7412EDN Trimester 3 2023 Assessment Task One

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Student Number:

Class/Tutor:

Teaching strategy chosen: Differentiation

List the six sources that you are working with (please use APA Style guide).

1. Eikeland, I. and Ohna, S.E. (2022). Differentiation in education: a configurative review. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, [online] 8(3), pp.1–14. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/20020317.2022.2039351.

2. Gaitas, S., & Alves Martins, M. (2017). Teacher perceived difficulty in implementing differentiated instructional strategies in primary school. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 21(5), 544-556.

3. Tomlinson, C. A. (2017). Differentiated instruction. In Fundamentals of gifted education (pp. 279-292). Routledge.

4. Oxford, R.L., (2016). Teaching and researching language learning strategies: Self-regulation in context. Taylor & Francis.

5. Smale-Jacobse, A. E., Meijer, A., Helms-Lorenz, M., & Maulana, R. (2019). Differentiated instruction in secondary education: A systematic review of research evidence. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 2366.https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02366

6. Verhoeven, M., Poorthuis, A. M., & Volman, M. (2019). The role of school in adolescents’ identity development. A literature review. Educational Psychology Review, 31, 35-63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-018-9457-3

 (You do not need to formally reference these sources below - using author/source name will suffice)

Synthesised understanding of the context of the teaching approach. e.g underlying theory(s) or discipline, history, key researchers/academics, geographic origins (etc) as appropriate

(approx.10% of word count)

Synthesised understanding of the teaching approach’s goals.

(approx. 10% of word count)

A synthesized evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the teaching approach.

(aprox. 10% of word count)

Differentiation in education is a teaching and learning approach aimed at addressing the diverse needs, skills, and interests of students in a classroom. This concept recognizes that students learn in different ways and at different paces, and therefore requires a flexible curriculum, teaching strategies, and assessment methods (Gaitas & Alves Martins, 2017). Primarily when it revolves around high-quality curriculum and instruction . Teachers can enhance this by ensuring the curriculum aligns with the critical knowledge and perspectives highly regarded in specific disciplines. They should design lessons, activities, and projects to deeply engage students, helping them understand and apply essential concepts. Therefore, it is crucial to use materials and tasks that resonate with students' interests and seem relevant to them. Additionally, promoting an active learning environment and fostering a sense of joy and satisfaction in learning for each student is essential for effective differentiation.

Zimmerman's model of Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) outlines three distinct stages (Oxford & R.L., 2016). The first is the forethought phase and in this phase learners establish their goals, evaluate their motivation and capability for the tasks ahead, and plan their approach. The second stage is the performance phase, during which learners concentrate, actively participate in the tasks, employ and refine various strategies, and keep track of their ongoing progress. The third phase is performance evaluation (Eikeland and Ohna, 2022).

The development of differentiation in education mainly started from the United States driven by other wider educational trends in Europe and North America. One of the leading advocates for differentiated instruction, Tomlinson is a scholar whose work in late twentieth and early twenty-first century has played an important role in contemporary approximations to this concept (Eikeland and Ohna, 2022).

The education differentiation can be considered as a response to student diversity that would address the vision of school for every child. Differentiation is a well-known phenomenon in the western context and it seems to be multidimensional as it has different appearances, linguistic nomenclatures and types of operationalizations.

The goals of differentiated teaching approaches have been focusing on addressing the diverse needs, interests, and abilities of students to enhance learning outcomes and personal growth (Oxford &R.L., 2016). Difference requirements and the students requirements has been meet by using diverse course content, activities, and assessments. It has been targeting on teaching differently to different students in the context of the in gaining the teaching experiences to a one-size-fits-all model. On the other hand, it has been promoting the students' reading and the students learning has been changing with the having of more reading type.

One of the primary goals of differentiated instruction is to help students not only master content but also form their own identities as (learners Gaitas, et al., 2017). This approach is recognized by the belief that schools ought to aximize student potential and focus to develop the learning experiences in the education societies. It has been encouraging students to take charge of their learning and their lives, making learning engaging and relevant.

This is because differentiation promotes thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis of ideas and evaluation. In order to think and creatively solve problems, students are being challenged through the tasks that they engage with which match their current skill level as well as learning style. The concept of differentiated classroom entails continual monitoring and evaluation with adaptations which include instructional approaches or student intervention. Since this cycle is ongoing, it aids in identifying areas where students require additional assistance and areas that can be pushed further (Tomlinson & C. A.,2017). Differentiation of the learning has been addrsing the effective learning program that has been gaining the students.

Differentiated instruction has been presenting a mix of strengths and weaknesses. The main advantages of this strategy has been including student-centred, striving for equity by acknowledging individual learning needs. Differentiated instruction often focuses on personal growth and mastery, rather than competition and comparison with others. This can encourage a growth mindset among students, where they focus on their improvement and learning (Smale-Jacobse,et al. 2019). Under this strategy, is time-consuming and resource-intensive for teachers and it has also been leading to an oversimplified curriculum, is not always feasible for every student, can be unrealistic in the context of standardized testing, is based on the unproven concept of learning styles, and might limit students' exposure to various learning methods (Alamo, 2018). Therefore, differentiated instruction has been required to enhance the learning experiences and has been required to build the proportinates the learning experiences in terms of the students.

