Using Technology to Differentiate and Promote Diverse Cultural Persepectives

 Using the three day, 6th grade math unit plan referenced previously, I incorporated opportunities for students to use technology within the lesson that supports diverse cultural perspectives. 

During day one of the unit, students will answer an open-ended response question embedded in the Nearpod. This question has students apply their knowledge by typing or recording a response regarding how they can apply the information learned to their world outside of the classroom (job, home, work, hobby, etc.). This was chosen due to that fact that when teachers tie content to a student's background or experiences, it helps to make the content more accessible for all (Robertson, 2021). The class will be able to view the student's responses to help make connections with each other, their backgrounds, and the real world. This technology engages students as it allows student choice in the way in which they respond, along with making their own connections to what appeals to them. This promotes a diverse cultural persepective as it allows students to view other student's responses, which can inform them more about the student's background or culture iand see their content connections, therefore, allowing students to see how the content can be relevant across many different cultures. 

On the second day, students will design an original, ordering rational numbers problem centered around a favorite hobby, family tradition, or food for a classmate to solve. They will type it into the digital collaboration board before leaving class for the day or have it ready to put on the board at the beginning of the next class period. One of the main principles of culturally responsive teaching is for the instructor to make sure activities are inclusive and personally inviting; discussion boards and Google collaboration tools help to achieve this goal (Technology and culturally..., 2021).  This technology helps support student engagement as once again, the class will be able to view the student's responses to help make connections with each other, their backgrounds, and the real world.This promotes a diverse cultural perspective in the same way as the first example. It allows students to view and respond to other student's responses, which helps to provide more information about the student's background and culture. 

On last day of the unit plan, for an extension activity, students will choose a favorite family recipe and create a flipgrid video in which they demonstrate how to make the recipe and be specific as to the ratio of each ingredients included. The flipgrid will be submitted through Google Classroom for others to view. This technology will help support student engagement as they get to not only choose the recipe that means something to them, but also get to showcase it on a flipgrid video as if they have their own cooking show. Student engagement is further increased as they will anticipate seeing their peer's videos and be able to respond. This helps support diverse cultural perspectives as students will be showcasing a recipe that is special to them and their family while demonstrating their knowledge of ratios. No matter where students are from, or where they currently live, they all have one thing in common; they eat (Cook, 2021) . Therefore, students can learn a bit more about student's culture through viewing their peer's work while being able to make personal connections as well. 

References 

  Cook, D. (2021). Celebrating cultural diversity, One bite at a time - Storey publishing. Storey publishing. Retrieved from https://www.storey.com/article/celebrating-cultural-diversity/. 

  Robertson, K. (2021). Connect students' background knowledge to content in the ELL classroom. Reading rockets. Retrieved from https://www.readingrockets.org/article/connect-students-background-knowledge-content-ell-classroom. 

  Technology and culturally responsive teaching - ASD instructional tech. Sites.google.com. (2021). Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/a/auburn.wednet.edu/asd-instructional-technology/home/culturally-responsive-teaching/technology-and-culturally-responsive-teaching. 

Differentiated Lesson Plans: Using Technology for Support

Recently, I designed a differentiated lesson which is being used in my 6th grade math field experience classroom. I used a technology tool to support the differentiation I needed to fit the learning styles of the students in the class (5 students in an intervention class). When designing this lesson, the following considerations were made. 

Evaluating and Choosing Instructional Strategies to Differentiate for and Engage Diverse Students 

When planning the lesson covering comparing and ordering rational numbers, I first reflected upon the student learning syles survey and previous conversations with the student's teacher to keep in mind readiness and interests. Since the majority are a good balance between visual and kinesthetic learners, I thought a Nearpod would be an effective way to engage the learners and provide auditory supports as well for the one student that fits in that category. Differentiation can occur whole group as long as we provide a variety of ways for students to explore the content and make connections (McCarthy, 2014). Therefore, I included multiple ways for students to do this through the Nearpod. A Flocabulary (music video) and “Draw it” tool was incorporated to help students retain the meanings of the math terms and supports all three learning styles. A short, 4 minute Khan Academy instructional video is included to provide a visual as to how to work out these types of problems using color coding. The open-ended response chosen allows students to either write or record their response and will allow students to talk out their thought process with a peer then whole class to support students in collaboration and using academic language while speaking. Lastly, the "Time to Climb" and quiz activities will allow students to apply their individual knowledge so the teacher can assess what further needs students may have in regards to the skills being taught. 

