Weekly
Overview
This
week began with our teaching showing us some new resources for warm up/start up
questions. I loved the ideas and
questions provided by both of these sites so I will attach them at the end of
this post. For the remainder of the
class, we discussed the goals of teaching mathematics and how differentiated
instruction is vital to these goals.
This discussion included different strategies and examples of how to use
differentiated instruction in the classroom.
What
is something this week that you will remember and use in your classroom?
As I mentioned above, this week we discussed the importance of differentiated instruction. I always knew how important differentiated instruction was, but I never felt as though I was given a significant amount of education on the topic. This class I learned that there are two goals of teaching mathematics: consider the needs to address all learners and make sure the math focused on is important. Basically, the first goal states that as teachers, we need to consider differentiated instruction all the time. Prior to this class, I had previously believed that differentiated instruction was only during the process of teaching or when choosing assessment methods – I now know that this is not the case. Especially in a subject that so many students have difficulty in. As a teacher, when planning lessons, I need to consider a student’s readiness to learn, their individual interests, and how each student learns best. Although it is a lot to consider, it is also important to remember how important it is in determining each student’s success.
Thankfully, we learned different strategies on how to ask students questions that foster all of the different learning styles. These include: open questions and parallel tasks. Although I’ve talked about open questions in a previous post, I am starting to recognize how useful of a tool they are in a classroom due to the number of opportunities that these types of questions welcome in the classroom – and that’s just from wording a question a certain way. For example, I could give a class two triangles that look like these:
As I mentioned above, this week we discussed the importance of differentiated instruction. I always knew how important differentiated instruction was, but I never felt as though I was given a significant amount of education on the topic. This class I learned that there are two goals of teaching mathematics: consider the needs to address all learners and make sure the math focused on is important. Basically, the first goal states that as teachers, we need to consider differentiated instruction all the time. Prior to this class, I had previously believed that differentiated instruction was only during the process of teaching or when choosing assessment methods – I now know that this is not the case. Especially in a subject that so many students have difficulty in. As a teacher, when planning lessons, I need to consider a student’s readiness to learn, their individual interests, and how each student learns best. Although it is a lot to consider, it is also important to remember how important it is in determining each student’s success.
Thankfully, we learned different strategies on how to ask students questions that foster all of the different learning styles. These include: open questions and parallel tasks. Although I’ve talked about open questions in a previous post, I am starting to recognize how useful of a tool they are in a classroom due to the number of opportunities that these types of questions welcome in the classroom – and that’s just from wording a question a certain way. For example, I could give a class two triangles that look like these:
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| Retrieved From: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Congruent_non-congruent_triangles.svg/2000px-Congruent_non-congruent_triangles.svg.png |
By just giving them this picture, I
could ask them, “What do these triangles have in common? What makes them different?” From these simple, open-ended questions,
students with different learning styles all get a chance to inquire and develop
their math processes. Students have the
opportunity to reflect on what they
know about triangles, make inferences and reason,
connect to other concepts, and communicate their ideas. All of that, just by wording a question a
certain way.
Parallel
tasks are also a great tool to use when trying to cater to the different levels
of learning. This is especially useful
in a classroom that might contain two different grade levels (ie. 7/8 split
class). Parallel tasks are two or more
tasks, each at different developmental levels, that all question the same big
idea or concept. An example given was:
I love this question because it is
basically the exact same question, simply two different shapes. However, there is a large difference in
difficulty levels. In the curriculum,
the area and perimeter of a circle is not taught until grade eight, whereas the
area and perimeter of a rectangle is taught much earlier than that. Without realizing, students are getting a
form of differentiated learning, just by altering the question slightly. One thing that I was worried about when we
were discussing parallel tasks is that students will just take the simpler
question. I was surprised to learn that
this actually isn’t the case – students typically take the question that suits
their development level. I also love
these types of questions because even though a student might be able to answer
a more difficult question, they might not want to. Students have their own personal lives and
that often influences the extent in which they want to engage in their
schoolwork. So if something is going on
in their life that makes them not want to try in class, it is not possible for
them to get in trouble for a lack of trying.
They can choose to do the simpler question one day, while still getting
the benefits from the lesson. Similar to
open-ended questions, the opportunities these strategies provide are endless.
Overall, I am very pleased with what I have learned this week. I feel like I have gotten some more ideas on how to differentiate instruction in my future math classrooms. However, this does not stop me from worrying about being able to cater to each of my students’ individual learning profiles and where I will find the time to do it – but I think that this is just a worry that will have to go away with time and experience. I look forward to learning more about differentiated instruction and beginning to look towards differentiated assessment in math classrooms. For those interested in the warm-up questions mentioned earlier, below are the links:
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| Amy Lin (September 28, 2016) - Week #4 Powerpoint |
Overall, I am very pleased with what I have learned this week. I feel like I have gotten some more ideas on how to differentiate instruction in my future math classrooms. However, this does not stop me from worrying about being able to cater to each of my students’ individual learning profiles and where I will find the time to do it – but I think that this is just a worry that will have to go away with time and experience. I look forward to learning more about differentiated instruction and beginning to look towards differentiated assessment in math classrooms. For those interested in the warm-up questions mentioned earlier, below are the links:
Hi Heather,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post this week! I particularly liked your discussion on parallel tasks and how they can be implemented in the classroom, especially when you have split grade levels or different learning levels within your class. I also thought that when given the opportunity between an easier or a harder question, some students would automatically choose the easier question. I no longer think in this way because I realized that students have an internal awareness of their learning level, and they can recognize which question is within their reach. I've tutored a number of different students, all with varying learning levels, and I've observed that students get bored with repeated mathematical drill problems. Often times, the textbook will provide a number of questions that are focused on the same mathematical concepts, in the same format, but with new wording or numbers. If a student works through one problem and has a good understanding of how to solve it, he/she will not want to try the same re-worded question again. The student will get bored of these types of questions, and move onto a more challenging one to solve.
However, I believe that by giving students the options, we are giving them the opportunity to reflect on their own math capabilities and limitations, and make an informed decision on which option/question they should be solving. I thought it was really interesting that you mentioned that the different options would help students who are going through a hard time or having a bad day. If they are having a bad day, they might be distracted and have trouble focusing, so an easier question might be more within their reach on this particular day!
Thanks so much for sharing Heather!
Dayna