Students bring to the classroom a wide range of
skills and abilities. As a responsive teacher, I make sure that all my
students’ needs and different learning skills and abilities are addressed
effectively by differentiating instruction, providing students with choice,
selecting activities that are interesting and engaging, and monitoring student
learning by continuously assessing students formally and informally.
To begin with, differentiating instruction is a
very effective way to make sure all students have access to a challenging
curriculum at their level of academic performance. In other words differentiated
instruction allows my students to learn at their own pace without watering down
the curriculum or lowering expectations. In this way, all my students will be
able to learn through multiple assignments tailored to their individual needs and
their own level of achievement. I always plan learning center activities that
are geared to diverse learning styles, readiness, and levels of interest. Also,
I make sure that my students have the opportunity to meet with me daily to conference
about their learning progress, reading, and writing. I achieve this through
guided reading, center work, math workshop, and conferences during writing
workshop.
Second, all students should be able to choose activities
and assignments. I make sure that I have a student-centered classroom where
students are not only able to choose their assignments but also they are able
to choose how they want to demonstrate what they have learned. For example, at
the reading center my students can choose books that they want to read and they
can also choose how they want to show what they learned -completing a graphic
organizer, writing a book review, writing a letter to the author, etc. Providing
students with choices and opportunities to explore topics in which they have a
strong interest makes learning more exciting.
Third, I always select activities that are
motivating and engaging for my students. Cooperative learning strategies,
involving students in asking and answering their own questions, think pair
share, one minute papers, learning centers, individual and group projects, are
some of the strategies that effectively engage my students.
Finally, I make sure that I continuously assess my
students, whether it is a formal or informal assessment, they both provide data
that allows me to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses. It allows me to
provide feedback, monitor progress, and narrow gaps in learning. Ongoing
assessment allows me to make educated instructional decisions to support my
student learning and progress.
All these strategies help me to address the wide range of skills,
abilities, and learning styles that my students bring to the classroom.
