By Evelyn Rojas
In today’s world educators have more of a challenge within in their classroom walls than ever before. Students come from all over the world and have diverse backgrounds not only in their culture but in their education. The challenge that we are facing within the classroom is regarding how we are going to meet the needs of each of our students. Just like each student has a unique story and background, they also learn differently. the follow are technologies that teacher can use to support differentiation in the classroom, to meet the needs of our students,
Google Classroom: Google Classroom is a tool that teachers can use. In google classroom, teachers can upload all material related to any lesson or content: assignments, videos, resources, etc., it also has a gradebook. Google classroom helps educators create engaging learning experiences that we can personalize, manage, and measure (Classroom Management, n.d.). Google classroom is a great resource for teachers because as previously stated, you can upload just about anything. What’s better is that students can access material any time they need to. Therefore, if the student was absent or simply wants to review content, they have access to the material.
Achieve 3000: Achieve 3000 offers differentiated instruction designed to reach the diverse population in a school (Achieve 3000, 2023), in literacy and math. Literacy acceleration ensures that all students continue to accelerate their literacy growth and get or stay on track for success. Math instruction is also personalized. Students are supported with math fluency and skills mastery their individual practice. Almost like having their own personal tutor.
Kahn Academy: Khan academy is a great way for students to get additional support in math. Kahan academy provides personalized instruction, trusted content, and tools to empower teachers (Khan Academy, n.d.). Students are able to practice at their own pace. Khan academy provides support to fill in the gaps so that the students can then accelerate their learning. The content is aligned with standards and covers lessons that include AP, SAT, grammar, college level math. Teacher are able to identify the needs of every student and tailor instruction to meet their needs.
Kahoot is a fun interactive game that can be used in the classroom. One way to use Kahoot, can be during reading a story. You can create questions to gauge how much the students are understanding the story. I have used Kahoot in my classroom and students are easily engaged. One thing that I did learn was to not make any sessions of questions too long or they will get bored. It is a fun competitive platform for students to show what they have learned. Dictionary. com is another great technological resource. After the student types in the word, it provides them the definition, synonyms, and examples of sentences using the vocabulary word. This resource is helpful for students that struggle with language or may be lower in reading than their peers. Finally, there is google search. Google search offers student a plethora of information. For this given lesson, students would research a real-world conflict from the location of their choice any where in the world. They would need to identify the conflict, people or places involved, the rising action, falling action, and the resolution.
Resources
Achieve 3000. (2023). Achieve 3000 Differentiated Instruction. Accelerated Learning. Grades PreK-12 https://www.achieve3000.com/
Dictionary.com | Meanings & Definitions of English Words
Khan Academy Free online course, lessons, & practice. (n.d.) Khan Academy. https://wwwkhanacademy.org/
Kahoot! | Learning games | Make learning awesome!
Classroom Management Tools & Resources – Google for Education. (n.d.). Google for Education. https://edu.google. com/intl/ALL_us/workspack-for-education/classrom/