KES Focus on Learning Issue 21

Issue 21

Differentiation

By Emma Thomas In every classroom, in every subject, each pupil learns at a different rate. They understand different aspects of what we teach, they ask, or at least need to ask, different questions. This is where as teachers we try to plan for all, to enable the very best to still be stretched while we support those that need it. It’s hard. At times it’s really hard. I know that there have been lessons when I haven't managed to stretch those that need it as much as they should and I come out of a lesson feeling a bit of a failure. Added to this everything else we try to target in the short space of time pupils spend in our classrooms – from effective questioning to assessing understanding - it's no wonder that at times I, like I suspect many others, feel that we're just not quite good enough.

Differentiation is one of the aspects that new teachers struggle with and those that have been teaching for many years still work to improve. I know that I still want to improve what I do but this is one way I have to improve the differentiation available in my classroom.

Padlet is a 'collaborative learning space' - an online notice board if you will. You can 'pin' all sorts of resources to it from text comments to pictures, photos, YouTube clips and PDF worksheets. As we develop particular topics, pupils inevitably need to go back and revisit material we have covered earlier in order to fully grasp the latest nugget of information, particularly in the sciences where new information relies on understanding what has gone before. Whole class question and answer sessions to cover this is not the most efficient use of class time and while essential for some is not required by all pupils. Building a Padlet wall of resources that support the topic and sharing the link with pupils (as a read-only wall rather than one they can edit) means that they can access YouTube clips of the material from earlier lessons. I can put up worksheets of different levels to that pupils can self-differentiate (with a bit of guidance) but as there is no obvious coloured bits of paper going round the classroom other pupils can't easily spot those working on the more straightforward or more challenging sheets. If pupils get stuck half-way through they can go back and watch the video to help get themselves 'unstuck'.

Obviously this is by no means a substitute for a teacher in the classroom but I have found that this frees me up to circulate and support more pupils, keep an eye on those whose concentration tends to 'wander' and at the same time provide extension material from the very start of the lesson. This could be in the form of a link to a website covering the material in greater depth, a challenging 'poser' question that requires pupils to develop their understanding to a greater depth or gets the pupil to then create a resource that can be put back on the Padlet wall for other pupils to use and learn from.

Sending the link to pupils via the Student Planner is immediate but they lose the link when they mark it as complete or as the task owner you archive it. I have taken to putting the link on Google Classroom - it's there until I chose to remove it and pupils can refer back to it in their own time for revision when they need to. It's by no means perfect yet but it's a step in the right direction.

What is the mind-set of an effective learner?

http://learning-guide.futurelearn.com/