differentiated instruction
Schools today are generally inclusive. Inclusion of all children including special needs children and gifted and talented children can be incredibly beneficial or incredibly detrimental depending on a teacher's attitude and approach. Differentiating instruction based on student's abilities into one's lesson planning is a challenging job, but it is entirely possible.
"Differentiation of Instruction in the Elementary Grades" written by Carol Ann Tomlinson and printed in the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education journal in August 2000 is a wonderful article for any teacher to read and taught me a lot on how to incorporate Differentiated Instruction into my classroom. The link to the article is HERE.
While researching on Differentiated Instruction, I was introduced to choice boards! I LOVE THIS IDEA!!! I think that students are more engaged and even challenge themselves more when they are given choices. The great thing is....they aren't just for GT students. Choice boards work similar to tic-tac-toe; the student completes 3 activities in a row {up, down, or diagonal}. They can be adapted for ALL students and actually lend themselves well to differentiated instruction.
Choice boards can be set up in many different ways. You can base them off of abilities, learning styles, intelligences, and even levels of questioning. I have found it easier, if I focus on just one of these types. When creating the board, you want to plan out what type of activity each square will focus on. {You don't want to have 2 of the same type of activities in a row} The goal of the Choice Boards are to have equally acceptable activities that you want the students to complete that are similar end products, but have varying ways to accomplish the final product. {For example, you are studying the Alamo. Students could choose activities from writing a diary from the viewpoint of being in the battle, recreating a model of the Alamo, creating a movie, etc.} The wonderful thing about Choice Boards though...students can choose an activity they are willing to complete {taking into consideration their own likes/learning style/intelligence}, but they will have 2 other activities they will need to complete that will focus on other skills that they possibly may need to strengthen {but at the very least they're practicing other skills}! It's a win-win situation!
Here is an example template of how to begin creating a choice board based on Multiple Intelligences:
Verbal/
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logical/
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visual/
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interpersonal
Teach a cooperative game Role play a situation Discuss and come to a conclusion Survey or interview others |
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body/
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Musical/Rhythmic
Play musical instruments Write to music Teach dance steps Make up music and sound effects Write a jingle Create rhymes |
naturalist
Discover or experiment Take a field trip Study means of survival Adapt materials for a new use Label and classify |
intrapersonal
Write about a personal experience Think about and plan Review or visualize How would it feel to... Imagine and write about the future |