Utilizing Online Resources

There are so many different ways to differentiate teaching in the classroom today. Teachers are given such a wide variety of resources to pull from, but what is interesting is how teachers can now differentiate teaching outside of the classroom as well. Teachers no longer have to be held captive to giving students the same boring worksheets to complete for homework; the alternative take home assignment I am focusing on today is a WebQuest.

A WebQuest is an online document that explains a certain lesson step by step so that a student is able to complete it on their own at home. I have created my own WebQuest that could be used in a third grade classroom to teach the butterfly life cycle. It is interactive and applicable and I urge you to click on the link to activate my WebQuest to see for yourself how beneficial it is to utilize the technology that we have today to encourage learning.

Differentiating Instruction in the Classroom

1. The Method of Instruction targets the VISUAL LEARNER

If it is evident that all students do not learn the same way, then why do teachers keep forcing students to conform to a certain way of learning in the classroom? 

It is simple for an educator to teach students in ways that are comfortable or “easy” for the teacher, but if all teachers had a mindset like that then would there be any students who were truly learning or who would have an increasing desire to learn? One way to instill a love for learning in students is to provide them with different ways to learn material that they find enjoyable and applicable to themselves.

Teachers can differentiate instruction when it comes to:

CONTENT,  PROCESS, PRODUCT, and LEARNING ENVIRONMENT    

In this post I am going to elaborate on the “PROCESS” portion of differentiation in  the classroom. Allowing students to cover the same material in several different ways only makes the learning process more interesting and applicable to themselves and their personal learning styles. The pictures throughout the post display how differentiating the process of instruction in a class can be used to include students of all learning styles. The first picture at the right is of myself teaching students through an interactive PowerPoint; videos, slide shows, or interactive technology can make a lesson applicable to the students who need to learn visually.  The second picture in line shows “Five Sense Grab Bags” where students were given the chance to personally see, hear, touch, smell, and taste the five senses for themselves which applies to Kinesthetic learners. The final picture shows me working with students one on one to explain a lesson to them verbally which is good for students who learn through listening.

Instilling a love for learning in young students begins with making them involved and interested in the learning process, and I believe that teachers should remember to constantly be looking for ways to differentiate instruction in the classroom to help the students in their class learn to the fullest potential.

2. This method of Instruction targets the KINESTHETIC LEARNER

3. This method of structure targets the AUDITORY LEARNER

From Blackboards to SmartBoards

New Interactive SmartBoard Writing

Traditional Whiteboard Writing

Technology is everywhere and the use of technology has been rising at a rapid pace for several years now and does not seem as though it is going to taper off any time soon. So the question is, if technology is so prevalent in society today then why is it not used in the classroom more? The answer is that technology is starting to become popular in classroom settings and I believe that incorporating technology in the classroom can only make lessons more informational while being interactive.

There are so many types of interactive technologies that teachers can use within the classroom to promote student learning such as PowerPoint, Near Pod, SmartBoard, Kahoot, and many more similar sources of technology. I think that teachers do not feel educated enough on the different types of technology to use them, because I felt that way before I attended Liberty University’s Education 240 class. The class consisted of teaching future educators like myself why it is so important to use technology in the classroom, how to use the different sources of technology, and how to incorporate that technology into everyday classroom life. The different technologies I was given the opportunity to become familiar with consist of the list written above (PowerPoint, Near Pod, SmartBoard and Kahoot) and when I become an educator I desire to make incorporating technology into my classroom everyday because it presents so many benefits for young learners.

These pictures are of me teaching a lesson reviewing the functions of The Five Senses using SmartBoard Technology in the first photo, and the second picture is of myself using SmartBoard Software to teach about Rhyming Words.