actually enjoyed doing this more then what we were doing before with our goals. Overall, there were some positives and negatives with us using Keynote.

            Comic Life was a very cool app to use. When I first started using the app with Jerney I had realized she didn’t know how to spell most words. Every time she would make a new slide about something she would ask me how to spell a word. I think taking pictures for this project was a very smart move because it’s a very cool thing when children get to see themselves in a presentation. I think that’s what kept Jerney so interested in Comic Life. She would always ask me when we were going to take more pictures for the slideshow we would be making. She also loved the fact that in the app you could make your own shapes if you wanted to. One time I went to Montlieu and that’s all she wanted to do. I taught her how to make a star and she was really excited by it. I think aside from learning how to make shapes, this was an educational experience for the child because since she was so excited about taking pictures, it got her excited about writing too so she was really focused on writing the captains underneath the picture. I realized when we took pictures she also didn’t ask me to spell out as many words for her.

            When it was time for us to do our own activities with the children, I decided to download a free app called SightWords. It’s an app that it designed to teach the child to recognize common words by sight and sound. Since there would be a lot of people around in the library, I decided to only focus on her recognizing words by sight. There were different grade levels but I focused on hers, which was 2^nd grade. At first, we just started with the words but I realized she was really good at recognizing what the words were. She would only have difficulty with every other 7 or 8 words. So then I decided to have her read three words then make a sentence out of the three words. Then we would take a picture corresponding to that sentence we made. This was really fun to her. She had a great time and loved making up sentences and finding things to take pictures of. It was great because the last sentence we did was something about friends and we took a picture together and she really hugged me tight. It really showed me how just by spending this much time with a child you truly can create a friendship and she was able to break out of her shell and not be as shy.

            I think the experience had its ups and downs. I think that being able to work with the child on your own was difficult at first because there’s so many things you can do but once you find something they like its awesome because they get to have fun and learn at the same time. I also thought that Comic Life and Keynote were fun to work with but I feel like they were similar apps and similar projects to work out within the app.  If I could improve the experience in any way, I would let the children decide what to do with what apps but at the same time to make sure it was educational and not just letting them play games. I liked getting to know each other through the presentations through Comic Life but at the same time, that’s not always entertaining to the child.

Collaborating in the Classroom

According to the video we watched had to watch, both Ms. Jones and Ms. Warburton teach algebra to 8th grade classes. They teach the same things on the same days, have the same homework and as a result their program is very consistent. They plan their lessons together and then if they don't like something they did in that lesson, they can come back and talk about things they can change. They both want their students to know sometimes you don't always get the right answer but you just, as Ms. Warburton says it, "tiger up" and keep going. 
Ms. Warburton states that confusion leads to learning. She talks about how if they are confused, then they are learning. She also says that if they don't get something right the first time then guess and check until they get it right. They should expect confusion and expect struggle because its not going to come easy to them. Once they get and and move past it, that's what learning is. According to an online resource, Quantum Progress also agrees that confusion leads to learning. He states that 

"Without some confusion, students can easily fall into seeing learning as simply a ladder to be climbed—a set of facts or procedures to be memorized. It is the confusion that pushes them to stop, assess what they know and with proper guidance and motivation, work toward deep understanding."

He says that confusion gives them steps to follow which helps the students to learn better. One example I liked that Ms. Warburton used is that during warm ups when they are checking their own work in red pen they put two stars if they get it right, one star if they get it wrong but understand it after going over it and no stars if they got it wrong and still don't understand why they got it wrong. That way they can go back and go over that problem and understand what they learned. Another method that I liked about her teaching style was that she has four different gears she uses when doing work in the classroom. First is active listening. Then they go into independent work which is working silently by themselves. Then from there they go into a study group where each of them have their own work but can collaborate with each other to find out their answer. Finally is when they talk as a class which is good because they already have experience from collaborating with each other.
Ms. Jones on the other hand, has her own teaching style, too. She is very enthusiastic and loves to talk with her students. She focuses more on having them discuss so they can learn. She says that if they are engaged they think what they say really matters. She wants them to talk during warm ups and while they do that, ask how they are doing. She tells them that its good if their wrong so they can talk about it. According to the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching at the University of Michigan, they think discussions are a good way for students to get engaged as well. They said that 

"Discussions help students apply abstract ideas and think critically about what they learn. In fact, studies show that discussions build students’ problem-solving skills more effectively than do lectures."

