7 Ways To Differentiate Math Instruction.

 In today's semi-post Covid landscape, we have students of differing abilities and we need a way to meet the needs of all students.  This means we need to think more about differentiating instruction so none of our students feel left out. Differentiating math means we think about changing up the way we do things, think outside the box, and not get into the habit of doing the same thing every single day.

Differentiated math instruction is when an instructor uses a collection of techniques, strategies, or adaptions used to reach a diverse group of students so math is made accessible to everyone. When one differentiates a math lesson, one is providing a variety of entry points or exit points designed to support student thinking.  This makes math accessible to all students and no one feels left out.

One way is to set up a series of math centers or stations that students can work their way through.  Centers might include watching a video, reading an article, solving a word problem, or doing an activity. Once the teacher has given the whole class lesson, students break up and work their way through the centers, spending 10 to 15 minutes at each stop.  Math centers are great because they help facilitate independence, small group learning, and gives the teacher some time to provide additional support to struggling learners. It is important for the teacher to customize groups and centers to math the needs of students better.

Next, look at using activity or task cards that allow students to decide what they do and the choice gives students more power.  Activity cards might be math problems, tasks, or questions and the material should span several lessons while offering students the opportunity to work individually, in small groups, or with a partner.  

Another possibility is through the use of choice or menu boards since they provide students with a way of them making decisions about their learning.  What ever type of choice board you choose to use, they have to focus on specific learning needs, interests, and skills.  Use of choice or menu boards tends to increase student ownership because they can pace themselves and decide how they will engage with the information, and show what they've learned.

In addition, look at having students fill out math journals.  When students write about math, they can reflect about their learning while having the chance to practice English, especially in written form.  This is a great way for ELL students to practice their language skills while giving all students the opportunity to practice communication.  Students can summarize key points, answer open ended questions, connect math with everyday life, or write about what they find most challenging.  To make the entry point good for all students, do not set a minimum amount they must write.  Give them the choice to write as little or as much as they want or even let them draw their ideas.  

A slightly different idea here is to set up learning contracts.  One way to do this is to ask students to reflect on their learning, set learning which includes what skills they need to learn, or which skills they want to improve, or the areas they want to explore.  This is one way to set up personalized learning plans and these can be done at the beginning of the year and have students revisit these on a regular basis throughout the year.

Don't forget to use math games in class because they are fun, motivational and help students to deepen their mathematical thinking and reasoning.  When using a game in class, make sure the games learning objective matches up with the mathematical objective.  Always have a variety of games to use so you can change them out. Some games might involve the whole class while others allow each student to play individually.  It all depends on what is needed.

Finally include digital practice for math. Look for websites and apps that are specifically designed to reinforce the current material being studied.  Make sure the apps or website is not timed so students do not develop anxiety and are more likely to learn the material.  Using these type of digital materials can increase the level of fun and participation without discouraging them as much.  

When it comes time to implement these strategies, you don't have to do them all at once.  Think about introducing one at a time so they get used to doing them but these are all ways to differentiate math instruction. Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear. 

Differentiating Instruction in Algebra I

The second book I found on differentiating instruction is Differentiating Instruction in Algebra I by Kelli Jurek.  This book contains four ready-to-use units covering function and relationships, systems of linear equations, exponent rules and exponential functions and quadratic functions. 

Each unit has vocabulary, unit objectives, an overview and everything you need to teach the unit. The first unit on functions and relationships has a preassessment, learning target and study guide, a vocabulary choice board, four lessons each with an agenda, and an exit slip.  Lesson four is designed to tie it all together and assess knowledge. 

This is awesome because it lays out the lessons in a wonderful style and I can use it to create other units in various classes.  As I've stated before, I am not very good at creating differentiated units without having examples in front of me.  This book does a great job of providing guidance. 

I already plan to utilize this book for Algebra I and Algebra II when I cover this material.  The other nice thing about the book besides aligning with common core standards, is that many of the assignments are set up so the student does x number in part one, has some choice in part two and total choice in doing any problems in part three. 

I found one other book that has great problems for the first day of introduced material and for homework.  I'll talk about that in a few days.

Differentiation That Really Works - Math

I just purchased Differentiation That Really Works - Math by Cheryll M. Adams, PhD, and Rebecca L. Pierce, Phd.  I have been interested in differentiating my classroom but its hard to find the concrete examples I need.  This book has a variety of examples from Pre-algebra all the way up to Calculus and the examples are from real teachers who use these in the classroom.

The book has a short introduction and then its into the meat of the material.  The chapters cover exit cards, choice boards, cubing, graphic organizers, learning contracts and tiered lessons.  Each chapter has a template and  tons of examples.   For instance, I've always wanted to use exit tickets but I come up with ones that do not do much more than "What did you learn today?" or "Is there anything you still do not understand?"  Usually, I've gotten "I don't know" or they copy everything from their notes.  Neither answer gives me much to go on. 

The cubing is something new for me.  You design a dice cube with math things on it and the students play with it doing what the cube states when it finishes rolling.  The examples give me so much to work with and I can even see how to adjust some of the cubes to meet the needs of my students.  I am wondering if I could set a cube up on my Smartboard to do a whole class activity.

Even the learning contracts have some great examples that might be worth implementing with my students who are less motivated.  It might just provide that little push they need to start working harder.  I will be spending the weekend looking for ways to implement these ideas into my classroom so I am able to offer differentiated instruction.

I found a second book on differentiation that goes hand in hand with this.  I  will review it tomorrow.