Assessment Differentiation

Formative and summative assessment were incorporated throughout and also differentiated. The first formative assessment piece is after the instructional video where students respond to an open-ended question where they must describe and explain the process one must go through when comparing and ordering rational numbers and then participate in a pair-share activity. Students are to enter their response digitally either by typing or they may orally record their answer using the "record" feature on the Nearpod. Student can then share their response with a partner, let them read the response or have them listen to the audio recording. Providing this choice to students helps to sustain engagement as allowing them to make the choice, helps them to relate to the content in a way that peaks their interest versus having a one size fits all assessment (Parrish, 2019). At the end of the Nearpod, there is a summative assessment quiz section that the students enter their responses individually and are multiple choice questions. This would support ELL students along with those who struggle with written expression as they are able to use the audio feature to record their response if they struggle with this skill and allows for them to practice their language skills through the pair-share part. Any student who finishes early with their assessments can toggle over to their individual learning plans in either Mypath or Khan Academy to work on individual skills in which they are struggling. 

Technology Integration: Determining Appropriateness 

The interactive technology that was chosen for the lesson was as previously mentioned, a Nearpod. I determined this would be an appropriate tool as students are familiar with it and how to navigate the lessons without requiring a lot of pre-teaching as to the tech tool itself. Additional technology incorporated included the Flocabulary and Khan Academy instructional video which are both on a 6th grade level, are familiar resources, and provide the visual and auditory supports students need. Both are also appropriate in length so students remain engaged and do not lose interest before moving on to the activities which accompany them.  Research shows that learners begin to disengage after 6 minutes of watching instructional videos and after 9, it decreases dramatically (Farah, 2019). Therefore, the videos chosen for this Nearpod were 4 minutes or less to keep students engaged. 

References 

  Farah, K., & Barnett, R. (2019). A 5-Step guide to making your own instructional videos. Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/5-step-guide-making-your-own-instructional-videos. 

McCarthy, J. (2014). 3 Ways to plan for diverse learners: What teachers do. Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/differentiated-instruction-ways-to-plan-john-mccarthy.

Parrish, N. (2019). Ensuring that instruction is inclusive for diverse learners. Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/ensuring-instruction-inclusive-diverse-learners. 

Learning Styles, Interests, Strengths and Needs: Gathering and Interpreting Data Using Media Tools

Data: Planning Impact & Instructional Strategies 

When a teacher wants to evaluate and use data to influence instruction and meet the needs of his or her students, one must first use a tool to collect the data such as a Google Form, digital or paper survey, Eduphoria Aware, etc. For example, I gave a digital learning styles survey to a group of five 6th grade math students where they were able to complete the survery and then add up their scores in each category to discover which learning style or styles fit them best. After viewing the data, I used Google Sheets to import the results and used the graph tool to create the visuals below. Based on the learning syles inventory, it showed that out of the 5 students that were surveyed, 32.2% are visual learners, 37.3 % are kinesthetic, and 30.5% are auditory. I would use this data to impact instruction by incorporating more opportunities for students to participate in hands on learning where they can be engaged by sorting, moving, using manipulatives, and using digital touch screen tools versus just seeing or listening to the material being presented. There are also a large number of students who learn visually, so for those students, providing short video clips to activate prior knowledge or to help create connections, or providing digital or print graphic organizers to help students chunk and visualize the learning would be beneficial. Lastly, for the auditory students, providing mini lessons where students can get the instruction verbally from the teacher and have opportunitites to collaborate orally with their peers and teacher to discuss their learning would be beneficial (10 Powerful..., 2011). Collaboration tools such as Nearpod are also good for all three learning styles as it allows for students to type, use the drawing features, and then orally collaborate with their peers based on the responses. 

Interconnections of Learning Styles and Development of Students 

As previously mentioned, a learning styles inventory was given and the individual student data was recorded, as seen below, on a Google Sheet. When looking at this data, one is able to see the learning style that best fits each student, however, the teacher must also consider how these learning styles are connected to a child's cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical development as we know from the time a child is born, sensory and other experiences play a major role in development and influence a child's brain and how it develops. Even though genetics play a large role in how student's develop, the educational setting and quality interventions can help a child learn and succeed in school (Cherry, 2019). 

