Running head: DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION 1

Student-centered and/or Differentiated Instruction

Stacy Spivey

Regent University

In partial fulfillment of UED 495 Field Experience ePortfolio, Spring 2019

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Student-centered and/or Differentiated Instruction

While it is important for teachers to possess knowledge and understanding on the content

they teach, it is just as significant that they master differentiating the material. Instruction

without differentiation is like a keynote speaker delivering his speech in one language at an

international convention without any translations in other languages. Just as the speaker could

not expect his audience to understand his speech without accommodating their needs, so

educators need to proactively shape their material to address every students’ academic needs.

Rationale for Selection of Artifacts

The first artifact for this competency is a lesson plan that reflects comprehensive

approaches to differentiating instruction by addressing and meeting students’ diverse needs. In

this lesson plan, the students learn how to identify and write fractions in a set using skittles.

Following the anticipatory set, the teacher displays an interactive flipchart on the Promethean

board that reviews the basic components of fractions and then introduces fractions in sets. With

this, the teacher engages the students and models how to write and recognize fractions in sets.

Then, the students participate in an activity during the guided instruction portion of the lesson. In

the activity, students’ described the amount of colored skittles in a set of ten using fractions,

recording the fractions in a corresponding table. As outlined in the “Differentiation Strategies”

section, various learning styles, accommodations, and academic proficiencies were considered

when forming this lesson. For example, social learners benefitted from a think, pair, share

activity. Meanwhile, the needs of kinesthetic learners were met by manipulating and sorting the

skittles. Likewise, visual learners profited from the flipchart, an anchor chart, and sorting the

skittles as well. Since my classroom was inclusive, special education (SPED) students were

provided with more individualized instruction and guidance due to the presence of a SPED
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teacher. Finally, additional worksheets were provided for students who completed the skittles

activity earlier than other due to their greater academic proficiencies. These strategies reinforced

the quality of learning each student received, making the lesson highly effective for each student.

The second artifact is a picture of a differentiation strategy that was implemented to assist

a SPED student and a sample of the student’s work. After reading a fiction text and allowing

student to independently practice identifying situations of cause and effect in a fiction text, the

students practiced writing summaries for the story. Since the independent practice was

administered whole-group, SPED students participated. However, two of the SPED students

significantly struggled with writing their own strategies. Both students are diagnosed as autistic.

One student could not recall the events of the story, even after receiving guidance and skimming

the text. The other student made up a summary comprised of their own elements instead of

recounting specifically what occurred in the story. For this reason, I created cards with each

element of the summary on them for these students to sort instead of having them reproduce the

summary out of nothing like the other students. One picture depicts the function of the cards

while the other compares one of the SPED students’ summaries before and after completing the

sort. The purpose of the sort was to allow me to assess if the student was able to summarize the

story by accommodating their needs. Since some of the students main struggles providing the

summary from their memories, I made a sort where they simply had to recall the order of the

events instead of the events themselves. It also conserved time since they were not expected to

write the summary until after completing the sort, avoiding having to ask the student to erase

incorrect responses. With this strategy, the SPED students were able to sharpen their skills and

reflect their competency at constructing summaries. In the future, this activity could be adjusted

to allow for more independence by leaving blanks on the cards for students to fill in before
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sorting them. More blanks could be added, eventually guiding the student to be able to write their

own sentences on the cards.

Reflection on Theory and Practice

Before entering my education courses, I was unfamiliar with the term ‘differentiation.’

Even though I was unacquainted with most of the technical terms, I assumed that I would be

learning about instruction and classroom management – the components of education that I was

familiar with and seemed central to the practice. However, when I discovered more about

differentiation, I was elated at the prospect of striving to make sure that my lessons engaged and

impacted all types of learners.

After learning about differentiation, I realized how my own learning or cognitive styles

influenced my education. According to Carol Evans and Michael Waring, “Cognitive styles refer

specifically to an individual’s habitual or typical way of perceiving, remember, thinking and

problem solving” (2011, p. 150). Throughout my education, I was told and aware of the fact that

I was a visual learner. If a teacher read a passage to the class, I did not retain it well if I was not

able to follow along in a book. When a teacher was introducing a new concept in science or

math, I did not comprehend it as well if I was not able to see visual representations of the

process, whether it was images, diagrams, or written formulas. It was not until attending my

education courses in college, though, that I recognized that I am also a kinesthetic learner.

