Grouping, Differentiation, and Technology

Describe

This week as a class we examined the ideas surrounding different teaching methods including differentiation, grouping and technology use.  The day and age where students walk into a classroom with the same relative amount of knowledge is done, if it ever existed in the first place.  Kids come from different backgrounds, including culture and education.  It is important to know that students will have very different levels of background knowledge, which has shown to have an enormous effect on student performance (Slavin, 2012).  With varying levels of background knowledge and different levels of performance it is a teacher’s job to do everything that they can in order to make up ground for some learners while expanding the ceiling of others.  This week’s chapter focused on a few instructional techniques that can help teachers with this task.  The first issue addressed was grouping.  There are two distinct forms of grouping that occur in schools.  Although there are several different methods most result from either between-class ability grouping or within-class ability grouping.  Between-class ability grouping occurs when students with similar learning abilities and needs are placed into a class together.  This type of grouping makes it easier for teachers to provide instruction that can accommodate and address these student’s difficulties.  One of the drawbacks of this type of grouping is that the classes are formed out of standardized test scores and not individual performance in certain classes.  In addition to the grouping criteria students can be made to feel ostracized by being in different classes than some of their peers.  In-class ability grouping occurs when students are in a mixed ability class but do work in groups that are based on their abilities.  This is effective when the only option is a mixed ability class.  In-class grouping allows for the teacher to plan according to groups ability levels, rather than each individual student.  Another way teachers and schools can address different ability groups is through differentiation.  This is a technique in which teachers alter the content, delivery, and assessment in order to bring different ability levels to their highest potential.  Examples of differentiation include, providing presentation outlines, different test sheets, and allowing a range of assessment topics for students to choose from.

Analyze

Our class’s discussion topic for the week was building a rapport with at-risk students.  Students that are classified as at-risk are normally in danger of failing grades or dropping out.  Some of the notable reasons include family structure, socioeconomic status and ability level.  This does not mean that students with learning disabilities cannot succeed, but when paired with a bad home life and a low motivation for school it can critically impact their performance.  Our discussion topic paired with the week’s reading did a great job of presenting both sides of mixed ability instruction.  The weekly reading provided a great set of tools and things that can be concretely described as interventions.  We can differentiate our content as well as work our classroom groups to effectively accommodate different students.  These are tangible things that can be documented for our own success through our lesson plans, IEP’s, and portfolios to show that we are trying everything possible to reach all learners.  The discussion topic showed the more abstract side of reaching these students.  Strategies such as identifying student interests, maintaining a trust with students and working to raise motivation cannot all be documented as they are all different in each student.

Reflect

This week’s discussion topic may be the single biggest factor in what we do, building rapport with students.  The topic was for at-risk students but in my professional opinion all students could be considered at-risk.  Even students who perform at a high academic level are at-risk of not realizing or achieving their full potential.  We have to be able to combine research driven techniques and practices with a productive professional relationship between our students.  For my own classroom I have to be aware that I can know every technique and pedagogical tool in the book, but if I can’t relay and apply it to my students because they don’t trust me then those techniques are useless.  Some of the reoccurring themes of this week’s discussion were trust and patience.  Some student’s only nurturing relationship may be between them and a teacher.  It is our job to gain student’s trust in order to teach them, not only academic criteria but also life lessons in character and integrity.  Gaining a trust between me and students can be difficult.  Often time’s students don’t trust adults and even worse, don’t like them, especially authority figures.  Having the patience to seek out new ways to reach these students is an absolute must to become an effective teacher that can impact lives year in and year out.