My new school has a unique practice. The leaders purchase How to Differentiate Instruction in Academically Diverse Classrooms by the renowned Carol Ann Tomlinson.
Not only that, time is set aside during Professional Development for teachers to group together and share their takeaways from a particular chapter. To make sure that the discussion is focused and rich, they use the below Reflection Model:
What?
- Prior to reading this, I have always deeply appreciated how catering to students’ interests enhances their motivation to learn. This chapter brought forth the idea that a dynamic teacher will create new interests in their students. This makes me mindful of the need to broaden their horizons.
- I particularly liked the idea about having students interview the adults around them to find out the relevance of Mathematics in their working life. School is typically stereotyped to be divorced from the real world, so having students gain ‘outsider’ perspectives enables them to appreciate the authentic applications of a subject. By interviewing people, students also get to deepen their relationships.
So what?
3. I need to find a way to integrate students’ existing interests into my lessons, even if I feel pressured to complete the worksheets and prepare them for the national examination. For example, I am teaching my students about the plant transport system. I could ask their parents if they are currently growing plants at home and find out if they are into gardening.
4. I also got the idea that skilful teachers will allow their students to try new forms of expression, such as drama, photojournalism and symposium. I’m quite excited about trying out this idea because this will allow me to understand my students’ personality and celebrate their individuality.
5. When I implement interest-based differentiation, I need to be mindful of students’ learning gaps and be proactive about providing the necessary scaffolding. For instance, a teacher described in the chapter provided mini lessons on research. I might need to do likewise with Google NotebookLM
6. I could, for instance, seek parents’ help to get their children to create a model of the plant transport system. Doing so would help me understand their knowledge base and misconceptions, which provides invaluable information in helping me plan subsequent interest-based differentiated lessons.
Now what?
7. I could borrow a series of books on sports from the school library and get my students to organise them into groups based on their favourite sport. Then, they will work together to create an article on their preferred sport for the class newsletter.
8. I could ask the strongest students in my class to write a piece about something that rocks their socks. I have students from the Philippines, so perhaps they can enlighten me about an aspect of Filipino culture. 🇵🇭