All Learners Welcome Here Differentiation In The Schoolhouse

Daun Yorke
Mar 17, 2018
4 min read

Our school is on a journey, moving towards differentiation every day in every classroom. At the core of differentiation is compassion, awareness, and responsiveness to the needs of all learners. The sign on the school door reads “Welcome.” It does not say “Welcome some,” for we are a non-exclusive school; rather, the sign means “Welcome all.” Our collective goal this year has been to improve the way we welcome and serve every child who crosses the threshold of our school. At the heart of our school mission is “enabling confident and open-minded learners.” Confidence and open-mindedness for the learner come through understanding and through being understood.

To understand

It is essential for every child to understand the concepts and content being covered in class. Through scaffolding, varied learning engagements, intentional grouping and adjusting the pace for different learners, a wider range of learners will reach understanding. The days of the almighty teacher standing at the front of the room, using whole-group instruction to transmit information with the expectation that every child will meet the same expectations (same task, same pace) are over. Twenty-first-century teachers know that they must go beyond this conventional method of teaching to provide varied learning engagements for students in their classrooms.

Adapting our teaching methodologies takes time. Teachers are at different stages of their journeys and are as varied as the learners they serve. There are teachers among us who thrive on whole-group instruction as learners. It is essential to reflect on our own biases and recognise that some of us went into teaching (especially in the secondary school) with a passion for and strength in our subject areas. Were we the ones who understood concepts quickly and contributed frequently to whole group dialogue? For some of us, teaching for understanding and introducing differentiated learning engagements is a major paradigm shift. Moving forward, we need to recognise our own biases as we start to embrace alternative strategies.

To be understood

For every child to be understood, brings in another level of complexity to teaching and learning. To be understood, the learner has to take what they have learned and successfully communicate it in writing, orally, dramatically, musically or through imagery. Understanding is stage one in the learning journey and being understood is stage two. So in the differentiated classroom, there must be a multitude of opportunities for students to share their understanding. There are times when English Language Learners need to reach understanding and be understood through the employment of their mother tongue. To be understood can be immediate and intertwined with understanding in some learning engagements, an example of this would be an interactive jigsaw activity that requires learners to share understanding within the activity. However, with deep conceptual learning, the variety of opportunities for students to be understood (demonstrate understanding) may vary in complexity, form and pace.

As the journey to differentiation in the school unfolds, we need to collectively look at the school vision which includes “innovation and a student-centred, community approach.” Differentiation involves employing innovative practices with the student at the centre of the learning. The community approach is essential and involves teacher-leaders supporting the work of teaching teams. In the community, teachers will expand their toolboxes of strategies, share best practice and challenges. With differentiation in the classroom, it is essential to honour student voice and choice. When working with teachers and teams of teachers, honouring voice and choice is equally essential and this is part of the community approach.

So, the picture of a differentiated classroom includes teachers moving around the room and hunkering down, nose-to-nose with learners, physically, intellectually, emotionally reaching every learner where they live. In that picture, every student is honoured for what she brings to the classroom. At the moment, we may be a long way from that centre-fold illustration in the Book of Differentiation. Thanks to collective inspiration from some amazing professional development this year and time carved out of the timetable for teams to meet and plan collaboratively, the journey towards refining our practices and increased differentiation has begun.

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This years’ journey began with brilliant whole-school professional development with Dr. Virginia Rojas; Scaffolding and Differentiating Instruction to Support

English Learners. From the taxi ride from the airport through her two-day workshop, Dr. Rojas urged us to change and enhance some of our teaching practices and structures within the school. And change we did - our model for language learning in the secondary took a great leap forward. From changing our push-in and pull-out of the classroom model to implementing “translanguaging” strategies throughout the school, the Rojas Effect has been seen, heard and felt throughout the year in all corners of the school.

At the end of February, the school welcomed master educator, Tania Lattanzio, who led two learning-filled days of professional development for all our teachers on Differentiation. Lattanzio shared a cornucopia of resources and strategies that our teaching teams could unpack and use in the classrooms. Lattanzio’s work with teachers built upon the earlier PD with Rojas and required them to reflect on practices and long-held beliefs about teaching and learning. A third day was spent with Lattanzio visiting classrooms and observing the learning across the school. She provided the school with solid feedback and advice to support us to

further reach the learning needs of every child in the classroom. Lattanzio also

held a parent workshop to enlighten parents about the importance of understanding the different ways we all learn, and she stressed the importance of differentiation in the classroom. We know that differentiation is an ongoing process and teachers are working to further employ strategies. Lattanzio has been invited back in one year’s time to look at learning again and consult further on differentiated instruction and curriculum planning.