EDU 605- Differentiated Instruction

Unit 2: The Culture of Differentiation

In classrooms where differentiated instructions are majorly utilized, the teachers are regarded as “organizers of learning opportunities” and not the traditional “dispensers or keepers of knowledge” (Tomlinson, 2001, p. 16). Differentiated instruction allows teachers to create many effective strategies that are used to promote individual student’s learning. Modeling and scaffolding amongst others, are some of strategies used to enhance learning by differentiated instruction. Of all these strategies, I consider scaffolding to be very resourceful in any classroom. It is used when a whole lesson or learning experience needs to be broken down and handled in smaller sections to ensure that each student has a comprehensive understanding of the material being taught (Alber, 2014).

In early childhood education, one major aspect of focus is literacy development and the scaffolding approach of differentiated instruction that can be used to help students acquire this skill. However, some children do not receive the personalized support they require in the classroom to help promote the development and nurturing of this skill. Therefore, the use of differentiated instruction will not only increase the chances of young children developing this skill but will also create confidence in how it can be used to positively affect learning. Differentiated instruction is especially important in teaching language and literacy skills to young children because it allows the various aspects of language to be taught in pieces. It also gives children the opportunities to exhibit language acquisition in varying ways. Through this process, teachers have the opportunity to personalize learning to address the needs of the diverse learners present in a classroom.

As early childhood education has become prevalent, the concern for language/literacy acquisition before kindergarten has also increased, hence raising the need for interventions such as the incorporation of differentiated instruction in classrooms (Gettinger & Stoiber, 2012). Given these concerns, Gettinger and Stoiber (2012) conducted a research to monitor if using a curriculum-based, teacher support differentiated instruction was a positive approach for the development of literacy in the early years. The study was focused majorly on children from low-income families because majority of them attend schools that do not implement differentiated instruction. It consisted of approximately 300 children that were enrolled in 15 Head Start Classrooms. This Head Start program whose teachers were participating in a multiyear professional development intervention called Exemplary Model of Early Growth and Excellence (EMERGE), served about 1,500 low-income African American families (Gettinger & Stoiber, 2012). To accurately assess this method, classrooms was sectioned out to support student choice and active learning. 8 of the 15 classrooms were assigned the EMERGE experimental sites and the teachers of those classrooms continued to attain monthly professional development as well as receive weekly on-site coaching.

The purpose was to ensure that this literacy invention measure was further strengthened. Teachers in these classrooms engaged with students through shared book reading, asking open-ended questions and extending discussions during book interactions. They also used and provided the children with explicit vocabulary to help strengthen their word knowledge. Lastly, they focused on building alphabet knowledge through letters and sounds. To ensure a proper comprehension, the children also received a 30-minutes a day, teacher supported small group instruction. The rest of the 7 classrooms were considered the control sites and none of the intervention measures or progress monitored was administered except the small group, which lacked all forms of teacher support. Observations were taken in both the experimental and control sites during the course of this research.

When the research was concluded, all assessment data was collected to use in determining the outcome of this intervention. Through these data, it was discovered that the extra support given to children in the experimental classrooms yielded a higher rate of literacy acquisition and development. The study also showed that children benefitted more from individualized/small group instruction because the teacher was able to focus more on the literally need and interest of each student (Gettinger & Stoiber, 2012). Overall, the children in the experimental classrooms showed more progress in their literacy development and acquisition skills than children in the controlled classrooms.

The approach of professional development to properly educate teachers on the appropriate ways to implement differentiated instruction in classrooms will be especially useful in my educational context. However, several lapses still exist in the implementation and intervention approach such as the one described in this research. These lapses exist in the form of finances and lack of administrative support. If early childhood programs are not well funded, it will be impossible for them to properly train their teachers on the effective strategies that should be used to implement differentiated instruction. Also, some teachers may have this idea but the school administration may not fully support their quest to design their curriculum in a way that supports differentiated instruction.

Question: Are there any educational context that will not support the use of differentiated instruction? If yes, what are the reasons and what other approaches could be used to produce similar results as when differentiated instruction is used?

References

Alber, R. (2014). Scaffolding strategies to use with your students. Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/scaffolding-lessons-six-strategies-rebecca-alber

Gettinger, M. & Stoiber, K. C. (2012). Curriculum-based early literacy assessment and differentiated instruction with high-risk preschoolers. Reading Psychology, 33, 11-46. doi: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1080/02702711.2012.630605

Tomlinson, C. A. (2001). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms. Alexandria, Va: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.