(This is the first post in a two-part series.)
Today鈥檚 question is:
What are the best ways to differentiate online instruction?
Differentiation is a big challenge to all of us in the physical classroom, and it鈥檚 an even bigger one when we鈥檙e pushed into an online learning environment.
This two-part series will share specific strategies teachers can use.
Today, I鈥檒l discuss some additional specific ideas content teachers can apply in supporting English-language learners. Many content teachers find it challenging to scaffold instruction for English- language learners when they鈥檙e in a physical classroom, much less in a brand-new distance-learning situation.
You might also be interested in previous posts appearing here on . and on .
鈥淭ry putting yourself in their shoes鈥�
Here are a few suggestions (with links for accessing free additional resources) content teachers might want to keep in mind when differentiating instruction for ELLs during remote teach (and remember, good teaching for ELLs is good teaching for everybody!):
1. Providing simple to accompany assignments can help ELLs organize thinking and writing tasks. I鈥檓 emphasizing the word 鈥渟imple鈥� because I have seen quite a few graphic organizers that even I can鈥檛 understand. And, please, don鈥檛 put too many circles in your Venn Diagrams!
2. Almost every lesson I鈥檝e ever done that has flopped (and, believe me, I鈥檝e done many!) can be traced back to me not taking enough time to model or provide models of how to accomplish tasks or of providing examples of what completed tasks should look like. Those examples don鈥檛 necessarily have to be ones of the exact assignment if you鈥檙e concerned students will just copy it but can be from similar ones.
3. Use to support compehension, whether you鈥檙e showing videos, using a video-conferencing tool for a live class, or using Google Slides. All鈥攐r, at least, most鈥攑rovide free closed captioning (admittedly, however, they can be flawed).
4. If you need to communicate directly with a Newcomer ELL in your class, . It lets you easily 鈥渃hat鈥� with students who speak most other languages.
5. of your materials by providing white space, headings in bold, vocabulary definitions at the bottom, etc., to make it more accessible to students.
6. Use sentence starters, to support students doing assignments. Sentence starters are short fill-in-the-blanks (鈥淭he most important idea in this passage is ___________鈥�), writing frames are basically longer sentence starters, and writing structures provide more limited guidance.
7. In addition to looking for opportunities for ELLs to access and highlight their background knowledge (for example, in math class, encourage ELLs to share the numbering systems from their home countries), provide background knowledge that will help them access your upcoming lessons. For example, when I plan a U.S. history lesson, I will often find a chapter from another textbook online that has a summary available to download in a student鈥檚 home language and give it to him/her a week ahead of time. Or a math teacher can do the same with a Khan Academy video in their language or a Brainpop one in Spanish. Find similar resources .
These seven are just a drop-in-the-bucket in terms of ways to support ELLs鈥攁nd all students鈥攁ccess lessons.
Try putting yourself in their shoes to think of more!
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