Differentiation in the Age of Innovation
My husband retired two years ago and within a month a large construction company asked him to consult and train their project managers in environmental remodeling. I knew he was good at what he did but what I didn’t know was that he is considered one of the country’s experts in environmental remodeling. He spent his working career communicating with doctors, CEOs, nurse managers, carpenters, laborers, plumbers, electricians and pipe fitters. He is one of the most innovative people I’ve ever known.
You may be wondering why I’m telling you this in an article about differentiation in the age of innovation. Fifty years ago when my husband was in school, teachers did not differentiate. Back then, if you didn’t learn the way they taught, you were left behind. Often not just left behind, but labeled. School was hard. However, he excelled in any class where creativity was encouraged. When he told a high school counselor that he wanted to go to college, the counselor smiled and said, “students like you don’t go to college.”
Why do we differentiate?
- Differentiation is good teaching!
- Differentiation acknowledges that all students are unique and learn in different ways.
- Differentiation meets students where they are and encourages growth.
- Differentiation allows for “do overs.” Learning is more important and may take more than one chance to show mastery.
- Differentiation brings equity to the forefront of learning.
- Student agency cannot happen without differentiation.
As classroom teachers, we are already creating up to eight different lesson plans per day. As we differentiate that number triples or quadruples. You may be asking yourself, “how do I have time to innovate?” Using digital tools is one way to create a differentiated and innovative classroom.
Closed Captioning in Google Slides
Google has added automated closed captioning to Google Slides. This feature has been rolled out to all staff and students in White Bear Lake Area Schools. When your slide presentation is in Present mode, you can access the closed captioning option by clicking on CC in the bottom left corner. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+C on a Chromebook or in Windows. It will caption your speech in real time as you are presenting using your computer’s microphone.
The closed caption option is invaluable for our hearing impaired students and staff. If you use a screencasting tool as you caption your teaching, it will benefit students who are absent, students who need to access learning at their own pace or see and hear something more than once.
Here is a demonstration of the “CC” feature in Google Slides.
Google has many additional accessibility features on the horizon. Their blog always features the latest information on new innovative differentiation tools.
Flipgrid & Immersive Reader
Last week Ryan Clark’s blog post talked about Flipgrid, “the cool kid” of digital tools. Flipgrid is also leading the way in providing all students voice and now differentiation by integrating Immersive Reader. This is great for students with dyslexia, early readers, struggling readers and EL students. The Immersive Reader tool gives all students access to Flipgrid’s innovative ways of highlighting student voice. Here is a demonstration of Flipgrid’s Immersive Reader.
HyperDocs
We’ve highlighted HyperDocs in previous tech tips. HyperDocs have the ability to differentiate while giving teachers the opportunity to engage students and for students to learn at their own pace or show what they’ve learned.
Ditch That Textbook has a great post on nine reasons to use HyperDocs. But if you don’t want to start from scratch, here is a website where teachers share their HyperDocs free to all.
Newsela
Newsela’s instructional content platform has articles offering several reading levels. There is a free and paid version, but I’ve never needed the paid version to differentiate with Newsela in my classroom.
With Newsela, students can be in the same class reading about a current event, but at their appropriate reading level. Reading levels go from high school to first and second grade levels. Articles are also available in Spanish. Many of the articles have assessments that can be taken after reading. Here is a great example of an article about women in math.
Tools for Differentiation and Innovation
I presented a few methods, but the list is endless! If you would like more information on digital tools that will help you innovate and differentiate in your classroom, reach out for help. We would love to help you differentiate in the age of innovation.
My husband went to college and two years of graduate school. He excelled as soon as he got to a place that encouraged innovation and allowed him choices in his learning. All of your students need a differentiated classroom. Which innovative tool are you going to try? Let us know by commenting below or using the hashtag #innovate624 on Twitter!
