Differentiated Lesson Plan

2nd Grade Differentiated Lesson Planning

As teachers, we are constantly differentiating our instruction to meet the needs of our students. We tailor our lesson plans to meet the need of each student based on their interest, needs as well as their strengths. This gives students the choice in how they learn but also helps the teacher personalized learning for their students. 

When I evaluate and choose instructional strategies to differentiate and engage my diverse students, I need to remember their background, and background knowledge as well as their skill level. I also like to make sure I'm making connections to my students interest so they are engaged in the instruction that is being presented. I use information from previous assessments such as observations and exit tickets to decided which students need extra support and during the lesson to see which students need support in that moment as well. 

Our ELL learners need repetition and visual representation. For my ELL students, they are working on goals such as using their anchor chart to help them with the organization of their visual representation and just working on adding and subtracting when borrowing and carrying is not needed. They need to first practice the basic skill before they move into a more complex idea. On their assessments, they will only have questions in math that are related to drawing visual representations of adding and subtracting.  For my student with IEP, his goal is to be able to control his emotions and actions for a set amount of time. He is still expected to complete the assessments correctly, however because stamina is one of his goals, his assessment will be shortened or given across multiple days. 

In my classroom, I love when the students are using technology. Technology is one of the best ways to differentiate instruction because the possibilities are endless with what students will be able to do. We use many different apps with our iPads in the classroom to act as  supplemental support to all students. I have certain students use a whiteboard app on their iPad rather than a personal size whiteboard so students can alternate between colors when using a visual representation or drawing on what they are doing. This helps students have organized drawing as well allows students to be more efficient. I also use a random name generator from time to time in my classroom to create groups of students for me to pair up for discussion. Our school also uses Zearn for supplemental math support because it ties directly to our math curriculum. I can assign students lessons based on needs and have the app reteach a math lesson, as well as assign higher level lessons to my students who show mastery at a specific skill.