We have a very wide range of abilities in our room--based on the MAP scores our students range from the 3rd percentile (9th in math) to the 98th percentile (89th in math). This means that we have to make a number of adjustments for individual learner's needs in our room.
One example of this has been with our author study. In the author study, students have been asked to read a number of Chris Van Allsburg books individually as well as as a whole class. Many of these books are not written at the reading level of all of our students. To make these book available to some of our more struggling readers, I have set students up with audio recordings of the books that they can read along with. On other days, I have been more flexible with the author study curriculum, and have been having students read books of their choice at their level to practice the skill or concept of the day.
Another adjustment I have made is with our math division unit. I realized that one of our lowest performing students, who is also new to the district, had never done division before. While the other students are encouraged and many times 'forced' to use more abstract strategies for division, I have been giving this student manipulatives and worked with her on drawing diagrams to help solve the problems. One of the goals of the division unit is to move students from drawing pictures towards using partial quotients to divide. I have adjusted this objective for this student, because I think it is more important to give her the time and practice with the more foundational methods of division.
I think this post prompt is one of the most significant in the batch. How we adjust for students is the result of so many important teaching decisions (and know how)that reflect a teacher's philosophy of learning and her level of expertise.
ReplyDeleteWhat I appreciate about your post is the fact that when you make adjustments, you're not lowering expectations, nor are you assigning less work to students who struggle. Instead, you're switching up material to match reading levels, or providing one-on-one support to get students where they need to be in terms of grade-level expectations.
When you describe adjustments this way, I know you're relying on careful assessment of student progress (formal, informal, observational), along with your knowledge of high quality resources to inform how you'll meet the demonstrated needs of your students. At the same time, you're staying true to your philosophy that authentic materials make the best learning tools--real books, manipulatives, etc. Well done.