tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044576021219205068.post9219691885961916932..comments2024-03-28T00:30:15.013+13:00Comments on Claire Amos: Hack Your Classroom: Week 6 - Meeting the Needs of Diverse LearnersClaire Amoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10579894985450127837noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044576021219205068.post-89636970515795375902014-06-10T10:31:54.290+12:002014-06-10T10:31:54.290+12:00Heartily agree Darren and I think that is why my p...Heartily agree Darren and I think that is why my passion for differentiation as moved to UDL. In recent years my approach to differentiation has been less and less about teacher control and more often simply about student choice and agency. That said, a teacher differentiating in a quite controlling way is still better than not differentiating at all. <br /><br />In terms of reference to VARK, I very much used as a point of interest for students and actually an argument for developing their other skills - if they erred toward being visual, how could we then develop their decoding of written texts and so on and so forth. Hence the cartoon. <br /><br />Admittedly much of this is the fault of my lazy blog writing (pulling in past resources without proper explanation) ;-)<br /><br />I don't think you have misunderstood at all, differentiation is great when used to facilitate student choice and I agree UDL is even better. <br /><br />The Differentiation of Instruction is indicative of the time in which it was written - a useful definition albeit through a teacher centric lens. <br /><br />Hope that waffily response makes sense!Claire Amoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10579894985450127837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044576021219205068.post-40854615182477900422014-06-10T10:15:06.256+12:002014-06-10T10:15:06.256+12:00I support much of what you write in this blog and ...I support much of what you write in this blog and I'm certainly in admiration for how Hobsonville is pushing the boundaries, but I would like to challenge some of the thinking here if you don't mind. Hopefully it comes across as constructive and not argumentative.<br /><br />I think the answer lies in personalising learning and developing students agency, rather than differentiation. I use the former term somewhat nervously because it is interpreted in so many different ways, but for me it is about students taking ownership of the learning and developing their own pathways. Differentiation seems to be about the teacher structuring choices for students based on supposed dispositions and readiness etc. This seems fraught with danger. Why not let the students develop the choices? The teacher supports and challenges the students on this pathway. Sounds like this is what you do at Hobsonville anyway. The link says it all for me - "Differentiation of Instruction". It seems an approach that fits with more direct styles of teaching, rather than self-determined learning. Is it about the teaching or the learning? I think we sometimes overthink the former and underthink the latter. <br /><br />The Universal Design for Learning Model seems to be a far better way of framing the learning than differentiation. or am I misunderstanding what differentiation is?<br /><br />There is reference to learning styles throughout this post and the slideshow which I think is worth challenging as well. I got caught up in learning styles back in 2002-3 and i remember using VARK learn to try and sort students according to supposed learning styles. What generally happened is that it reinforced or even taught a completely distorted view of how they learn. When we survey students in NetNZ I sometimes see students commenting that the teaching doesn't suit their learning style. This always concerns me. Some learners will use it as a cop out and say "sorry I can't learn that way it doesn't suit me". The reality is the brain is a malleable thing and we all have a remarkable ability to learn in all sorts of ways. I agree with giving students opportunities to do things in a way they prefer, but teachers also have a job to challenge students and take them out of their comfort zone. Otherwise they will develop a very narrow skill set. It is matter of making it a negotiated process where students aren't forced to learn certain ways, but are encouraged to push themselves and try new ways of doing things.<br /><br />Interested in your thoughts as you have indicated you have passion for differentiation. Darrenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07856635441419807801noreply@blogger.com