Striving to meet the needs that our unique and varied learners present is a daily challenge in a typical, torpid curriculum. This course has proven a valuable instrument in providing feasible strategies and practices with which to differentiate curriculum, making learning personal and achievable for all students. Behind several of these practices and strategies, technology has been the resolution. Whether offering resources, educational software or translation tools, technology is indispensible where differentiation is concerned. Following are the specific areas in which I will be immediately utilizing and implementing technology to make a distinction in my curriculum.
Teaching in a district with a high percentage of English Language Learners boasts daily hurdles to comprehension. Employing an online translator during lessons at the Activ board will be an effective means of clarifying difficult vocabulary for my ELL students. Also, with the wealth of images obtainable from the internet, utilizing graphics will be helpful in solidifying vocabulary as well. In addition to ELL students, several of our students have been categorized as dyslexic. The use of a text-to-speech tool while reading online texts will also be an easy, yet effective method for supporting these students.
Graphic organizers are another way I plan to use technology to differentiate in my classroom. With such programs as Kidspiration, Inspiration, creating organizational tools for projects and assignments will be simple. Our Activ Studio software that works with our Promethean boards also provides a wide and useful variety of already made graphic organizing templates. All learners can benefit from graphic organizers.
Additionally, I will use technology to differentiate for my gifted learners. There is a wealth of resources online ranging from digital storytelling to animated presentation software. Voice threads, podcasts, blogs and wikis present creative alternatives to paper reports and projects. With the myriad of presentation style resources available, there would be a program suited to many ability levels and can be utilized with any of my students.
Moreover, technology furnishes a multitude of information which can be found in a myriad of representations: videos, images, graphs, diagrams, webs, animations, audio casts, etc. With all of these representations available, I can present information in forms that can be successfully processed by auditory, visual and kinesthetic learners making comprehension feasible.
Each of these technological methods can be implemented immediately in order to generate a prosperous classroom environment where each learner can thrive. Through the use of technology to differentiate in my classroom I can further build “an environment that creates and invites learning” (Laureate Education Inc., 2009).
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Introduction to differentiated instruction.
[DVD]. Reaching and engaging all learners through technology. Baltimore: Author
