In Johnson's, "Differentiated Instruction Allows Students to Succeed" article I felt comfortable when he said that it was hard to do, because we want to initially treat all students the same. My target class has become full of different personalities, different language levels, and different academic levels. In this article Johnson states that the goal of differentiate instruction is to provide, "..."Learning activities that cater to the students' strengths but bring all of the students to the same learning objective." This forced me to go back to the very first day of VTS class and think, what is the simplest concise objective of VTS? (Especially for beginners) My answer would be for students to start reading visual texts, and providing evidence for their observations. For this objective, VTS is helping to meet my students where they are. Students who need to make rather simple observations can, but they can also provide me with evidence for what they are seeing to state that something is a flower or a tree. Students who are more advanced might be able to provide me with evidence about a potential narrative they have constructed in their minds.
Overall, VTS has also helped my students because of one obvious switch: We are looking at visual texts instead of traditional ones. This automatically provides imagery for us to discuss, which helps my ELL students who can recognize a flower, but might not recognize the english word for flower. Also, the audible discussion and association of english words with images should be helping ELL students build their vocabulary. As mentioned above, the different possibilities to say a blunt observation, or create a narrative out of ambiguity, have helped my students of different academic levels participate in the conversation while still working on our objective. In this class, there are lots of students who dislike each other and continual drama between peers. However during a VTS discussion, my students continue to be respectful with each other. Furthermore, more students who were once shy are now participating. So, the process seems to help foster their classroom community. The frustrating part is that once the discussion is over they go back to being disrespectful. I even mentioned this to my principal, and she suggested perhaps showing them a video of their discussion to show them that they CAN be respectful with each other, just like they were 10 minutes ago.
While reading these articles I kept thinking about how I could differentiate the process of this discussion to help my students behavior. So far, we have all been coming to sit together on the carpet in front of the smart board, and raising our hands to talk. Should students be in their seats, so they have more space and aren't annoyed by each other? (Then they may not see as well or I may not be able to manage as well.) Should I allow students to stand in the back if they feel like they would do better standing? Should I have a visual reminder as to who the speaker is, like the person holding the red ball is the only one who should be talking? What's so frustrating is that when I call on my students, they have brilliant things to say. But the process of sitting quietly, hands still, and not talking out of turn continues to be a behavioral challenge for them. So, am I missing differentiation in the process of a lesson that is already differentiated?
Lori,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post about differentiated instruction. I agree with you that VTS is a great way to differentiate--especially for your class of ELL students. It is interesting how a class can be so respectful during a VTS discussion and then revert to their old habits when it's over--I've noticed that too. As to your questions about differentiating the process of the discussion here is what I've found--when my students stay in their seats away from the screen they are disengaged from the discussion. So I now ask them all to come forward--either on the rug or on a stool right behind the rug. Yes, sometimes they have to be separated if they are bugging each other, but most of the time, because they are closer to me and the image they are focused and engaged. I've found this to be true with all of the grades I teach.
I am really impressed with the way you are considering the information in this article and transferring it to the behavior of your students. You have given me much to think about.
ReplyDeleteSitting together on the floor can be challenging, particularly for kids that don't get along or those who don't recognize the "personal space" of others. Those who don’t sit well with others SHOULD be seated away so that they can be successful just as those who don’t see well or hear well should have preferential seating. I do believe that students need and even long for structure. I believe, also, that they need to learn "behavioral registers" - for example, you behave one way on the playground, but that "register" is totally inappropriate in our society for a place like the library. In VTS, we set and try to enforce a certain register of behavior that values turn-taking, listening, respectful disagreement. This creates an emotionally safe space where students feel comfortable both physically and emotionally. I also believe that students need to learn that the world won't always accommodate them; there are times when they will have to be the one to make themselves fit in. I believe we do them a great disservice by not teaching them that. VTS offers freedom to think, reason, speculate, and debate, but the underlying structure and predictability of it calms and settles kids - a nice counter-balance so it isn’t chaos. So while I would encourage you to try to figure out what each child needs to make them successful in VTS, I would also encourage you to do so within a predictable structure.