We must consider how the learning experiences we provide our students fit their learning style and how they will aid in their overall development. Students "A" and "C" for example are kinestetic learners. They tend to be students who can be easily distracted, fidget, and have a hard time if they are not able to physically involve themselves in the learning as they remember best by what they have actually done instead of what they have heard. These students are both cognitively behind their grade level in math and both can verbalize their thinking as they are involving themselves at this point in the learning versus listening passively, but struggle with their handwriting and written assignments if not given the chance to verbalize beforehand. When given these opportunities, one can see the student's confidence increase.   Students "B", "D", and "E" are more visual learners and have a hard time just listening to a teacher explain without any pictures, graphs, or visual images to connect their learning. Developmentally, they are also cognitively behind their grade level Student "B" has a specific learning disability in math computation and is on target socially and emotionally, but struggles to communicate her needs when she does not understand. Student "D" is a 504 student who is ADHD who needs and responds to visual reminders such as the "check hand motion" from peers.  Lastly, student "E" needs visuals such as graphic organizers, guided notes, and visual supports on her desk in order to be engaged in the learning (Jansky, 2021). In order to support these students in their various developmental areas, both learning styles and developmental needs must be considered.

Evaluating Student's Strengths, Interests, and Needs & the Instructional Impact 

When student's interests are considered, their engagement in the subject matter will increase causing them to think more deeply about the topic, ask questions, be more open for discussion and create ideas in more meaningful ways. A good way to collect student interest data is through using a learning styles inventory like the one mentioned above and a learning profile surveys or cards. This information allows the teacher to adjust how instruction is delivered or provide ways in which students can choose to learn the material or demonstrate their knowledge ( McCarthy, 2014). Data for student's strengths and needs can also be listed on this survey and teachers can use digital data collection from previous performance assessments via Eduphoria Aware or another summmative or formative assessment tool. After the data collection, I would evaluate it by looking at where there are commonalities interests or academic strengths and needs. I would use this information when designing learning menus, choice boards, instructional videos, interactive presentations, and student reading selections to name a few. 

Assessment: Addressing all Learning Styles 

The teacher must also consider how they will address all learning styles when developing and implementing assessments for the students. One can do this by providing a variety of ways in which students are able to demonstrate their knowledge of the content. This may seem a bit tricky as teachers would want to ensure the rigor is challenging in each option and all standards needing to be assessed are included. One way to do this is by structuring this a bit more through the use of task cards and learning menus (McCarthy, 2104). The teacher can ensure that each item on the tasks cards or learning menus allows for students to choose items that fit their learning styles while still incuding the appropriate rigor and items that need to be compelted to assess each standard taught. 

References 

10 Powerful instructional strategies. Edutopia. (2011). Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/stw-school-turnaround-student-engagement-video. 

Cherry, K. (2019). How different experiences influence a child's development. Verywell mind. Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/experience-and-development-2795113. 

Jansky, S. (2021). Post observation debrief [In person]. A212. 

  McCarthy, J. (2014). Learner interest matters: Strategies for empowering student choice. Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/differentiated-instruction-learner-interest-matters-john-mccarthy.

Using Technology to Differentiate in the Secondary Classroom

Introduction 

When students come into our classrooms, they come to us from different backgrounds and experiences and with various learning styles and academic needs. Therefore, differentiating in the classroom is essential and with current advancements in technology, there are many tools that can support teachers in doing this more efficiently and effectively for increased student success. Three current technologies that can be used to appropriately support differentiation in the classroom and student success include Nearpod, Lexia PowerUp Literacy, and Newsela.  

Nearpod  

Nearpod supports various learning styles as it is an easy to use, interactive teaching tool that can be used daily for notes, building background knowledge or self-paced and teacher-led lessons. It accommodates for various learning styles as it allows for graphics, videos, polls, collaboration activities, audio features, virtual field trips, graphing calculator, flipgrip integration, flocabulary integration, options for students to draw answers, matching and memory assessments, and features where students can take their own notes to save for future reference. Teachers can differentiate by giving students different codes that correspond to the Nearpod that fits their learning needs and interests and can use the data from the formative assessment piece to then differentiate future instruction (Using nearpod..., 2021). It is user friendly for teachers as it has both pre-made Nearpods for all content areas that align to state standards as well as capabilities for turning already made Google Slides or Powerpoints into Nearpods, or one can simply use the template to create an original. The pre-made Nearpods support cross-curricular instruction as videos, graphics, text are included that provide historical information, art connections, etc. Students will also be able to easily use this as they go to the website and then enter the code given by the teacher and follow the directions on each slide either with the teacher or at their own pace. As far as cost is concerned, this tool has a free option with limited amount of use or a Gold Plan for $120 a year or Platinum for $349. 

