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HookName Standards Home Learn More Standards Inspiration About the Author |
Inspiration:
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My inspiration for this project was my students. I want to be able to provide the quality education they deserve when they go through my classroom. Every year I see that students struggle to comprehend text. The achievement gap is getting wider, and it bothers me that it's happening during the time that I am an educator. I read the work of other educators like Sir Ken Robinson, and John Hattie. They inspired me to be creative and practical in the classroom.
Please read the following quote from Sir Ken Robinson about education and creativity: "It is often said that education and training are the keys to the future. They are, but a key can be turned in two directions. Turn it one way and yu lock resources away, even from those they belong to. Turn it the other way and you release resources and give people back to themselves. To realize our true creative potential- in our organizations, in our schools and in our communities- we need to think differently about ourselves and to act differently towards each other. We must learn to be creative." (Robinson, Ken "Out Of Our Minds" 2011) What is the impact of Differentiation and Collaboration in a
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Statement of the Problem: Students are not reading at proficiency levels in California especially English. The Common Core Standards (CCSS, 2015) require students to access text with critical thinking skills, and proficient comprehension skills. The access gap is becoming wider according to CASSP results from 2015. (Add link)
I came to the Innovative Learning program in search of answers to my own questions about student performance. My frustration began when I started teaching the Common Core Standards and realized that learning for students was becoming harder instead of easier. I needed a shift in my own practice, but I didn't know how to do it. |
Slide show of students collaborating
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Purpose of my Research Project
I was frustrated with collaborative groups in the classroom. My efforts about differentiation weren't showing results. I noticed that students were not engaged in learning and each year their behavior was becoming harder to manage.
That's when I decided to do this project on collaboration and differentiation. Research on reading and teaching students, especially ELL's, suggests that schools need a rigorous, systematic language program. The book, "Differentiation Through Learning Styles” (Pranger, 2008), (link) states that cooperative groups are vital to the development of student learning. The author states that learning is social, therefore, students need to be taught collaborative skills.
The purpose of this project was to explore collaboration and differentiation in order to engage student learning and social behavior. At the end of the tasks I'd assign, I was frustrated because only a few students were engaged. The task would get done by the more dominant students. I needed to explore collaboration deeper than just assigning group projects to my students.
We are constantly embedded in environments that require us to make use of social skills in order to coordinate other people. In the past, studies showed that collaboration was viewed as a natural skill that doesn't require further facilitation. (Ask Jane about Reference) (Oxford, 2008) . However, further studies found that collaborative skills require dedicated teaching efforts.
Collaboration doesn't just happen on it's own. In fact, I found out that it's not an easy task. Effective collaboration requires careful planning and design. Five strategies teachers should use to implement collaboration are (Johnson 2008):
1. Creating complex learning activities.
2. Preparing students to be part of a group
3. Assigning team roles
4. Building opportunities for discussion and consensus.
5. Focusing on strengthening and stretching expertise.
Providing scaffolding is a key element for differentiating instruction so that students can access complex text. Technology plays an important part in differentiating while students collaborate. There are many websites available for teachers to promote digital collaboration in the classroom. Most of these sites are geared towards upper grades, but there are some sites that promote collaboration among younger students.
Differentiation and collaboration require careful planning, and design. Students need to be taught how to collaborate, and to think critically. Thanks to technology there are many resources that help teachers create lessons and activities that spark student interest and promote collaboration and differentiation.
The following sites help differentiate instruction to promote student engagement and collaboration for lower grades: Classcraft, Common Sense Media Brainpop Jr. , Sumdog.
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