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Differentiation
WE are looking at an innovative way to create a differentiated maths classroom. How to do you manage the many needs of the students all the while ensuring that you cover the needed content with them? How do you create collaborative spaces but ensure that each student is learning and have a way to assess each individual?
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2 Replies
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One of the big draws to the methods that Kyle and Jon promote is that differentiation is pretty much built in. I can tell you I haven’t had very good success answering this question with traditional instruction. The best I was able to do was challenge the strong students to go deeper than they would have otherwise.
Listening to Jon and Kyle, and checking out the people they refer to, like Jo Boaler, Dan Meyer etc. they emphasize that a good task is accessible to all students, but has the unique quality that the more you get into the task, the deeper it gets. Such low floor high ceiling tasks are the goal. John and Kyle favor the three act math questions for this property, you can find some three act math task, complete with a sketch of how to deliver and facilitate the task in the Tasks menu at the top of the screen.
Also, listening to the Making Math Moments that Matter Podcast will give you a ton of resources and ideas for dealing with this issue. Differentiation, the need for it, and how Probelm based learning can address it is one of the topics regularly spoken about.
Hope I this helps!
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When I create an open-ended task that I want all my kids to have a go at, I also create enabling and extending prompts that I can direct individual kids to if needed. They are still working on the same task, but I might up the ante by using higher numbers for those who need challenging, and I might modify it to use smaller numbers for those who find it too challenging.