Whereas I always associated my tendency to take notes with being a visual learner, it also

engaged me because I was able to move in a productive manner during a lesson.

Once I began my practicum and student teaching placements, I was able to witness the

presence of and need for differentiation on a grander scale. Both of my placements were in

inclusion classes, so I observed how each students’ needs varied between their learning styles,
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academic proficiency, and the presence of any disabilities. While some students needed little

guidance before being able to independently practice a task, others needed substantial amounts

direct instruction and guided practice. Whereas some students benefitted like me from having a

visual component in the lesson, others needed audial components. From these experiences, I was

able to discern how to practice incorporating differentiation into every aspect of the classroom,

not just my instruction (Tomlinson and Moon, 2013, p. 1). At first, I prioritized my learning

styles in my lesson-planning and classroom management techniques because I associated those

with being successful and essential. However, I quickly realized that not all students benefitted

from the same learning styles as me or had the same level of academic proficiency, so I needed

to prioritize their needs instead. As a result, my differentiation strategies have significantly

improved and I have gained a greater appreciation for each students’ unique educational needs.

Not only does my growing affinity to differentiation stem from my desire to help all

learners, but it also results from my Christian values. In all of history, Jesus was the greatest

teacher to have walked the earth. Throughout his ministry, Jesus showed careful consideration of

his audiences’ needs and modeled various types of differentiation. For example, He would share

parables to crowds that illustrated spiritual truths and perform miracles like feeding the 5,000.

Likewise, He sometimes only taught his disciples, dispersing the crowds to give them Biblical

insight (Matthew 13-14). In other words, Jesus used methods that benefitted audial, visual,

kinesthetic, and even social learners. Furthermore, he recognized the significance of whole-group

and small-group instruction.

Just like Jesus, I want to ensure that I recognize and prioritize each of my students’ needs.

Jesus never chose what was easiest or most practical. When speaking with the Samaritan woman

at the well or healing the blind man, his words and actions served an intentional purpose in the
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moment that influenced the individual as well as the spectators (John 4, 9). He was persecuted

and ridiculed, yet He persevered because He focused on God’s will and relied on his provision.

Similarly, I want to reject what is easiest or most practical for me and instead prioritize what is

most beneficial for my students. As written by David Geelan and his accompanying authors,

“Understanding the many differences amongst students, and treating these differences as

teaching resources rather than deficits, is a powerful approach” (2015, p. 13). God crafted each

student with unique gifts and comprehension levels that please him, so my goal is to help

students progress academically through these. When addressing the Israelites, Moses said,

“May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender

grass and like showers upon the herb” (Deuteronomy 32:2 ESV). Moses suffered from a speech

impediment, yet he trusted in God and honored him by teaching the crowds, benefitting those

who were audial learners. Like Moses, I want my instruction to be saturated with differentiation

techniques that do not rely on my strengths, but instead on God’s provision. With these, I pray

that my students’ academic growth will flourish and God will be glorified.
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References

Evans, C., & Waring, M. (2011). How can an understanding of cognitive style enable trainee

teachers to have a better understanding of differentiation in the classroom? Educational

Research for Policy and Practice, 10(3), 149-169.

doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.regent.edu:2048/10.1007/s10671-011-9101-1

Geelan, D., Christie, P., Mills, M., Keddie, A., Renshaw, P., & Monk, S. (2015). Lessons from

alison: A narrative study of differentiation in classroom teaching. International Journal

of Pedagogies & Learning, 10(1), 13-23.

doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.regent.edu:2048/10.1080/22040552.2015.1084673

Tomlinson, C. A., & Moon, T. R. (2013). “Differentiation: An Overview.” Assessment and

Student Success in a Differentiated Classroom. Virginia: Association for Supervision and

Curriculum Development.