Thursday, October 16, 2008

ILC - Using Your Computer to Differentiate ...


Using Your Computer to Differentiate Instruction

Gigi Kelley

1:00-2:00pm Thursday, Oct 16




  • From intervention to acceleration, its important to differentiate!


  • www.teachersourcebook.org for great resources on differentiating


  • Why differentiate?
    • includes all students
    • allows teacher to reach all students some of the time
    • students feel good when they can do it!
  • How to do this?
    • for example, record 3 podcasts for spelling tests - advanced, regular, EL list of spelling works. They don't know it's different!
    • again, can podcast with Garage band (mac) or Audacity (PC)
    • can put in public folder for students to download on a server, USING ipods!
    • have them record reading aloud - kids don't know how to without hearing it
      • kids can then self grade for accuracy when reading aloud
    • need to get cheap mikes, preferably USB adaps
    • can then easily share with parents, can grade at home
    • or write a grant for ipods with mikes!
    • describe a character in a book, can put music behind it in Garageband
    • in keynote/power point, can make flashcards! Word, picture clue, then definition one after another on a slide. Then for EL, can also record voice! Works for vocab but also math!
    • compare contrast on one slide with powerpoint/keynote
    • when kids have a hard time conveying info on tests, can speak answers as a podcast!
    • imovie and moviemaker also are great for presentation
    • Pages is great for charts
    • What about, entering data in a spreadsheet already, then asking kids to manipulate? Then when they get the data, they can do right away.
    • Ask kids to come in 5 minutes early, pre teach, then they wear a pin that says "Ask me, I'm an expert!" - they love it!
    • I want to get cameras for my classes!
  • Differentiate with choice
    • chart with 9 activities, instructions in each box
    • while they are working on their task, pull out small groups to work on "book" stuff
  • Tiered lessons
    • 4 activities, but the 3rd is the standard, 4th is for those who finish early (Similar to A levels)
    • read it, listen to it, draw it, write about it (then read it as a podcast!) or just do it as a podcast
  • real power in letting kids self grade. And easy to send home to show how kids are doing. Send home YOUR grade and their self grade!
  • web resources on differentiated instruction

A differentiated classroom offers different approaches to how teachers present information, what students learn, how they learn it, and how they demonstrate what they've learned















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