* Differentiated Instruction

Effective teachers make sure to plan instruction strategically so that it targets various student learning types. Effective educators make sure to plan their curriculum and activities not only for students who struggle but also for students who need more rigor in their learning. Differentiating literacy instruction is necessary because not all students read or write at the same level, and by effectively planning their lessons, teachers demonstrate their responsibility and commitment to teaching all students, despite their learning strengths and struggles. “Teachers know that their students vary—in their interests and motivation, their background knowledge and prior experiences, and their culture and language proficiency as well as their reading and writing achievement—so it’s important to take these individual differences into account as they plan for instruction” (Tompkins, 2017).

For differentiated instruction to succeed, educators need to provide students with various methods or activities to get them excited and intrigued to learn. Educators can start by working with students together as a whole, in small groups, and individually. By providing students various opportunities to work with others and with themselves, students are exposed to multiple reading and writing material. One of the instructional activities that I enjoy using with my elementary students is literacy centers. Literacy centers are an excellent resource to add to the classroom instruction because it provides students with various literacy activities they can work with. Literacy centers are also fantastic to use because they can be modified each use to fit the daily goals best, but it can also be used on a routine basis. If an educator needs to work individually with a student or a small group, learning centers are also great to have because the rest of the class is busy learning in their centers and have something to do. Per Tompkins (2017), “Literacy centers contain meaningful, purposeful literacy activities that students can work in small groups. Students practice phonics skills at the phonics center, sort word cards at the vocabulary center, or listen to books related to a book they’re reading at the listening center.” This is important because not only does it allow students to work independently, but it also gives them choices and a way of moving around the classroom. That hands-on feeling is given to students, and it also helps keep students attentive and awake, rather than sitting in a seat all day.

Differentiated instruction “means ‘shaking up’ what goes on in the classroom so that students have multiple options for taking in information, making sense of ideas, and expressing what they learn” (Tompkins, 2017). That is why it is essential as educators always to have options for students, whether they are advanced or struggling. Providing them choices of projects or activities they can do to express their learning is a great source educator can also use to give students the creativity to show what they learn. Creativity and choice should be essential points that get added to the curriculum. Since not all students learn the same, they should be given options to show what they do learn. What may work for a student may not work for all students. 

As differentiated instruction becomes more important in schools and the curriculum, teachers and pre-service teachers are becoming knowledgable about ways to expand their knowledge and teaching expertise. By attending conferences, personal development days, teacher clubs and support groups, etc. educators are getting more comfortable finding ways to help their students succeed.

As educators, we need to make sure that all students are given the opportunity to learn and express what they learn. Since not all students learn the same, differentiated instruction is crucial. This is especially important when it comes to reading and writing because some students are not as successful as others in learning to read and write. Strickland (2002) states how "young children with robust oral language skills and in families where parents read aloud to them and provide other early literacy experiences are more likely to be successful in school. They have also found that children who aren't fluent English speakers, children whose parents had difficulty learning to read and write, and children from low-SES communities are more likely to have trouble reaching grade-level proficiency in reading and writing." This makes sense because those who read more, know more. If you know more, you tend to do better than those who do not know. As educators, we need to help those who are not doing so well, to do well. In the end, we want all our students to succeed, and if we can find ways to do so, why not help them?

Thank you for reading!

Best,

Melissa