Differentiation with Technology

 Technology is a great resource for students in school to attain information within a click of a button. With differentiation in technology, students can get their educational needs met. There are qualities of  differentiation in the classroom. Some include: 

- Provides opportunities for students whole class, small group, and individual instruction

- Student-centered classrooms

- Relevant content using real world problems and information for students to learn about

- Pre and post assessments as well as informal assessments used throughout the unit (ACSD, 2011). 

There are also some great differentiation tools that students can use for classroom projects as well as homework. These websites are:

- BrainPOP (Brainpop.com)

- The Khan Academy (www.khanacademy.org)

- National Library of Virtual Manipulatives (http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html)

- BC Skillwise (http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise)

When writing my 3-day unit lesson plan including differentiation, I have revised it using technology included in each lesson plan. Technology will be implemented to whole class instruction and will be used as part of the lesson. For the first day, we have a lesson on verbs. Students will each be given a tablet. Then, on Google Docs, they will be get 5 minutes in order to write down as many verbs as they can. After the 5 minutes are up, they will be given a writing assignment via Microsoft Word based on the verbs they wrote down and try to use as many action words in the story as they can. 

    For the next day, students will be using Prezi in order to complete their own classroom presentations. This lesson is based on nouns. Students will be assigned to write down as many nouns as they can think of in their family home. They then will explain what they came up with and whether or not they are nouns. This will bring in culture and community into the lesson and promote global awareness (Theirworld, 2021).

    The last lesson will be used with Kahoot. This program is a fun question based program where students and teachers can ask questions to their class and see if they are understanding. It can be made into a game and also promotes learning. The lesson is on pronouns. Students will write questions about foods they eat at home and have other students in their class determine the parts of speech in the sentences. This will informally show other students in the class what types of foods are eaten in their cultural community and also promote global awareness. According to Elizabeth O. Crawford and Misty Kirby (2008), "Global education is essential to students' development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for future employment and for building successful relationships in an increasingly interconnected and pluralistic society."

ASCD. (2011). Using technology to differentiate instruction. https://pdo.ascd.org/lmscourses/PD11OC109/media/Tech_M4_Reading_Using_Technology01.pdf

Crawford, E. & Kirby, M. (2008). Fostering students' global awareness: technology applications in social studies teaching and learning. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/26498775_Fostering_Students'_Global_Awareness_Technology_Applications_in_Social_Studies_Teaching_and_Learning

Theirworld. (2021). Technology and education. https://theirworld.org/explainers/technology-and-education