Graduate:
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of strategies for differentiating teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities. |
Proficient:
Develop teaching activities that incorporate differentiated strategies to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities. |
Highly Accomplished:
Evaluate learning and teaching programs, using student assessment data, that are differentiated for the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities. |
Lead:
Lead colleagues to evaluate the effectiveness of learning and teaching programs differentiated for the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities. |
I have an awareness of the diverse nature of students and value the unique differences that each student brings into the learning environment. Through teaching practice in mainstream, public and independent primary schools as well as in a special options class, combined with employment as an SSO at an R-12 special school, ECW employment at a kindergarten and work in a vacation care setting; I have developed experience responding to the needs of a diverse range of students. Experience in a diverse range of educational contexts has enabled me to model inclusive and engaging teaching strategies to respond to the needs of students from various ages, disabilities, linguistic abilities, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds.
I have high expectations of all my students and differentiate learning to meet individual students' needs. Students may require learning tasks to be differentiated according to their readiness of skills and knowledge in a particular topic, their interest or learning profile or preference.
I have provided examples of some of the differentiation strategies utilised within my classroom to support learning within diverse students.
I have high expectations of all my students and differentiate learning to meet individual students' needs. Students may require learning tasks to be differentiated according to their readiness of skills and knowledge in a particular topic, their interest or learning profile or preference.
I have provided examples of some of the differentiation strategies utilised within my classroom to support learning within diverse students.
Differentiation Strategies
RAFT:
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During my university studies, I completed the topic "Differentiation for Diverse Learners' which equipped me with knowledge, tools and strategies in differentiating tasks and assessment to cater for a diverse range of students' needs. One of the differentiation strategies was a RAFT (Role, Audience, Format, Topic) which is an assessment tool that provides students with choice and control over their assessment piece.
I developed this RAFT as an assessment for a Year 3 Science topic on Animal Life Cycles. The RAFT represents a task which has been differentiated by learning profile, interest and readiness. Students' various learning profiles are considered as they are given the chance to select how they want to present their project. The RAFT is differentiated by interest, allowing students to pick an audience, role and a topic from either green or orange (depending on which group they are allocated in). The task is differentiated by interests for the main reason that students get to pick which animal they would like to study for their project, based on their preference of animals explored throughout the unit. The RAFT addresses two groups of readiness for this lesson, including Group 1 (orange) which represents the ‘more ready’ minority and Group 2 (green) which represents the ‘less ready’ group. It presents options in topics for the orange group to select from, allowing them to expand on their existing knowledge of the selected animals’ life cycle as well as providing opportunities to engage in transformational learning such as critical or analytical thinking. The RAFT provides options in the topics for the green group to choose from, allowing them to refine their essential understanding of the selected animal’s life cycle, through topics such as demonstrating the stages of the life cycle.
I developed this RAFT as an assessment for a Year 3 Science topic on Animal Life Cycles. The RAFT represents a task which has been differentiated by learning profile, interest and readiness. Students' various learning profiles are considered as they are given the chance to select how they want to present their project. The RAFT is differentiated by interest, allowing students to pick an audience, role and a topic from either green or orange (depending on which group they are allocated in). The task is differentiated by interests for the main reason that students get to pick which animal they would like to study for their project, based on their preference of animals explored throughout the unit. The RAFT addresses two groups of readiness for this lesson, including Group 1 (orange) which represents the ‘more ready’ minority and Group 2 (green) which represents the ‘less ready’ group. It presents options in topics for the orange group to select from, allowing them to expand on their existing knowledge of the selected animals’ life cycle as well as providing opportunities to engage in transformational learning such as critical or analytical thinking. The RAFT provides options in the topics for the green group to choose from, allowing them to refine their essential understanding of the selected animal’s life cycle, through topics such as demonstrating the stages of the life cycle.
Pre-assessment:
Below is an example of a pre-assessment which I developed and used to test students prior knowledge on nouns and use of capital letters and full stops. This enabled me to gain an idea of the different readiness levels of students and plan differentiated lessons accordingly. Some students required more instruction time, SSO support or visual information such as songs about capital letters, fulls stops and nouns.
Click images for a larger view
Lesson Plans:
When lesson planning, I plan and consider differentiated teaching strategies and/or accommodations to support the needs of students in the class. Click here to view a copy of a lesson plan that I developed during my placement in an R-3 special options class, which includes notes considering differentiation and accommodations such as materials/resources, type of support and grouping.
Click here to view an annotated lesson plan with resources which was developed for a Year 3 History lesson to cater for different readiness levels of students. This lesson plan was developed as an assignment for the university topic 'Differentiation for Diverse Learners'.
Click here to view an annotated lesson plan with resources which was developed for a Year 3 History lesson to cater for different readiness levels of students. This lesson plan was developed as an assignment for the university topic 'Differentiation for Diverse Learners'.
Anchor Activity:
This is an example of an anchor activity which was developed to accompany a lesson for a Year 3 class on animal life cycles. An anchor activity is an additional task that students can undertake once they have finished the task set from the lesson. It is a task that is related to the unit content and allows students to extend their thinking. Students can work independently on an anchor activity so the teacher can provide support to the other students completing the set task.
Supporting Statement from 2014 Final Practicum Report
"Sophie's planning and implementing of lessons showed a depth of knowledge of different learning dispositions. Sophie took the opportunity in her visit days to observe and interact with each child to understand their learning strengths; this information was then applied in her lesson planning. Sophie took the opportunity to differentiate her learning outcomes and practices for students; which was demonstrated by offering extra support tools for students during Maths lessons."
L.Parletta, mentor teacher