One example that Ms. Jones uses that after warm ups is she has them go into their notes to make ideas about what they are learning. It's not a lecture but more about them being involved. It gives them time to do math and more time for Ms. Jones and the whole class to record their work. Another method Ms. Jones uses that I liked was how she gave all her students roles when they work in groups. When they were working on factoring she assigned one person to be the multiplier, one person to combine like terms and two people to be the lead writers so they can check they have the right things written down. It's a way to build confidence because math is hard and sometimes students feel negative about it but when they work in groups they are prepared to be challenged and keep trying until they finally get it after doing the different things the group was communicating about.



References

http://quantumprogress.wordpress.com/2011/04/22/embracing-confusion-as-a-necessary-part-of-learning-part-1/

http://www.crlt.umich.edu/tstrategies/tsd

http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/blog/what-could-be

http://www.123rf.com/photo_11679848_focused-pupils-working-together-in-a-classroom.html

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/algebra-team-teacher-collaboration?resume

iPads In The Classroom

Do you remember 10 years ago when the only thing someone could take notes on were a piece of paper with a writing utensil? Well this generation is a little different. A lot of schools are now getting in the habit of using iPads. Apple created this device to not only change the lives of ordinary people, but the class room as well. Apple has provided apps like:

• iBooks to provide class textbooks 
• iTunes U to help teachers out with lessons and creating their own courses
• Comic Life to help children create their own presentations 
• Hairy Letters to help children understand words, letters, shapes and sizes

Aside from these apps, there are thousands of apps for whatever grade level and subject a teacher would want to teach. Now instead of asking a question to the teacher and them not knowing the answer, children can just find out the answer in an app instead. Also, instead of the teacher telling their students to bring all their textbooks to class every day, they only have to bring their iPads instead. Now they can go over things in the classroom that they read for homework and be able to go over it more easily. They get to interact with animations, play games to reinforce learning and learn to form each shape with just a simple touch.

The Journal says that iPads are being used in the classroom more often then not, so authors of textbooks are specifically designing their books for the iPad. Some of the most interesting applications are the ones that allow for:

• Student creativity
• Critical thinking
• Students doing things on their own

According to The Journal, an instructional technology coordinator of Arlington Public schools said that the iPad is emerging as a tool that can greatly enhance educational technology.

One elementary school that has been experimenting with iPads in the class room is Grant Elementary School. All their third grade classroom's are being exposed to this advanced technology so they can learn in a more dynamic and relevant way to advance learning. 

There are so many app's that you can get for each type of student. Some types include:

• Elementary Level
• Middle School Level
• High School Level
• College Level
• Science Apps
• Math Apps

The most useful apps are the ones that the children can use. There are apps to help kids learn math that can quiz them about each topic they are learning about. There are apps to help kids learn science that go over each chapter they are talking about in class. The amount of Resources are never ending.  

The good thing about giving the students the iPads is that it takes minimal training to learn how to start using them. A teacher can just give it to them and they will start playing around with it and will go to any app they want and just learn how to use it on their own. Some apps will probably need teacher assistance but most of them the students just do by themselves. Some Teacher's like Jennifer Kohn, use the iPad when its meaningful to enrich, extend, or introduce what students are learning in the classroom. Her class has used their iPads to interact with storybooks, brainstorm ideas for creative writing, and to learn mathematics.
Overall, the iPad has helped classrooms a lot and the usage of them in classrooms is growing rapidly. So, it is time to say Goodbye Textbooks, Hello iPad.

References

Jamestown Elementary School (2010) Portrait of iPad in Classroom (Photograph) Retrieved September 5, 2012 from 
http://jamestownelementary.blogspot.com/2010/11/jamestown-ipad-integration-project.html
Tchekmedyian, A. (2012) Kindergarden Students using iPad in the Classroom (Photograph) Retrieved September 5, 2012 from
http://www.easyreadernews.com/46222/manhattan-beach-unified-ipad-pilot/