How would this approach inform teacher’s classroom practice?

The adoption of differentiated instruction has been helping to shape a teacher's classroom practice in the context of developing the teaching classroom practices ( Smale-Jacobse, et al.,2019) . Student needs, abilities, and interests have also been requiring the creation of personalized learning experiences that been created to individuals. Tiered Assignments and Flexible Grouping are essential in differentiated instruction. The Tiered Assignments are designed to offer different levels of difficulty, balancing students’ skills and abilities. In Flexible Grouping, students can work in a wide variety of group configurations and benefit from different interactions. These practices, along with other approaches such as Learning Stations and Choice Boards address distinct learning styles and abilities thereby; Introducing technology only supplements this method by giving multiple, easily available learning resources (Verhoeven,et al., 2019).

Differentiation strategy has also been focusing on the enhancement of instructional strategies. However, this strategy has been leading to different challenges such as a lack of articulation between the strategies. Therefore, the learning environment needs to be safe and adequate and for that, the differentiation strategy in the classroom has also been identifying the expectations of the learners. Therefore, it is also identified that high-quality assessment under differentiation has also been focusing on the providence of adequate guidance to the students.

Lesson plans are meant to be adaptable, allowing for different learning trajectories. Therefore teachers need to create alternative programs and tools for other levels of capability or preference. First, such formative assessments should be implemented regularly to measure the understanding and performance by each student. This feedback guides ongoing modifications in teaching approaches. Differentiation under education is a teaching philosophy that has aimed at providing an inclusive and positive learning environment (Tomlinson and C. A.,2017). Furthermore, the promotion of the student chafing has been providing the key learning exprineces to the other students and moptivating them also in order to gaining and fostering the development of the classroom lareairning experiences. Hence, It has been identified that the differentiation is has been promoting a set of strategies or materials and it is also identified that the appropriate way of teaching has been considering both students and content. It is also has been offering various options for knowledge acquisition and ensuring that both teaching and learning are effective for every student (Haleem et al., 2022).

It is also been informed by an understanding of each student's strengths, struggles, and interests. Moreover, it has been observed that the inclusivity by considering students' cultural backgrounds and interests. Furthermore, it has also been enhanced engagement through stronger teacher-student trust mainly effective in smaller focused groups.

What synthesized conclusions can you draw about the quality of the research in the sources reviewed?

It can be concluded that the teaching strategy related to differentiation has been promoting transformative teaching philosophy in modern education. It is also been focusing on respecting the diverse needs of students. Eikeland and Ohna (2021) furnish a configurative review that locates the wide-ranging territory of differentiation, providing an extensive summary of existing literature. This is followed by Gaitas & Alves Martins (2017) who discuss the applied challenges teachers face in trying to implement differentiated instructional strategies, especially among primary educators, underscoring some of the complications surrounding its practicality. Carol Ann Tomlinson, one of the outstanding representatives in this area deepens methodological knowledge regarding differentiation especially related to gifted education (Tomlinson 2017) Oxford (2016) moves to the issue of language acquisition, offering ideas about how differentiation can be used successfully in this area and highlighting self-regulation during learning. In secondary education, Smale-Jacobse et al. (2019) provide us with a systematic review that discusses the heterogeneous effectiveness and approaches to differentiation at this level. Also, the study by Verhoeven et al. (2019) also widens its horizons as it looks at school’s influence in adolescent identity construction which has been another important consideration to include for successful differentiated instruction implementation In total, these studies provide a colorful and varied image of differentiated education highlighting its relevance to the various stages of learning.

After considering all of your work above, would you choose to use this approach as a Teacher? Why or why not?

(approx. 30% of the word count)

It is identified that the this approach has been predominantly helping me to enhance learning capabilities of the teachers (Almulla, 2020). Therefore, through the approaches related to the teaching strategies, it will adequately focus on the aspects related to safe and adequate learning environment. As a teacher, I would usually adopt the differentiation approach in class to take advantage of its tremendous potential for improving student learning. Through this method, I will ensure that my classroom population remains diverse as possible and responds to the needs of all these students with varying abilities This personalized method is essential for increasing motivation and engagement, as students are more likely to be curious about the content adapted to their readiness level and fields of interest.

Secondly, differentiation facilitates a broader learning environment. It enables me to address the whole range of learners, from those who require additional support to those ready for complex demands. This inclusiveness is vital in promoting a sense of unity and dignity among the students. This strategy is in line with my desire to foster a growth mindset that places emphasis on appreciating effort and progress instead of focusing on grades.

Therefore, ongoing perspectives such as the needs of students can be promoted. Engagement of the teachers can also be promoted though the differentiation approaches and it is also identified that motivation to the students can also be promoted through this approaches (Ong & Quek, 2023). On the other hand, it is also to be stated that equity in education has also been necessary for the students and for this gaps between the students can also be decreased through this. It is also been identified that problem solving skills and critical thinking skills are necessary for the reduction of issues.