To differentiate effectively a teacher must recognize that
pupils are individuals so must adapt for their individual needs. A great deal
of attention is given to differentiating for lower ability pupils but it is of
equal importance to differentiate for high ability to ensure they are being
stretched. Tomlinson has stated,
with many differentiated lessons,
all students need to understand the same essential principles and even use the
same key skills. Yet because of variance in student readiness, interest, or
learning profile, children must “come at” the ideas and use the skills in
different ways. (Tomlinson, 1999, p.37)
It was with this notion in mind that when planning a lesson
for my year nine set four class I resolved to differentiate for both high and
low ability pupils. In an earlier lesson I prepared a differentiated hand-out
for the lower ability pupils. I regretted not creating several different
hand-outs to cater to the widely different needs of the lower ability
individuals as well as not differentiating for the highest ability pupil in the
group. With differentiation it is essential to know your learners as different
issues present themselves in different ways.
For the lesson that I am
evaluating I differentiated for both high and low ability during different
periods of the lesson depending on what I anticipated they would need help with
or where they could be stretched. During the lesson in question the class were
introduced to the context of Bram Stoker’s Dracula
and a number of teaching styles were drawn on in the lesson to stimulate and
engage the class. I decided pre-lesson that when it came to class discussion I
would have a hands-down policy so I could choose pupils who don’t always
contribute to class discussion. To bring these pupils out of their shells and,
most importantly, to make them want to contribute, I incorporated a tactile
task using a black box filled with vampire props. I chose pupils to pick items
out and explain to the rest of the class how the item relates to the history of
vampires. One pupil in the class has autistic tendencies and behavioural
issues; he is very reserved during lessons so I made a point of choosing him
and asked him simpler questions in regards to the prop he pulled from the box.
Similarly there is another pupil who is resistant in working with other pupils
and sits away from the group by choice so I decided to ask him to pull a prop
from the box as well. Again I differentiated the types of questions I asked
this pupil. I made good use of the formal assessments the class completed two
weeks previously when deciding to word the questions as this pupil and the
previous one only managed to achieve an E. Overall the class enjoyed this task
and through differentiating the questions these two pupils were able to engage
with the task without feeling overwhelmed by speaking publicly and so they made
a positive contribution to class discussion.
Later on in the lesson I asked
the pupils to complete a fill-in the gaps context hand-out for the history of
the vampire. One SEN pupil has motor skill issues and usually I provide him
with an aid so that he doesn’t fall behind as he struggles to keep up with his
writing. However, this task did not involve copying a stream of text down and
the pupil was able to keep up with the pace of the activity along with his
peers and this was nice to see. I did however differentiate this task for the
high ability pupil in the group. There is one pupil who, during the formal
assessment, achieved a grade B so it was important to differentiate this simpler
task in order to stretch him. Instead of filling in the gaps I asked him to
write a paragraph unaided in his book summarising the history of the vampire in
his own words. I was pleased to see that by the time the rest of the class had
completed their sheets this pupil had written a well-structured contextual
synopsis of the history of the vampire and this was fed back to him; he was
really happy with the work he produced and enjoyed the praise he received.
After this task the class were
shown a range of fascinators designed to represent the various ways the vampire
has been portrayed in the media and how it has evolved over the years. After
engaging in a class discussion I asked the pupils to create two spider-diagrams
in their books: one for the old presentation of the vampire and one for the
new. I did not differentiate for the high ability pupil because I felt he would
develop his ideas to a greater degree to the rest of the class. The pupil with
motor skill issues would not have been able to complete this task unaided so I
provided him with a sheet that had the two spider-diagrams drawn up to save
time. I photocopied a few extra sheets just in case any other pupils struggled
to keep up with the pace. One pupil who is being screened for Asperger’s had
not completed drawing out the spider-diagrams after two minutes so I gave him a
photocopy as well; this enabled him to start the critical thinking part of the
task and he managed to complete it.
For part five of the TS I was
graded a two: “have a range of effective strategies that they can apply to
reduce barriers and respond to the strengths and needs of pupils.” To improve
the quality of differentiation in my classes I now need to “quickly and accurately discern
learners’ strengths and needs; [be] proactive in differentiating and employing
a range of effective intervention strategies.” I must consider differentiating
for other learners in the group and develop a wider range of resources for
activities. This can be achieved by not just looking at assessments and SEN
information but getting to know individuals and their strengths and areas for
improvement. By doing this I may find that I have to differentiate some tasks
for pupils who have lower abilities in one area but also have to differentiate
because they have high abilities in other areas; by doing this I will have a greater
impact on the individual learner’s progression .
