Control teaching and learning quality
What is differentiation?
Differentiation is usually presented as a teaching approach where teachers think of learners as individuals and learning as a personalised process. According to Alyce Hunter in Differentiated Instruction in the English Classroom “Differentiated instruction is a recognition that students vary in their needs, interests, abilities, and prior knowledge. It's a springboard from which students work toward the same ends, but they use different content, processes, and products to get there. It's all about successfully teaching each student. And it can be done in the regular English classroom.”
Differentiation is predominantly supported in the following ways:
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Role of the learner
Understanding individual learners is vital for successful differentiation. In order to be effective, figuring out what the individual already knows or can do is a vital step in the process.
Getting to know learners is, however, more than just finding out what they know. It is also about a broader understanding of learner difference. Learners and their learning can be different for a number of reasons: they may have different levels of interest in the topic; they may have differences in their levels of motivation, their ability to remember information, their confidence, the accuracy of their handwriting, their levels of vocabulary acquisition.
Having knowledge of the individual helps teachers to plan for learning rather than teaching, and ensures that they are always supporting progress. In a differentiated classroom, teachers and learners collaborate in learning and learners have ownership and responsibility. Offering choice can encourage ownership of individual work and learning, creating a learning environment in which learners ‘have no fear’ and apply effort.
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Differentiation at Vinschool
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Scaffolding
Scaffolding, a metaphor to describe the process of learning support that enables learners to go beyond what they are initially able to do, can be a key component of successful differentiation.
Guidelines for Implementing ScaffoldingThe following points can be used as guidelines when implementing instructional scaffolding (adapted from Hogan and Pressley, 1997).
(Adapted from Northern Illinois University) |
Group work
Teachers should employ variety in their classrooms, using a mixture of whole-class instruction, one-to-one work, small group work and peer tutoring. Group work is suggested by many as a good way to differentiate as learners working in groups are able to create knowledge with their peers, help each other to learn, use discussion and apportion tasks based on the relative strengths of the group.
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Group work
Teachers should employ variety in their classrooms, using a mixture of whole-class instruction, one-to-one work, small group work and peer tutoring. Group work is suggested by many as a good way to differentiate as learners working in groups are able to create knowledge with their peers, help each other to learn, use discussion and apportion tasks based on the relative strengths of the group.
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Group work
Teachers should employ variety in their classrooms, using a mixture of whole-class instruction, one-to-one work, small group work and peer tutoring. Group work is suggested by many as a good way to differentiate as learners working in groups are able to create knowledge with their peers, help each other to learn, use discussion and apportion tasks based on the relative strengths of the group.
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