Different Strokes for Different Folks: Meeting the Challenge of Differentiation
Help me give my students arts and crafts supplies including crayons and the People Shapes Project Kit, math materials such as Lakeshore Write Wipe Answer Boards and Jumbo Magnetic Ten Frames and other materials to facilitate teacher modeling.
My first graders are bursting with enthusiasm. They LOVE school, and truly enjoy their academic experiences each day at PS 9. They’re like little sponges, absorbing knowledge so quickly, and always eager to learn more, to challenge themselves and to become immersed in our core values including kindness, gratitude, empathy, courage and perseverance.
My Project
These materials will be used to facilitate learning in many ways. These materials will be used by students on a daily basis to facilitate differentiated instruction. Additionally, since students are no longer able to share materials due to Covid, we feel it is best to provide students with their own individual toolkit of supplies, which is challenging with over 20 students in a class.
In education, there is no "one size fits all" approach.
I believe in providing students with entry points to a given lesson, so the content is accessible for all. For example, students can't understand multiplication without certain prerequisite skills, including an understanding of repeated addition. These skills must be taught and reinforced before moving on to more advanced skills. On the other hand, students who are advanced should be given more challenging activities to promote their learning as well. In short, instruction should be catered to meet the needs of the students.
Makes sense, right? Given an assessment, determine where students are at, and build from there. While this all seems pretty intuitive, the challenge is to provide appropriate learning materials to meet students' individual learning needs in a setting of students with a vast range of abilities, experiences and learning styles. This requires tremendous planning and preparation, as lessons are being modified to provide opportunities for entry level, proficient and enrichment activities.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Vandemark and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
