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Differentiating Content, Delivery, and Assessment

As I begin the new school year I am always changing and reevaluating units and lessons to figure out how to make them better than the year before. This is a process that I believe will continue throughout my whole career as a teacher. The unit I am currently focusing on is the Constitution of the United States (Standard 8.2). Up until this point we have looked at the American Revolution and the causes and reasons behind it. Now as we turn to look at how the Constitution will be formed it is important that we look back to the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, and the Mayflower Compact. These three documents had a major influence on the writers of the Constitution and we can see their ideas echoed in our Constitution. I begin this unit by introducing each of these documents and giving a brief overview. I then want my students to look over these primary sources to find the main ideas presented in each, and to ask themselves which of the ideas presented are something that they value...
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Cooperative Learning and Grouping Patterns in the History Classroom

In the history classroom different grouping patterns help shape the classroom and the students learning and understanding. While teaching the American Revolution I can have a heterogeneous grouping of students (students who differ in level, interests, and abilities) that are assigned to either be a Patriot, a Loyalist, or neutral (Standard 8.1). With this grouping as it will start the year off I would take a more randomized approach to grouping so that I may observe the students and see how they work in groups and observe their strengths within the small groups. In this group the students would have to figure out why they would choose to be a Patriot, Loyalist, or neutral had they been living during this time based on information they have learned and research they can find. The groups would need to defend their position and figure out which reasons are strong and the weaknesses in other reasons, if there are any. Each group will then have a chance to explain and defend their position ...
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Project Based Learning in World War II

Propaganda was a major tool used by both our allies and enemies during both World War I and World War II. Propaganda was used by the government for a variety of reasons and there were three specific types of propaganda used during this time period. Front propaganda was used to increase the moral of your troops and to weaken the moral of the enemies. Homefront propaganda was aimed at the population at home, this was used to get them behind the war, to get them to buy war bonds or create Freedom Gardens. Foreign propaganda was used to try to counter the enemy propaganda abroad. These could all be done in a way that showed pride in your nation, in your soldiers, in your sacrifices or they could be done in a way that created hate and dehumanized the enemy. These were the two most common ways of reaching the people. Germany is portrayed as a giant King Kong type animal carrying away poor, helpless Lady Liberty or Uncle Sam is calling on you to do your part. Each country had their own propag...
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Differentiation of Content and Assignments

Differentiating looks different for each student and in each classroom. And I am not just talking about the assignments, although I will talk about those as well in this post. Teachers also need to differentiate the way that they present the content to their students. The differentiating of content by the teacher will look different for the type of students the teacher is differentiating for. Below I will explore different approaches to content and assignments for different type of learners in the classroom. There will be some approaches that can overlap for two or all three different types of learners and those will be discussed as well. Advanced or Gifted Learners Curriculum Compacting : To use this approach you will need the student(s) to have shown mastery of the lesson at hand. The teacher should give a pre-assessment to see what students have shown mastery and of what concepts they have mastered. Once this has been determined students will work independently until the teache...
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Differentiated Rubrics

As teachers we are constantly differentiating our assignments and projects. It is something that we must do in an effort to reach all of our students and make sure that they are all learning. With this differentiation comes different projects and presentations for the same lesson. This creates the problem of how do we grade these students with their different forms of assignments. This problem can make some teachers want to give up on differentiation or make them dread the grading. I know that for this assignment I racked my brain for days trying to think, how do I cover every aspect of the different types of learning in one rubric? It seemed impossible, for each of these learners and their assignments to be covered in one rubric. I decided to focus on a rubric that would be used for a presentation. My rubric covers Content, Mechanics, Presentation, and Use of Time. The Presentation portion was where I was struggling to meet all the needs of the different learners. What I decided to do...
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Differentiating Instruction

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Welcome to my blog! My name is Kristen Scannell and I teach Middle School at a private Christian school in Massachusetts. I was born and raised in California and taught there for two years before deciding to move across the country and explore all the wonderful history and cultures that the East Coast has to offer. My degree is in History and that is where my passion lies. However teaching in a small Christian school means that I wear many different hats and get to teach a few different subjects. I am currently teaching 6th-8th history, 6th-8th math, and 8th Bible. Having seven different preps has really stretched me as a teacher and I have learned and grown in ways I would  not have expected. The downside to seven different preps is the fact that preparing differentiated instruction becomes more of a challenge, because not only am I differentiating for seven different classes, but for seven completely different subjects. I am very excited about the class I am in in my Master's pr...
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Thoughts of a Growing Teacher [title edited]

After finishing up this course in my Master's program, I have walked away feeling more confident as a teacher and more excited for this new school year and the new ideas and approaches that I will implement. In this course I learned about so many technology tools at my disposal that I had not been aware of before. One of my favorites that the teacher used weekly was Symbaloo. I love how it fostered independently learning, while still be guided by the teacher on content. I am looking forward to implementing this in my lessons to give my students a more independent and empowering approach to their learning. I am not sure I would say I learned this, but that the idea of the independent learning and student creations and student led learning was reinforced in my mind. It is something that I look forward to putting forth in my classroom by getting away from the traditional textbook and opening the class up to more research and projects. I see now how this approach prepares our students ...
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