Blog #8

There were many different learning strategies that I found interesting and possibly very useful in my future classroom, but the one that was most intriguing to me would have been the "learning menus". I loved this strategy because I feel that students would find it very fun as well as easy to use because of the style of this strategy. If done in a way that was visually appealing, the students could be pulled into this strategy and very eager to participate in the activities offered. From a teacher standpoint, I liked how the choices were laid out for the students giving them opportunities to choose from a variety of activities. This would be an excellent tool to use to differentiate because a teacher could place activities on the menu in a variety of readiness levels as well as varying the activities to appeal to interests of the students. A teacher could also give students at different levels of readiness different guidelines for using the menu. I also liked the dessert incentives. Offering some very fun options that are not required but letting the students choose the desserts if they completed their other activities. This option works great for fast finishers as well as giving students incentives to get their activities completed so that they can move onto a dessert. Of all the differentiational strategies I will definitely be using the "learning menus" in my future classroom.

Blog #6

After looking at various other blogs, I found many that offered great ideas and insight into differentiation. But for this assignment I choose Taryn's blog because she used the method of the "Tiered Character Map". One thing that I am learning about differentiation is that tiering assignments is an important step in differentiating. With the ideas that I read on Taryn's blog I am getting an even better understanding of how to tier your assignments so that all students will benefit. Offering a level of choices that still all focus on the same outcome is something that as I teacher I would like to become more proficient in applying to my assignments.

Blog #5:

After looking over the many strategies and ideas for differentiating, I found so many that would be very engaging for students giving them many opportunities for variations in completing activities. The one that I am going to use is the "Tic-Tac-Toe" menu. I particularly liked this activity because it gives the student so many options to chose from as well as back-up alternative options. I also like how there can be student participation on deciding what activities can be placed in the tic-tac-toe menu.

Because this is a lesson on the student's hero, students would be choosing who they want to write about. Having students at different levels of reading, I would guide them toward the appropriate level of book for this assignment based on their reading level. The resources that I would have for choosing material on their hero would be the classroom library, the school library and I would also let them use appropriate internet material to find information on their hero.


Using this strategy to structure a lesson on hero's, I would fill in some (but not all) of the spaces on the game with activities that the students may choose from. A list of the activities that I
would use are:

1. write a newpaper article on your hero
2. dress up as your hero and give an oral report telling why you have chosen this hero
3. make a collage of various pictures and sayings that tell about your hero
4. make a timeline of your hero's life
5. make a diorama of a very important event that took place in your hero's life
6. write a book report from a book that is about your hero
7. write a poem about your hero

After filling in seven spaces on the tic-tac-toe menu, I would leave two spaces empty for student suggestions. I would take suggestions from the students and write them on the board. If there are more than two I would have the students vote on the two that are their favorite. I would also allow students to independently approach me for ideas of their own that I may approve. Students would then choose 3 activities on their tic-tac-toe menu that appeal to them.

I feel that this would be a great way to differentiate for students. It gives them the ability to choose from a variety of activities as well as using community input for activities to be added to the list. It also offers students the opportunity to come up with their own suggestions to be approved by the teacher giving students who may be reluctant to suggest activities to the class or if they have ideas that they may want to try. The activities offered give students the opportunties to be creative in a variety of ways, keeping them engaged and having them all accomplish the same task using different strategies that are appealing to the individual student.