Biological Development and Differentiation-How are they Related?

3. Differentiation– The teacher acquires and uses specific knowledge about students’ cultural, individual intellectual and social development and uses that knowledge to adjust their practice by employing strategies that advance student learning.

One thing I am always striving to learn more about is the idea of differentiation in education. There are so many pieces of the puzzle that determine the most effective way to teach that as educators, we must be aware of these differences in our students and up to date on the best ways to incorporate these differences. Throughout Learners in Context, we have really explored the biological side of how student’s develop and have been encouraged to apply this to our teaching practices. Two things that stood out to me the most were Piaget’s stage theory and it’s commentaries and the biology of how our memory works.

Piaget’s stage theory states that at each part of a child’s development they acquire new moral judgment capabilities at various stages. Various commentaries about this discuss the rigidity of his stages and introduce more fluid development of certain abilities (Presseley and McCormick, 2007). Regardless of which stage theory is “correct”; the idea that children progress through these stages is the take away. As teachers we should be aware of what stage our students are in so as to tailor our lessons and curriculum to be the most appropriate. It would not be at all effective to be expecting a high level of moral reasoning or behavior (focus on social contract) with younger students who may be more apt to understand the idea of “being a good boy or a good girl” (Presseley and McCormick, 2007). The first concept would be way over their heads and the outcome would be disappointing for a teacher when their student’s do not respond how they wish.

The most important thing about the development and storage of memories is how they are initially encoded. Teaching through discovery will attach the most meaning and significance to an idea, which then leads to a greater chance that the new material will be stored and successfully retrieved later on (Module 4 Lecture Slides, 2015). In order to elicit the most effective memory storage, I want to incorporate as much discovery into my classroom through either constructivism or questioning. With mathematics, both processes would be useful and students would be more engaged in their learning as compared to a direct instruction delivery of the content.

Both of these pieces help teachers to differentiate their teaching by planning the most applicable and engaging lessons for their students. The more we know about what is going on in the brains of our students, the easier it will be to tailor our curriculum in their favor.

Baliram, N. (Instructor) (2015). COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: MIND AS COMPUTER, OR INFORMATION PROCESSING THEORY. Lecture conducted from Seattle Pacific University.

Pressley, M. & McCormick, C. B. (2007). Child adolescent development for educators. New York, NY: GuilfordPress.

Keys to a Positive Classroom Environment

5. Learning Environment – The teacher fosters and manages a safe and inclusive learning environment that takes into account: physical, emotional and intellectual well-being.

Throughout EDU 6130: Classroom Management, we addressed all parts of program standard 5 associated with fostering a safe and inclusive learning environment. A few ways to do this include differentiating instruction, promoting a positive classroom environment and utilizing effective management techniques. These tools create a smooth running classroom, which leads to an effective and productive environment for students to reach their full academic potential but for this reflection I am going to focus on differentiated instruction as a means of fostering student’s emotional and intellectual well-being.

Differentiating instruction addresses the idea of intellectual well being for students. By allowing and accommodating for different levels of student achievement and interest, students can take ownership of their learning (Huff, 2015). To do this, teachers must be explicit and direct in their assignment instructions and anticipated end goal (Wong & Wong. 2009). This facilitates a road map for students to follow and helps them to reflect on if they have met that end goal at the end of the assignment. When differentiating instruction, the process may be different for students but the end goal or expected outcome will be the same, that they have mastered a new skill or concept (Huff, 2015). Below is a video showing one teacher’s path to differentiating her social studies course. This method in particular highlights the “different method, same outcome” idea discussed above. When students feel that they can master the material either independently, in groups or as a whole class, they will feel more inclined and driven to put forth their best effort on a daily basis. When this occurs, students become emotionally and intellectually stimulated and learning occurs at a more meaningful and internal level.

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/differentiating-instruction-strategy

In my classroom, I would like to provide different ways for students to master the required content. This may not occur on a daily basis but at the end of each unit students could come up with a project of their own choosing in order to demonstrate mastery of the material. I observed a high school math teacher whose calculus class did just that. They were able to choose what kind of project they wanted to do so long as they showed that they understood various aspects of the topics they covered throughout the course. While they had to incorporate three different concepts, I would want to do similar projects one concept at a time and at multiple points throughout the school year. The students enjoyed this assignment because they were able to incorporate other aspects of their education such as art, writing, videography or even a simple math demonstration.

Differentiating with Learning Menus. (n.d.). Retrieved July 21, 2015, from https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/differentiating-instruction-strategy

Huff, E. (2015). Classroom Management: Session 8 [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from https://bbweb03.spu.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_87019_1&content_id=_1077175_1

Wong, H., & Wong, R. (2009). How to Create an Effective Assignment. In The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher (pp. 223-245).