{"id":1545,"date":"2023-10-24T15:05:41","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T15:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sayyestochildcare.org\/?p=1545"},"modified":"2024-06-02T22:23:57","modified_gmt":"2024-06-02T22:23:57","slug":"are-you-differentiating-your-instruction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sayyestochildcare.org\/en\/are-you-differentiating-your-instruction\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You Differentiating Your Instruction?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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We\u2019ve talked about relationship building as being key in everything we do.\u00a0 Children learn best in an environment where they are happy, relaxed, and connected to others.\u00a0 Children thrive in the context of relationships that are responsive, consistent, and nurturing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now we must focus on meeting each child\u2019s individual learning needs and style.\u00a0 Differentiating instruction means\u00a0adjusting or changing the lessons and its goals to meet a child\u2019s individual needs.\u00a0 All children have the same learning goals but the instruction varies based on the children\u2019s interest, preference, strengths, and struggles.\u00a0 Whether teachers differentiate content, process, products, or the learning environment, the use of ongoing assessment and flexible grouping makes this a successful approach to instruction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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There are fours ways to differentiate instruction:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • Content:  what children need to learn<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Process:  activities in which the student engages in to learn the content<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Product:  culminating projects that ask the student to practice, apply, and extend what he or she has learned<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Learning environment:  the way the classroom is set up to meet each child\u2019s learning style<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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    Differentiated instruction allows us to individualize our teaching to the needs of the children.\u00a0 We need to differentiate to allow all children in our classrooms the opportunities to enjoy learning to their fullest potential.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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    The most important first step is building the relationship, to get to know each child.\u00a0 Does the child prefer certain toys, games, centers? \u00a0 Does the child bond with one staff member over another?\u00a0\u00a0How does the child interact with the learning environment?\u00a0 \u00a0Where does the child excel?\u00a0 What areas does the child possibly struggle in?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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    Once you have gathered enough information to help guide your instruction, you should start planning the differentiation process.\u00a0 Intentionally join in the child\u2019s play.\u00a0 The 3-year-olds are building with blocks in the block area. Offer the children various construction blocks and observe them playing.\u00a0 Ask them questions as they play: Why are you making this tower?\u00a0 How many blocks have you used? What colors have you used? Why?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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    Some children will struggle to make a tower of more than five blocks. Others may start putting different towers together to make a large wall.\u00a0 Allow them to do this, and even offer them other materials and toys for them to integrate if they choose.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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    Some children may not be interested in building walls or towers. In that case, offer them other ways to work with blocks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    • Counting: Ask the students to make groups of two blocks, three blocks, four blocks, and so on. See what number they can reach by grouping the blocks. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Counting and attributes: The grouping might also be two blocks of the same color or three blocks of the same size. Ask, how do you know the size of a block?  Is this block bigger or smaller than this other block?  How do you know?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Storytelling:  Start a story and let the child develop it\u2014for example, \u201cMany years ago, in this tower, lived a ___ (witch, fairy, girl, boy, monster, robot… let the child choose)\u201d\u2014and then provide prompts for them to continue expanding on the story. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Use the blocks to construct beds for dolls, or assign the blocks different roles\u2014turn them into microphones or mobile phones, or even make a family with the blocks.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Differentiating may take time for teachers to master. \u00a0However, in order for each child to reach the stars, we must meet each one where he or she is at.\u00a0 Take time to know your children. \u00a0 Plan and be prepared.\u00a0 Identify where each child currently is and the likely next steps that the child needs to work on.\u00a0 Plan how to scaffold the child to progress him\/ her to the next level.\u00a0 The benefits for each child are well worth it!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      We\u2019ve talked about relationship building as being key in everything we do.\u00a0 Children learn best in an environment where they are happy, relaxed, and connected to others.\u00a0 Children thrive in the context of relationships that are responsive, consistent, and nurturing. Now we must focus on meeting each child\u2019s individual learning needs and style.\u00a0 Differentiating instruction […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1546,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-childcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sayyestochildcare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sayyestochildcare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sayyestochildcare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sayyestochildcare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sayyestochildcare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1545"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sayyestochildcare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1634,"href":"https:\/\/sayyestochildcare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545\/revisions\/1634"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sayyestochildcare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sayyestochildcare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sayyestochildcare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sayyestochildcare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}