Culturally Responsive Teaching & Differrentiation

   Differentiation

  Universal Design for Learning is a newer, researched teaching perspective that fits perfectly with differentiated instruction. Universal  Design for Learning  believes that every student learns differently and instruction needs to be adapted to fit those various learners. According to UDL three main avenues that need to be addressed in every instruction period is the what of learning, the why of learning, and the how of learning. While kinesthetic, visual, social, etc. are the types of learning so are goal-oriented (how), purpose-orientated (why), and content-oriented. The National Center for Universal Design for Learning is a website that lines out UDL and provides valuable resources for it. Here is the link to this resource: http://www.udlcenter.org/

National Center on Universal Design for Learning. (2013) "Home Page". Retrieved from udlcenter (2018, Feb 17): http://www.udlcenter.org/

By Emily Stork


Differentiation 

"Using Differentiated Instruction to Support All Learners" discusses the importance of Differentiated Instruction, including why we should differentiate, how we can, and gives examples of what differentiated instruction could look like.  Students learn in different ways and at different paces.  The key of differentiated instruction is to ensure that students are learning according to their interests, learning preferences, and learning needs.  Students are often broken up into groups based on these aspects and are ever-changing as it is important to make sure students are comfortable in the group they are in as well as challenging them to learn.  Overall, this video discusses how differentiated instructions allows the teacher to provide the best learning experiences for all students in the classroom.   Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOPe_cJ67No

I. (2015, January 30). Using Differentiated Instruction to Support All Learners. Retrieved February 18, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOPe_cJ67No 

By: Vanessa Gripshover

Culturally Responsive Teaching

In the article “15 Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies” Marcus Guido outlines several useful tips and strategies for teaching to use in the classroom to help them become more culturally responsive.  Some of the tips that stood out to me the most are: Call on each student, use take home letters to parents, and deliver content through stations. I never recognized some of the things in this article to effect being culturally responsive, however in a classroom it’s the little things that help your diverse students and you as a teacher relate better to all. Making sure to call on each student will ensure that you as the teacher aren’t putting off some type of cultural bias. This also gives every student the chance to share what they may be learning. Having a take home letter to parent’s aids in culturally responsive teaching by allowing a good flow of communication. Also parents do a good job putting information into their child’s cultural context which can help them learn further. Lastly, using stations helps the students learn something in a different way by teaching them a different method or concept to learn something by. I could see my self using these strategies in my future classroom. I think they are all helpful tips and can benefit the students, teachers, and parents in several ways. This resource provides so many valuable strategies that all teachers should use.

Guido, M. 15 Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies (2017, September 14). Retrieved February 20 from https://www.prodigygame.com/blog/culturally-responsive-teaching/

By: Lexie Richardson

Differentiation 

According to readingrockets.org, "at its most basic level, differentiation consists of the efforts of teachers to respond to variance among learners in the classroom."  There are four main ways that teachers can differentiate, through content, process, products, or learning environment.  differentiation is all about accommodating for individual students so they can excel in the classroom. Some examples of differentiation in the classroom include: using reading materials at varying levels, providing assignments based of interests, and giving students a choice on their projects and assignments.

Link: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/what-differentiated-instruction

By: Megan Farley