Differentiation is the buzz word in education right now. I think the focus needs to be on EQUITY. I agree that all students do not learn in the same way. I want to do a better job to give each student what he or she needs instead of a one size fits all education. Differentiation is different in math than it is in other classes, however. There aren't different levels of accomplishment in a math problem unless you want some students to simply solve while others can expain and write in depth about why their solution and process works. The problem is, what I'm teaching now, I can't split into levels. All students need to be able to do all types of problems that I present in class.
A fellow math teacher pointed out to me today that differentiation in a math classroom often results in tracking. The students that struggle with unit 1 will probably struggle with unit 2 and will probably struggle with unit 3... You get the idea. Often the same students struggle with almost everything we learn. If we were to differentiate on a day-to-day basis, the same students would always be doing the enrichment activities while the same other group would always be doing relearning activities. I don't know what best practice is to address this.
Is it okay for the same students to be in the same groups almost all the time? Is it wrong to have the same students in the struggling group time after time?
And my biggest question...
What about the students who aren't getting it because of choices they're making? Should I stop the class and differentiate for those students? Is that babying them? Should differentiation be so good for the upper students that I should do it anyway just so they can expand their learning? Well, yes but at what cost to the future curriculum?
If we were to focus more on equity than just differentiation, then we would be able to address the fact that some students need something to kick them into gear so they realize outside work is required sometimes and effort pays off. It's not equitable to teach a student that if they don't put in any outside work, then we'll just spend more time in class helping them. That is the opposite of the lesson some of those students need to learn... Then we run into the problem with graduation and the emphasis on learning content over behavior and soft skills.
If anyone has the answer to these questions, feel free to share them with me ; )
A fellow math teacher pointed out to me today that differentiation in a math classroom often results in tracking. The students that struggle with unit 1 will probably struggle with unit 2 and will probably struggle with unit 3... You get the idea. Often the same students struggle with almost everything we learn. If we were to differentiate on a day-to-day basis, the same students would always be doing the enrichment activities while the same other group would always be doing relearning activities. I don't know what best practice is to address this.
Is it okay for the same students to be in the same groups almost all the time? Is it wrong to have the same students in the struggling group time after time?
And my biggest question...
What about the students who aren't getting it because of choices they're making? Should I stop the class and differentiate for those students? Is that babying them? Should differentiation be so good for the upper students that I should do it anyway just so they can expand their learning? Well, yes but at what cost to the future curriculum?
If we were to focus more on equity than just differentiation, then we would be able to address the fact that some students need something to kick them into gear so they realize outside work is required sometimes and effort pays off. It's not equitable to teach a student that if they don't put in any outside work, then we'll just spend more time in class helping them. That is the opposite of the lesson some of those students need to learn... Then we run into the problem with graduation and the emphasis on learning content over behavior and soft skills.
If anyone has the answer to these questions, feel free to share them with me ; )
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