Strategies for Differentiated Instruction in Elementary
Elementary differentiation should be proactive and have a lot of thought about what should happen with individual students. You should see very different things going on with each student during the same class time. Some students may be doing a hands on project, others could be using technology, and others students could be doing written work. However they are all working around a central theme or subject. When teaching you will be looking at students in terms of readiness, learning profiles, learning styles and in terms of their ability. As you make those determinations you’re doing to be assigning tasks to all students. You will see purposeful movement, students aware of the goal of the activity and everyone engaged in respectful work that makes all students feel successful.
It's important that primary students have a goal to become individuals. They have many different needs so our teaching goals should be showing students how to be responsible for their own learning. This can begin as young as preschool. At the beginning of the year teach students all the simple things they should be doing throughout the day. For example guidelines and rules. Prepare students to know how to get help with they need it for example having an expert of the day. And then have students ask the expert of the day before you ask the teacher. Also have students ask 3 other students what they should be doing before they ask the teacher. Have steps clearly in front of each student and have something in place if they complete the task early. Be flexible enough to say that you may have something important enough that you can be interrupted.
It's important that primary students have a goal to become individuals. They have many different needs so our teaching goals should be showing students how to be responsible for their own learning. This can begin as young as preschool. At the beginning of the year teach students all the simple things they should be doing throughout the day. For example guidelines and rules. Prepare students to know how to get help with they need it for example having an expert of the day. And then have students ask the expert of the day before you ask the teacher. Also have students ask 3 other students what they should be doing before they ask the teacher. Have steps clearly in front of each student and have something in place if they complete the task early. Be flexible enough to say that you may have something important enough that you can be interrupted.
Technology Tools
https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/project/art-project
Google Art Project- This is a great resource for students of all ages. I would use this in my classroom for students to use if they are finished with the completed task. Something I learned from one of this weeks videos was that you should have tasks that students can use if they complete their assignment early so that they aren’t just sitting doing nothing. This would be perfect to have open on the classroom computer or smart board for students to browse if they have free time.
http://www.mnh.si.edu/africanvoices/mudcloth/index_flash.html
This interactive website (created by the Smithsonian natural history museum) is an awesome tool for the art classroom. It allows students to learn about the history of mud cloths and Malian artists. It allows students to create their own bogolanfini right there on the website. This would be great to do with the whole class on the smart board or take students into the computer lab and allow them to create and print their own before a project.
Google Art Project- This is a great resource for students of all ages. I would use this in my classroom for students to use if they are finished with the completed task. Something I learned from one of this weeks videos was that you should have tasks that students can use if they complete their assignment early so that they aren’t just sitting doing nothing. This would be perfect to have open on the classroom computer or smart board for students to browse if they have free time.
http://www.mnh.si.edu/africanvoices/mudcloth/index_flash.html
This interactive website (created by the Smithsonian natural history museum) is an awesome tool for the art classroom. It allows students to learn about the history of mud cloths and Malian artists. It allows students to create their own bogolanfini right there on the website. This would be great to do with the whole class on the smart board or take students into the computer lab and allow them to create and print their own before a project.