Larrakeyah Primary School differentiates the content, process, product and learning environment to cater for individual needs using data and knowledge of each student’s strengths interests, and areas for growth.
At Larrakeyah Primary School, we use differentiation in the classroom so that all our students have an opportunity to succeed at a level that suits them and challenge them to move beyond that level of understanding. Recently, we, as a teaching staff, looked at our definition for differentiation and revised it.
It was important that the definition captured the practices that were occurring in each of our classrooms. Our teachers decided on the definition. Larrakeyah Primary School differentiates the content, process, product and learning environment to cater for individual needs using data and knowledge of each student’s strengths interests, and areas for growth.
Differentiation in the classroom benefits the students because we want them to feel successful in every aspect of learning, whether it’s reading, writing, maths. The benefit of it is that students can work at a learning goal that is at their level and at their own pace while their teacher is supporting them along the way.
Data is the centre of all that we do in the classroom. Our teachers know their students and how they learn and are constantly looking for ways to engage students in their learning. All students in the class must be exposed to the same content. However, our teachers alter and adjust the degree of complexity of the task.
For example, when we teach subtraction, we might use a three star system, where the students at a one star might be working on subtracting two digit numbers. If they’re at a two star system, they might be working on subtracting three digits, and those students working at a three star will be working with more complex situations.
We differentiate the process, that meaning how the task will be completed. Some students may be asked to work independently on the task where others may work in small groups or with a partner. This is to ensure that every student is engaged and completing the task asked of them.
In mathematics in year three, we have been working on subtraction and telling the time to the minute through reflecting on our students assessments the year three teachers realised that the students needed a little bit more support on reading clocks to the quarter hour. So we chose to embed this into our warmups. We use a flashcards through a website that differentiate time by showing the quarter hour time for those students who still require that support, but also time to the minute for those students who were ready to continue that learning. And then we’d select the students, based on their understandings, to share and read the times of the clocks, challenging them to move forward and further ahead as we could.
The product refers to the artefact or item a student can use to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding, and skills. Our teachers will differentiate the product by allowing various ways for a task to be completed. We can differentiate the product by allowing students to demonstrate their learning in their own way and we could do this by allowing them to choose their own topic that interests them to focus on or something they might like to improve their learning on through their learning goals.
Finally, when differentiating the learning environment, the teacher considers the student’s environmental preferences. For example, some students need lots of workspace. Some need a quiet area, some like to engage in discussions, some like to work alone. During this time, that meant the teacher was able to move around the classroom and provide instant feedback to the students, sometimes addressing any misconceptions or encouraging them to take the challenge to move to the next level.
We also withdraw students based on their data to participate in a range of programs tailored to student needs with our learning support teacher, as well as with a variety of different specialist teachers within the school. We have intervention groups for literacy and mathematics, a social and emotional learning group for our younger students, which teach them all about positive social interactions and regulation of emotion. We have our phonological awareness remediation groups, as well as the Tournament of Minds and extension groups for our year three to six students.
By using differentiation in the classroom and making it visible to all students we’re giving them the comfortability to be able to work at their own level that suits them. For those kids that might need it, we’re working at a slower pace. For those kids that need extending, we’re challenging them in their thinking. And by doing this, it’s setting them up for life beyond school and moving into high school as well.
