We recently visited Scott Dual Language Magnet School, where we found lots of eager and active young students. Their smiling faces were a welcome sight on an early Monday morning!
Walking through the building gave us an opportunity to peek in on many classes in session and one common theme emerged among them: differentiated instruction . For our followers who don't know, differentiated instruction is a teaching method that allows educators to better tailor their lessons to individual students, rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach. With this teaching style, students are able to learn content in a variety of ways. It also increases classroom interaction with the teacher and other students. There are so many different skill levels within each class and differentiated instruction is important because it allows students to learn at a faster or slower pace, depending on their own abilities.
Many classes utilizing differentiated instruction will spend time rotating through a schedule with small groups within the class. For example, while one group is working at a table with the teacher, another group might be using technology, like ipads and laptops, while yet another groups is working individually on a worksheet. After a set amount of time, the groups will all rotate, allowing every student to spend time doing each of the three activities.
In addition to watching the students in their classrooms, we also got to see them having fun in PE and music class.
