Differentiated instruction: is based on this understanding that students differ in important ways. Differentiated instruction means “shaking up” what goes on in the classroom so that students have multiple options for taking in information, making sense of ideas, and expressing what they learn. Differentiating instruction is especially important for struggling readers an writers who haven’t been successful and who can’t read grade-level textbooks.
Differentiating the content: The content is the “what” of teaching, the literacy knowledge, strategies, and skills that students are expected to learn at each grade level. The content reflects common core grade level standards. Teachers concentrate on teaching the essential content, and to meet students’ needs, they provide more instruction and practice for some students and less for others.
Differentiating the process: The process is the “how” of teaching, the instruction that teachers provide, the materials they use, and the activities students are involved in to ensure that they’re successful. Teachers group students for instruction and choose reading materials at appropriate levels of difficulty. They also make decisions about involving students in activities that allow them to apply what they’re learning through oral, written, or visual means.
Differentiating the product: The product is the result of learning; it demonstrates what students understand and how well they can apply what they’ve learned. Students usually create projects, such as posters, multimodal reports, board games, puppet shows, and new versions of stories. Teachers often vary the complexity of the projects they ask students to create by changing the level of thinking that’s required to complete the project.
How to address struggling readers and writers problems:
Interventions for older students: Despite teachers’ best efforts, approximately one quarter of students in the upper grades are struggling readers, and they need effective classroom interventions in addition to high-quality reading instruction. Teachers should design intervention programs that includes these components:
Grouping for instruction: teachers use three grouping patters: Sometimes students work together as a whole class, and at other times, they work in small groups or individually. Decisions about which type of grouping to use depend on the teacher’s purpose, the complexity of the activity, and students’ specific learning needs.
Guided reading: guided reading was developed to use with beginning readers, but teachers also use it with other students, especially English learners and struggling readers who need more teacher support to decode and comprehend books they’re reading, learn reading strategies, and become independent readers.
Tiered Activities: to match students’ needs, teachers create several tiered or related activities that focus on the same essential knowledge but vary in complexity. These activities are alternate ways of reaching the same goal because “one-size-fits-all” activities can’t benefit on-grade-level students; support struggling readers, and challenge advanced students. Created tiered lessons increases the likelihood that all students will be successful.
Literacy Centers: literacy centers contain meaningful, purposeful literacy activities that students can work at in small groups. Students practice phonic skills at the phonics center, sort word cards at the vocabulary center, or listen to books related to a book they’re reading at the listening center.
Interventions: Schools use intervention programs to address low-achieving students’ reading and writing difficulties and accelerate their literacy learning. They’re used to build on effective classroom instruction, not as a replacement for it.
Reading recovery: Reading recovery is the most widely known intervention program for the lowest-achieving first graders. It involves 30-min daily one-on-one tutoring by specifically trained and supervised teachers for 12-30 weeks. Reading recovery lessons involve these components:
RTI: RTI means response to intervention. It is a schoolwide initiative to identify struggling students quickly, promote high-quality classroom instruction, provide effective interventions, and increase the likelihood that students will be successful.
Classroom application: Classroom application: Effective teachers demonstrate their responsibility and commitment to teaching all students effectively by personalizing instruction using the guidelines presented in this chapter. I’ve learned that teachers should differentiate instruction by modifying the content, the process, and the product to meet the needs of all students, including the students who struggle. Teachers should also use a balanced approach to teach struggling students that incorporates effective instruction, materials at students’ reading levels, and extra time for reading and writing.
Brianne Brueggen Developing Literacy Blog 