Differentiated Instruction (Lesson Plan For K-6), Coursework Example

I will give a quiz to all the students in the class to assess their level of knowledge about U.S. history and how much they remember the material from previous grades. This will help me divide the class according to their level of proficiency in U.S. history. I believe dividing class into three groups such as high proficiency, medium proficiency, and low proficiency will be a good step.

I will give formal surveys as well as hold open-ended discussion with each group to find out their preferable sources of learning. I will also ask them what they like and dislike about U.S. history. This will help me understand their learning style as well as develop teaching tools that will generate each group’s interest in the course. The teaching tools will include class lectures, video documentaries, visits to local historical places, and interactive web resources.

When teaching high proficiency groups, I will go for comprehensive lessons that will include everything including background information, important dates and related events. For low proficiency groups, I will focus more on the story content of U.S. history and may leave out specific information such as dates except where inevitable so students are able to grasp the historical relevance of different events.

Students who find reading long chapters distracting may be taught certain textbook chapters through video documentaries and then be tested on the basis of video documentaries. It may not be possible for all the chapters in the textbook but textbook chapters will be substituted with documentaries wherever possible. Similarly, students who enjoy pictures more, I will choose textbooks with picture-story content.

I will also hold questions and answers session where students may ask any question from the chapter that they don’t understand or want more details about. I will challenge the other students to answer the question and only if none of the students know the answer, will I jump in. This will help me spot the weaknesses and strengths of individual students.

To ensure that the students really understand what they are taught and are not only concerned about memorization, I will create hypothetical situations that might never have occurred in the U.S. history. I will then challenge the students to explain how the history might have turned out differently using their deductive skills.

I will create teams within the three groups and assign each team a project based on the theme for that particular group. Group with high proficiency may be required to do projects on historical events and the teams within the high proficiency group will be assigned different events for the project. Similarly, the theme for group with medium proficiency may be amendments in the U.S. constitution and the theme for group with low proficiency may be American historical figures. They will be allowed to choose their own methods of research and divide work among them as they see fit. To make sure everyone is involved, I will give them team appraisal questionnaire at the end of the projects.

My ultimate goal is not to help my students achieve high test scores but high proficiency levels in U.S. history. Thus, I am focused on their strengths and want to adopt teaching tools that they enjoy and take personal interest in. This will keep my students committed and understanding their course material in a fun way will also help them retain the lessons of the course in the long run.