Differentiating Lesson Plans Lesson Objective: Students will learn to translate word problems int...

1. This Video helps explain different  practical ways of what differentiating looks like at a practical level in the classroom.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzbklzOFPbo

2. Student profile 1: Rachel  is a quiet 5th grader who loves horses.  She rides in many competitions and devotes much of her time to training with her horses. Rachel is bright and enjoys English Class and loves writing (especially when it comes to journaling). But when it comes to math she doesn't think she is good at it and thus it is difficult to motivate her to try very hard. She usually gives the response of why try if I am just going to get the answer wrong?Rachel performs at a lower level in math than her peers do and struggle to keep up.

2.1. Differentiation Strategy 1: Peer Aid- For Rachel's low self esteem when it comes to math I will put the class in groups to work through the word problems together.  I will match up Rachel to one of her fellow classmates to work through the list of problems that I hand out

2.2. Differentiation Strategy 2: Mini Lessons- Rachel along with a few of her other fellow classmates will work together in a group and I will provide extra support as they work towards understanding the concepts covered in this lesson.  Then they will work as a group to design an infograph where they will work togetehr to illustrate the steps to translating a word problem of their own design.

3. Student Profile 2: Luke is a very lively and energetic 5th grader.  He loves anything to do with racing, F1 Racing and  motocross are two of his favorites.  He struggles with English and History because of his low level of reading and writing.  This is partly due to his dyslexia but when it comes to math he performs at his grade level and often times outperforms his classmates.  Luke looks forward to math class but at times when he already understands the concept before others, he tends to be disruptive.

3.1. Differentiation Strategy 1: Mix and Match- In Luke's situation I will be mixing the seating arrangement with one of my other students, Serina who is quiet in nature and brite but struggles in math.  She helps Luke to settle down a bit in class and focus and Luke enjoys explaining things to her that she didn't understand fully.

3.2. Differentiation Strategy 2: Cross Training- Cross Training seeks to meet the needs of the individual student by means of using various different strategies. In Luke's case I will encourage him to think about how he can design a word problem for his group's infographic where he will find the cost of 4 F1 Racing tires and have him make it accurate to what an average F1 tire would cost. This will not only help him to expand his knowledge in math but also challenge his reading and comprehension.

4. This video from Edutopia provides useful information about what a group of teachers can accomplish through collaborating with one another and applying differentiated instruction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7kcFkRgiV4