How are you meeting the needs of your students? Differentiation in the classroom can be difficult with online learning. If your students don’t receive the necessary help and support, they will be unable to meet expectations. Through distance learning and online learning we need to be cognizant of students’ education needs. How can we best accommodate students with differentiation in the classroom?
There are many ways to differentiate instruction and help your students meet grade level expectations. You can use strategies for differentiation in the classroom and online. Effective techniques are universal in their results. How could your students improve their endeavors in math?
Implementing strategies that aid differentiation in the classroom does not have to be hard. What if your students can achieve greater success with one simple strategy? Here are five strategies to try in your own classroom.
- Use Digital Math Station Activities. Do you assign digital activities that provide different ways to learn and practice math topics? Try the Digital Math Activities that cover vocabulary, real world applications, reading about math concepts, and word problems. Students practice different types of math with these digital activities.
- Modify Assignments. Do you highlight or remove items from an assignment for students? By allowing your students to receive personalization and discretion of assignments ensures it meets IEP (Individual Education Plan) guidelines. When given an assignment it should be on the students’ level with appropriate accommodations for them to complete the assignment effectively. This video explains how to assign personalized assignments in Google Classroom with individualized messages for support.
- Assign Projects. Do your students like to be engaged in real world topics? Many teachers want students to be actively engaged in the learning process. Differentiate learning by assigning an online project. Students will have to be creative and use problem solving to complete their projects.
- Highlight Important News. Make sure to highlight and remind students of important news and information. It takes someone doing an activity seven times to make it a daily habit. Is there an expectation for your students to do daily? Highlight and remind students to do it. Being repetitive and retelling directions is necessary when teaching online.
- Use Digital Agendas. Do your students need to know what to do? Explicit instruction is key to having success in the classroom. Use these FREE Digital Agenda Slides to instruct your students what assignments and standards you expect them to know.
Do your students get stuck on a particular part of online learning? How do I get my students to complete online assignments? First, differentiate online learning from classroom learning. Don’t expect students to complete in person assignments in the same way without a teacher present. Modify the assignment to meet the students’ needs. Don’t assign something longer than 30 minutes. Take into account that students are sitting at a screen. Limit the assignment to 10 problems or less. This will help students feel a sense of responsibility and accomplishment when they finish assignments. It’s easy to differentiate assignments online with guidelines in place.
Is differentiating instruction online possible? Yes it is. Remember to keep the focus on student learning. Make your expectations fit within students’ abilities and time to complete assignments. Students need to be told explicitly what to do, how to do it, when and how to turn it in. They can truly learn anything when given the opportunity!
