Distracted by Differentiation

Last week, the topic on the Twitter #edchat was differentiated instruction (archived here). Steven Anderson did a great job summarizing the discussion in his post, What Exactly is Differentiation?

A few tweets in particular resonated with me. One said, "I have 130 students - how can I differentiate for all of them?" (Good question. You can't). Another said, "Differentiated Instruction requires differentiated assessment." (Absolutely!) A third tweet pointed out the need to have students determine their own learning styles through the use of surveys or inventories.

Unfortunately, this was another missed opportunity to explore the tenets of Universal Design for Learning. Everyone knows the buzzwords of Differentiation Instruction, DI for short, or Understanding by Design, UBD, or Multiple Intelligences Theory. Where was the conversation about UDL?

When UDL principles are embedded proactively into the curriculum, differentiation occurs seamlessly. UDL is about multiple methods - of engaging kids, of presenting material to them and then giving students multiple ways to demonstrate what they have learned. When it is incorporated in the curriculum, there is no need for learning style inventories. There's no need for a teacher to feel overwhelmed because they have 25, 50 100 or even 130 students. It's part of the presentation, the engagement, the expression. It's all about offering choices to reach all the students in your classroom, every period of every day. The one size fits all approach never worked. Now there are more resources than ever before to help your students succeed.

It's so much easier than differentiation. And it reaches all learners. Why aren't you using UDL principles to reach every student?

Additional UDL Resources:
What is UDL?
UDL Guidelines (presented using UDL principles)
UDL Lesson Builder
UDL YouTube Channel
UDL For All Ning
Free UDL Tech Toolkit

One Size Does Not Fit All

It happened again.

Another mother reported to me that her 8th grade son "absolutely hates school." He stayed home today and is falling further behind. What's the issue this time? The short answer is he has to create a brochure about himself for a class assignment.

Sounds creative. Uses technology, and we certainly want to see that! Teacher probably wants to better understand their students...

Yes, but for this student, it is a nightmare assignment because it is a one size fits all approach for the students in the classroom and he doesn't know where to begin.

How many times have we discussed differentiation or universal design for learning? I'm not sure what the learning outcome is for this assignment, but what are some other ways that the end product could be accomplished?

Here are some ideas that offer choices, that can tap into the student's strengths instead of reinforce his learning challenges:

1. Create a brochure using software of your choice. (OK, we can keep this one, maybe there are some students who love to create brochures using Publisher, or Word or something similar.)

2. Digital storytelling - tell the story of your life using any tool that works best for you - Voice Thread, iPhoto, iMovie, Slideshare, PhotoStory 3, PowerPoint, etc. Combine audio, visual, and text in ways that enhance the audience's understanding of your story.

3. Create a podcast - Interview family members about how your life impacts them, how your parents' lives changed; record your own story. (possibilities are endless.)

4. As a class, think of some alternative ways to share life stories. (Some students may prefer to create a poster, others may want to create a cereal box, some may come up with totally different ideas.)

Whatever you do, offer MULTIPLE MEANS OF EXPRESSION!! One size doesn't fit all. And that is certainly true in our classrooms.

Thoughts? Other suggestions?

Tranforming the World - One Teacher at a Time

Last week, I had the opportunity to be the keynote speaker at a symposium on "Differentiated Instruction and Literacy" sponsored by The Reading Institute in Williamstown, MA. There were about 120 educators in attendance and less than a handful knew anything about blogging or the power of new technologies for education. The symposium was part of a five day course offered by Simmons College which emphasized the use of assistive and emerging technologies to improve literacy.
As one of the final assignments, the instructor, Madalaine Pugliese, asked the participants in the Simmons Course (I think there were about 40 educators) to reflect upon all they had learned as part of a Multimedia Reflection Assignment. Read the comments and you will see the transformation of many of these educators from timid digital novices to educators who now were thinking outside the box.

Here are a sampling of excerpts:

Up until now, I have been only using the Web as a resource for myself and sharing websites with interested parties (such as enchantedlearning.com for great projects with younger students, Journey North at www.learner.org/jnorth/, and puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com for creating word searches with vocabulary words). Now I am looking at the Web in entirely new ways. The students I work with, one on one, have had so much failure in their lives they feel all alone in the world, like nothing they do matters. They don't care. They are not interested, and they definitely do not think anyone else is interested either. When I think about all the ways that we have just been connected to the rest of the world, I feel empowered to do the same for my students. I want them to create podcasts that connect them to students across the world. I want them to be able to share their successes when they work in the bike shop or build a project in the workshop. I want them engaged and excited about their own student-driven projects that are meaningful to them personally and that they can take pride in creating and sharing.

I shared some of the videos with my oldest son and we talked about all of the things I had learned during our technological immersion. After a while, he began to smile and, in his way, reminded me of the great divide between the digital natives and immigrants. He was amazed that we had all spent money to learn about computers and the internet. He asked why I didn’t just sit down and learn to do it myself. That’s the biggest difference between the native and the immigrants………..they believe they can learn to do anything they want with the right tools.

Allowing my students to create visual representations to demonstrate comprehension of something they have read will not only add some variety to the task but will also allow them to use their strengths.

Most of my generation learned through books, articles, lectures/classes, and workshops. As the Internet invaded my world, I did not take it serious and ‘heard’ or knew only of the hazards and pitfalls of how dangerous it was. My school computer has more locks and blocks on it than Fort Knox! Clearly, these are signs to stay away. But as higher education is changing, professors are quietly guiding us (well, maybe not so quietly) to explore websites that are positive, inspirational, and informational.

Read Kathy Reck's post about her student, Joey, and how she would extend writing activities to take advantage of 21st century tools.

Love to see this kind of "digital energy" that makes learning engaging, exciting and fun!

These educators "get it!" And they are using the rest of the summer to explore the tools on their own to incorporate into their classrooms. How cool is that? The transformation continues, one teacher at a time.

(The picture is the Hairpin Turn on the Mohawk Trail driving to Williamstown from Boston. Quite exhilarating, something like being a virgin keynote speaker!)

Classroom Participation - Leveling the Playing Field

Yesterday, I talked with my son about the classroom discussion regarding the assigned reading from "Grapes of Wrath," by Steinbeck. (He downloaded the book from Bookshare.org and reads it using Kurzweil 3000.) You see, although my son uses assistive technology to independently access the curriculum, he still struggles with demonstrating what he knows. Classroom participation? He prays he doesn't get called on and I don't think he was called on more than twice in last year's English class! This year, I'm not sure. He likes this English teacher better but Mel Levine's quote that I referenced on a previous blog, certainly applies here. (Avoiding humiliation at all costs.)

So, how do kids like my son participate in class discussions? How do we include all learners in thoughtful analysis and synthesis of material when they want to avoid humiliation? How do we provide a classroom environment that supports their need for more time to process the questions and think through their answers? Exchange of ideas is a crucial element in the learning process and these students are missing out on an important part of learning.

Did you say....use blogs? Of course!

This is just one more reason to employ blogging in the classroom because it offers a vehicle for involvement, participation and discussion for students who struggle with processing, executive functions, vocabulary, or are just shy and quiet. Blogs provide a forum for discussion by leveling the playing field - there are no teacher favorites, students have as much time as necessary to post their reponses, they can respond without interruption (or fear of humiliation) and they can use grade level vocabulary because they have time to process information. They can also use text-to-speech to edit their work prior to posting. This is an example of effective differentiated instruction.

Do teachers get that?