Year-to-Date: 508.1; Apr 2023: 19.9; Last Week: 38.0
This year we have such a diverse group of students in the fifth grade learning community. There are students, teachers, and all of our families from …
- a majority of continents or many different places and distinct cultural practices
- multinational and multilingual families with many different levels of language proficiency
- a variety of expectations for teaching and learning based on our experiences
What are the ways that students remain engaged throughout all of the learning engagements throughout the school year?
That answer is both simple and complex; at the same time. Simply, teachers differentiate learning objectives, direct instruction, and expectations from assessments based on current abilities. Putting these ideas into practice can be complex, continuous, and ambitious.
Differentiation is complex when teachers consider different abilities in different subjects and/or skill sets. (For example, consider writing to respond to reading, writing to take notes, writing as a performative task connected to reading or UoI, etc.)
Differentiation is continuous because conditions are always changing. (For example, consider how honoring Ramadan with the compressed timetable affects learning and teaching.)
Differentiation is an ambitious teaching practice because the intention is to personalize learning–as much as possible–for each and every student. (For example, consider how some students love literacy but detest–really close to hate!–numeracy.)
At the beginning of this school year, students grouped themselves according to their personal preferences. This rarely works as a sustainable practice because everyone has unique strengths and places of growth. Throughout the year, students have learnt that differences are places of celebration and growth. At the end of the school year, students will have come to realize that we all have something to contribute to each other’s learning. Please use the hyperlink for watch a short video of how G5AW students differentiated learning expectations as they performed and reflected on Ghosts’ Grace by Paul Fleischman.