Differentiated Learning

​From the moment I meet a new student, my mind whirs. What does she already know how to do? Does she learn better by reading or chatting? How will I build her self-confidence? What should she learn next?

The first step is to spend class time with her, observing and interacting. After that, in an effort to form a more complete picture, I consider her test scores, reading level, writing samples, and previous teachers’ notes. Then, I'm ready for the fun part: marrying what I have learned about this beautiful child with my curriculum, which is essentially a long list of the skills & knowledge I want to teach her.

The tricky part is that I have fourteen other children in my class, each with a different set of strengths and needs. The only solution is to be a master manager. 

This means teaching the children how to work alone, in pairs and in small groups when they don’t have my attention, and I mean really work, not just twirl in the wind. ​The next step is to organize the children into small groups with other children who are at a similar level and working at a similar pace. Then, I start my rotations: one group for 20 minutes, the next group for 20 minutes, and so on, until I’m back to the first group and starting the rotations again. It’s during these small-group sessions that I can give each child what she really needs, be it a second explanation of long division or a harder set of problems with more zeros in it.

When we reach the end of the day, and the children are asking, "Tomorrow, will you show me how to do this or that," I know I've done my job, and each child is doing hers. What a great feeling!