As educators, we constantly hear about differentiation. Delivering lessons that can reach and challenge all students can be difficult, time-consuming, and vital. We've seen learning gaps grow as a result of the pandemic, making differentiation more crucial. Throughout this post I will be introducing a strategy that has helped save time with math lessons and has allowed me to be able to target all learners in small group instruction. If you have seen any of my posts on social media, you will know that my students are huge fans of Boddle Learning. The free digital platform allows students to combine rigorous math questions targeted to the standards with gamification. In addition to engaging students in higher order thinking, the data and reports can be easily interpreted. Analyzing the Data As an interventionist, analyzing data is my driving force. The results of the assignment can be seen simultaneously as students work on the questions within the platform. The image below is an example of how a progress report looks. When I view the data, I can see that students 3 and 5 performed the lowest, and students 1, 4, and 9 performed the highest. It also appears that skills 3.3C and 3.3A will need to be retaught. Differentiating After analyzing the data, my first small group would be students 3 and 5. I can do this by providing a few scaffolding questions below grade level then incorporating on grade level questions. My next small group would be students 1, 4, and 9. I would provide enrichment by adding a few above grade level questions on the similar skill while also giving on grade level questions. For the remaining students, I would continue this pattern and provide support based on the number of questions missed and by skill. The next image is an example of what the assignment creator looks like. If I am teaching a skill that requires more memorization, like math facts, I can adjust the number of questions to focus more on math fluency. In the case of a more rigorous skill, such as multi-step problems, I would provide fewer questions to reinforce effort. While the needs of students vary, the need for differentiation in lessons is non-negotiable. Having the ability to differentiate instruction and provide engaging acceleration opportunities can be challenging when your teacher to-do list is constantly growing. It is a pleasure to use a program that is reliable, intuitive, and can easily be adapted to different classrooms.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |