Managing Differentiated Assessment

In todays class we discussed how to most effectively manage the differentiation of assessment in our future classrooms. In this blog I intend to summarize the eight components in order to organize the concept in my own words.
1. Be realistic: As teachers we only have so much time and energy, it is important therefore to ensure that we only do what we are capable of taking on.
2. Content: We must have a strong knowledge of the curriculum, this will assist in focusing our attention soley on the type of instruction we are using and not the materieal that we are trying to convey.
3. Process: This refers to the classroom management techniques that we will employ to ensure that the environment in conducive to learning for all students.
4. Product: as teachers we must provide access to many different resources for our students to use, in order to support their learning.
5. Ensure students are equipped to deal with choices: If we are providing options to our students in terms of differentiation we must be sure that they have the tools to make effective decisions about what will work best for them.
6. Consider strengths and weaknesses of the student: Although playing towards student strengths will guide them to success it is also important to build upon their weaknesses to help them grow and develop as learners. Use Vygotskys zone of proximal development as a guideline to push students further in their learning.
7. Consider your comfort level: Only implement the amount of differentiated assessment that you as a teacher are capable of dealing with in the classroom.
8. Push students: It is our job as teachers to ensure that we push our students outside of their comfort zone and encourage them to set their goals higher then what they already know they can achieve.
I think that these points are comforting as a future teacher, because although they promote the use of differentiated assessment they recognize that it is only effective when both the students and teacher are on board and understand what they can take on and how to properly manage the process.

Shyness Video.

In Thursday`s class we viewed the video Shyness, which is produced by the National Film Board of Canada in 1953. I really enjoyed viewing the video and although it definitly provided perspective in terms of the progress that special education has made in the past 60 years it also provided great insight into the concept of differentiating instruction for students. It was interesting to see that the concepts that are being implemented into education today were known over 60 years ago and in a primitive sort of manner they were also implemented. Something that I found really interesting about the video was that it was difficult to see through the stereotypes biases that were presented. The fact that the video was made in the 1950`s contributes to the flawed views of gender discrimination, but the important concepts, such as differentiation were definitely present in the video. Shyness provided a cases study of three children, each exhibited different characteristics of a shy child. The first child was Anna, she was described as a child that wanted to participate but was constantly excluding herself. Anna was described by the video as a typical shy child. It was discovered in school that Anna had a gift for dancing, the teacher used Anna`s gift to differentiate her instruction and allowed her to use dance to overcome her shyness and build confidence. The second child in the video was Jimmy, he was constantly excluding himself and would run away scared when confronted by his peers or the teacher. The video described Jimmy not as shy but rather as being mentally ill. They proceeded to state that there was no cure for Jimmy`s condition but instead that he needed strong support for his condition. the third and final child that was decribed in the video was Robert. Robert had a strong desire to be alone and he enjoyed the time that he spent on his own, and had high self esteem despite his lack of communication with other children. The video gave a desciption of the home lives of each of the children and it was clear to see that it had a profound effect on the personality of the children. I think that it is important as a future teacher to remember that where a child comes from has a great effect on the disposition of a child and as a teacher it is vital that we do our best to educate the child based on their needs. Differentiation can be instrumental in reaching the needs of all students and ensuring that they each recieve a valuable learing experience in the classroom.