Lexia PowerUp Literacy 

Lexia PowerUp Literacy is a reading program targeted for grades 6-12 that focuses on the areas of grammar, word study and reading comprehension and supports all students in closing literacy gaps and provides skill builders to enhance learning once students have mastered (90% or higher)  that skill. It contains supports for English Language Learners along with covering 100% of the dyslexia standards. When students utilize this program, it provides high interests texts (fiction and nonfiction) and interactive notes with a video game like feel. The texts provided incorporate a wide range of content areas (science, history, art, etc). Students who are more auditory learners may enable the audio feature. Students are able to work through the weeks required minutes in any order they choose and earn "streaks" (points) along the way. This tool especially appeals to visual and auditory learners with the "flashy" notes and music that is incorporated to increase engagement. The program is fairly easy to use for teachers as in monitoring the data of student progress and instructional needs. If a school district purchases the tool, there are follow up trainings throughout the year to support teachers in implementation and how to monitor and use the data. Students can easily access this by clicking on the icon and their individualized plan will pop up after taking the initial placement test. They then choose the area in which they would like to begin working and go from there. This tool is to be used alongside the general curriculum and in a blended model and can be used at school home or anywhere they students have a computer. Utilizing this allows students to work on the literacy skills in which they have gaps while the teacher pulls a small group for anyone in need of immediate intervention. Others who have mastered the skills in which they have been working are provided with skill builders (Lexia powerUp literacy, 2021).  The cost of the program for the 2020-2021 school year is $11,900 per campus (Davis, 2021).  

Newsela

Newsela is a free instructional technology tool (with options to purchase upgrades) that provides current event articles and access to more than 20 genres of informational texts that are cross-curricular and are set at various reading levels to meet individual students reading levels along with access to subject specific content. For ELA, social studies, and science, the texts are aligned to state standards, and common core standards for the informational texts. It also provides various instructional supports such as assignments, writing prompts, and annotations that are customizable, reading comprehension quizzes, Power Words in articles to support vocabulary practice, quizzes specific to the subject area, and embedded instructional strategies and activities for ELA, science, and social studies. Teachers can also use the text to model fluency and think-alouds for students and then work with guided reading groups and can view the student's reading activity and monitor student progress in real time. The articles contain images for our visual students and incorporates a read aloud feature for our auditory students, and quizz questions can be great prompts for student discussion and collaboration. Instructors can easily assign reading selections to students based upon student interest and choose the reading level they will use. Students can easily access this resource by signing into Newsela and then clicking "assignments" to begin working (Product and features, 2021). 

Promoting Learning and Creating Ownership

All three of these technologies promote student learning and ownership, however, the top two that possess these characteristics the most are Nearpod and Lexia PowerUp Literacy. Both Nearpod and Lexia promote student learning as they provide engaging, interactive lessons and or texts that appeal to multiple learning styles, support cross-curricular instruction, and provide real time data for teachers to further support their individual learning needs. Students have ownership over their learning with Nearpod as they can move at their own pace through lessons, track their own data and choose Nearpods that fit their interests and or needs. Lexia also promotes ownership as students have choice in the order in which they work through their minutes, can track their own data, and earn "streaks" and certificates for correct responses and completing the required minutes. 

References

Davis, L. (2021). Lexia powerup details interview [In person].

Lexia powerup literacy. Lexia learning. (2021). Retrieved from https://www.lexialearning.com/products/powerup.

Product and features overview. Newsela.com. (2021). Retrieved from https://newsela.com/about/solutions/compare/.

Using nearpod to support differentiated instruction. (2021). [Blog]. Retrieved 30 March 2021, from https://nearpod.com/blog/using-nearpod-support-differentiated-instruction/#:~:text=Nearpod's%20formative%20assessment%20activities%20are,short%20notes%20on%20collaborative%20boards.