I find differentiated instruction essential to the growth and performance of all students in my math class. In order to effectively organize students in their groups for differentiation, there are many things that have to be done. I first begin by looking at my students’ performance testing results. I place each student into a quartile based on their assessment results; then I create my personal data wall. After students are placed in the four quartiles, I group the students based on their achievement scores, which correlates with the inform series since it provides recommended skills for each student based on their score. I have a large binder from which I look at the students’ scores and find something based on what they need to be able to do in order to move up another level by the next testing period. Note: These are skills that typically do not correlate with whatever mini-lesson I am focusing on that day.
I teach a mini-lesson on division. After modeling and practicing the strategy together, the students participate in guided practice with one another. Usually, this is a game or cooperative learning activity in which they participate. Then, the students complete their independent practice page. This usually consists of no more than ten problems; however I typically assign 4-6 problems because I feel that students who can’t do 4-6 problems correctly don’t need the added stress of completing more problems when they may/may not be consistently successful. Once the students are finished with their independent practice, they go to their differentiated instruction bin (I call them group activities). While students are practicing independently, I start meeting with small groups on whatever strategy we are focusing on.
My group activity station consists of four shelves. Each student’s differentiated activities are on those shelves. I have my students grouped as the green triangles, orange squares, red trapezoids, and yellow hexagons. The students are able to go to their shelf and choose an activity to participate in. There is a large variety of skills they can practice, but they all focus on whatever our mini-lesson was or whatever skill I am working on in small group. My green triangles have division problems to solve on their whiteboards and other activities that help them with our current small group focus, which is identifying landmarks of a data set. My orange squares have the same division practice, but have games and activities that help them estimate products. The red trapezoids are currently working on multiplying decimals, and my hexagons are reading and interpreting circle graphs with percents and fractions. As you can see, there are a variety of activities the students get to choose from. I include Everyday Math games, independent whiteboard practice from the math journal, use of manipulatives, and cooperative learning practice cards. They also have inform questions in an envelope that they solve on the back with a pencil next to their initials. They are in charge of solving 4-5 inform questions each day as well as checking other students’ work in their group to determine if they solved it correctly. I have the EM Teacher's Guide to Games, so that is a great resource to use for my groups. The students love playing landmark shark, factor captor, and multiplication top-it. They use the Everyday Math fraction, decimal, and percent cards, as well as the telling time cards.
By integrating this differentiated instruction into math workshop, my students absolutely love it. They get to work with one another and gain a sense of success because the students are learning and experiencing skills they are prepared to learn. There is a high level of engagement, and my mid-year test scores show that this is an effective way to integrate differentiated instruction by using inform scores and recommended skills to help them make (and hopefully exceed) their expected growth.
