BACKGROUND
Anticipating student needs is a critical aspect of lesson planning. In addition to the main resources needed to teach the lesson, teachers need to determine what additional resources and strategies may be required for equal opportunity learning.
Let’s revisit the key steps and sequences in deriving a winning lesson plan:
- Determine the curriculum standard.
- Backwards design the standard into learning objectives.
- Chunk the learning objectives into unit requirements.
- Derive lesson plans for each unit by: (a) Assign learning objectives for each lesson. (b) Identify the summative assessment that will demonstrate mastery of the learning objective. (c) Determine the formative assessments than can be used to check for student understanding. (d) Develop strategies for differentiating instruction among developing, performing, and excelling students.
ANALYSIS
Considering the different skill levels of students is an integral part of effectively preparing lesson plans.
By incorporating the following strategies for differentiated instruction, the teacher is able to challenge excelling students, engage performing students, and support developing students within the same class period. See this flowchart for a simplified version of the explanations listed below:
Differentiated instruction pertains to all students, as each fit into a unique persona. In most cases, teachers need to be mindful of the developing student, or the one that requires additional scaffolding to support learning. For example, students with ADHD need more reminders to stay on track. Provide remedial support through Scavenger Hunts to improve engagement and provide interactivity. See this mindmap for additional details in guiding struggling students.
Including lesson modifications for struggling students ensures that all students have a chance to succeed. If during formative assessment, some students are not understanding the content, one strategy is to create a metaphor or graphic organizer to build schemas by relating complex content to familiar concepts. Another method is to create role-play scenarios with a peer. These scenarios would be developed with a Q&A focus and provide additional base knowledge. Learning through workstations is a way to create self-paced learning in the classroom and can benefit excelling and developing learners.
For some students, a disability is preventing them from fully understanding the material. In the case of a hearing impairment, teachers can use “multimedia approaches for visual representation of course content. Overhead projectors or PowerPoint presentations are preferable to blackboards, as the teacher does not need to turn his or her back to the students. This is especially important for students who are relying on speechreading, signing, cuing, and/or use of residual hearing for receptive communication.” (TTAC online)
Resources that can be used to support developing and disabled students include:
- Self-authored remedial library housed within Google Classroom, a school-sponsored website, or YouTube EDU channel containing media playlists and visual literacy aids to scaffold learning.
- Evernote collaborative class notes which illuminate key points and offer peer insight for learning new material.
- Small groups with clear roles and responsibilities drawing upon strengths of each member and focused activities that can be modified.
REFERENCES:
TeachThought. (2017). The Ultimate List – 50 Strategies for Differentiated Instruction. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/50-strategies-for-differentiated-instruction/
TTAC Online. (2017). Instructional Strategies – Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Retrieved from https://ttaconline.org/differentiated-instructional-strategies-deaf
Valerie Scheidt 