As teachers, we are expected to take in to account so many different factors when it comes to planning and executing an effective lesson. We are expected to identify any factors which could impact upon our teaching in a positive or negative way, and rightly so. A good teach is prepared for anything, it would be naive to assume that things are going to pan out exactly as we write them in our lessons plans.
Over the least few weeks I have been on teaching placement, teaching Music Technology within higher educations and one factor, in my opinion at least, dominates the rest: differentiation.
What is differentiation and why is it important?
One of the best descriptions I have read describing the concept comes from Petty (2014) who states that 'differentiation is the process by which the differences between learners are accommodated so that all students in a group have the best possible chance of learning'. Essentially, when we differentiate with learners, we take in to account all the elements which make then unique as individuals in order to ensure we can teach then in the best possible way, this ensuring the maximum level of learning takes place.
Over the least few weeks I have come to appreciate just how important differentiation, particularly within the more practical subjects such as Music Technology. One class I take is Recording studio practice, which is with a first year group of BSc students. Many of these students would have come from some sort of academic learning with regards to the subject, which led them here in university. However, there are others in the group who accessed university through their work or industry experiences, which in this case has given them a slight advantage with regards the the module. The learners who came from education could be seen as having quite a narrow learning experience, as they were taught what they were supposed to know as part of academic studies. Whereas the learners who came from industry seem to have learned many more aspects of the subject, often which they 'had to know' to generate income, which has resulted in their skills also being highly developed by comparison.
But what does this all mean in terms of differentiation and our teaching practice? essentially what I have written above is a shopping list of factors to take into account when planning my own lessons (most teachers will find similar factors in their own subjects among learners).
Ways to deal with differentiation
With the information above, what we should be ultimately doing is using this information to 'plan to which all learners are capable of achieving' (Gravells, 2012). I need to focus on the word
all for a moment. Admittedly in an ideal world we would be able to devise lesson plans with excellent tasks and ideas which are able to fully engage all learners and challenge them. However, often this is not the case, and in my early teaching placements prior to this I found differentiation to be a challenge as one end of the spectrum (in terms of learner abilities) would get more focus than the other. Differentiation is a lot like spinning plates, as soon as you think you have them all in motion, some will ultimately start to show signs of loosing momentum. So how can we ensure this isn't the case.
Some of the following points are ideas which have either been developed my myself or by others I have been fortunate enough to work with who were facing similar challenges.
Know your learners: This is a factor I cannot stress the importance of enough. It is important to try and find out as much as we can about our learners in order to benefit us as teacher and them as part of the learning group. Powell (2010) suggests that we need to find out as much about our learners personal backgrounds as we do their academic, and that its no good just knowing their name and age. If a learner comes from a poor home, for example, then they may not have access to the same resources as a learner that is slightly better off. This may seem irrelevant as it is outside of the context of the lesson, however, this learner may not have access to some of the same gadgets or computer resources that others may have, so this could greatly effect their experience or competence levels. Of course, I use this as an example. Within my own subject for example, I have already said that one group has learners with a few decades of industry experience, which they are now seeking formal certification for as a result. Granted when I plan my lessons I tend to stick to the topic in general, but knowing this information can enable me to prepare extended activities, more challenging tasks, or even call upon their expertise to allow them to add to the lessons, keeping them engaged and included in the learning and sharing of ideas. Which brings me to my next point.
Using differentiation to your advantage: As I mentioned earlier, differentiation can be complex and quite off-putting, particularly to a new teacher. However, using the knowledge of more experienced learners within your own lesson could be as simple as asking if they would like to add to the lesson. A recent example come from my own studio practice lesson just last week. The task given to the learners was to assemble microphones around a drum kit to record in an industry standard setup. Quite challenging to new students, however, this class had at least 2 learners who have done this so much they could do the task in their sleep. In order to keep this interesting and to ensure they were kept involved and learning I had to continuously add to the task. I decided introduce new hardware or other factors, which they more able learners were able to try and adapt to the task. At one point, I actually stepped back from the teaching role and decided to allow the learners to lead their peers, which worked excellently as they were able to approach them in a more informal way and draw upon their own industry experience for guidance. Peer learning is an invaluable tool which can be used in group tasks, or even in this fashion, and can often have excellent positive result, as it did here. The answer to differentiation within your own tasks can be as simple as stepping back and allowing the learners to lead.
MAT helpers: When on placement a few months ago in a South Wales secondary school I was having difficulty teaching piano to around 33 learners, all of mixed levels. Some have been playing almost all their lives, yet others had only played a piano in the 2 or 3 lesson prior to this. My first reaction was to just keep given them more challenging pieces to play, giving me more time to focus on the learners that needed additional help. This was until I realised I didn't have enough sheet music to keep them challenged. Another teacher suggested that I use the MAT (more able and talented) learners as helpers, allowing them to go and help their peer, coaching them on part they found easy that others may have found to be a challenged. This worked excellently. Although it did require a little more classroom management on my part, the results spoke for themselves, as most of the learners were able to succeed and feel that they had achieved a lot by the end of the lesson.
There are countless other ways to accommodate for differentiation, as well as countless other factors (both personal and academic) that could require us to alter or shape our lessons and tasks to accommodate for them. The point I am trying to relay here is that differentiation need not be the overwhelming challenge it often is, particularly with new teachers. Although we may not be able to identify them all in our planning, it is important to try to have a backup idea ready to deal with any issues like the ones mentioned above, you may often find the solution is as simple as getting a more able learner to work in pairs or with a group of more challenged learners.
Reference
Powell, W. (2010). Knowing our students as learners. Available: http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/111011/chapters/Knowing-Our-Students-as-Learners.aspx. Last accessed 25th Nov 2014.
Petty, G. (2014). Improve your teaching and that of your team.Available: http://geoffpetty.com/training-materials/differentiation/. Last accessed 25th Nov 2014.
Gravells, A (2012). Preparing to teach in the lifelong learning sector. 5th ed. london: learning matters .