Mount Ida College

Differentiated Instruction (February 11, 21) Differences in student performance include differences in ability, motivation and engagement, learning styles, English language proficiency, personal history, culture and expectations. These differences are most pronounced for freshman students and in the early foundation courses. Recognizing that each student brings different strengths to the classroom, faculty discussed how to increase opportunities for students to succeed. Faculty described how they adapt and adjust pedagogy and teaching assignments to teach a diverse group of learners. They stressed the importance of building a community of learners in the classroom where students’ different styles and strengths are respected. It was pointed out that the only way to individualize instruction is to know students as individuals. Some faculty do this through individual conferences with students (i.e. over writing), others ask students to write a short bio about themselves as learners which they hand in at the beginning of the semester.

Some of the teaching techniques that faculty use include:

• Use the syllabus to set and reinforce expectations for class performance. Time spent going over the syllabus during the first class helps clear up any ambiguity about expectations.

• Pay close attention to students based on class participation and assignments to see where they have questions, where they are struggling or are responding to material at a more sophisticated level and then adjust teaching accordingly.

• Encourage students to work together and use each other as resources to explain material and support each other. Group assignments can encourage students to play different roles in the group to draw on each other’s strengths (i.e. writing, presenting, technology).
  
  
• Assign students responsibility for explaining concepts and ideas from readings to the class. This can happen in small groups or in front of the whole classroom.
  
  
• Allow students opportunities to retake tests and rewrite papers when mastery of the material is the desired outcome.
  
  
• Offer students options for assignments such as writing a traditional paper on their own or doing a group project. Consider random assignment for group projects, although the instructor may want to appoint a group leader.
  
  
• Offer students opportunities for extra credit assignments.
  
  
• Meet with students outside of class to offer extra help, extra challenge. One faculty member motivates students to come in during office hours by offering extra credit points for coming in.
  
  
• Bring in additional material and offer mini-lectures to respond to student questions and/or interest in delving deeper into a topic.
  
  
• Find ways to “level the playing field” which may mean creating your own teaching materials and exercises to supplement or replace textbooks. This often means constantly revising and updating teaching material and methods so that they respond to who the students are and engage them in the material while giving them enough of a common foundation to support class discussions.
  
  
• Use a few minutes at the beginning of each class to review the most important ideas from the last class. At the end of each class, take a few minutes to wrap up by asking students what the important “take-aways” are as well as what questions, issues still may be unclear.
  
  
• Periodically change or rearrange the classroom space to support the teaching style used for a particular class.
  
  
• Challenge students to go beyond their comfort zone (which is where the learning often takes place). This only works if you know who your students are and can address them as individuals and students feel supported to take risks.