Running Head: STUDENT-CENTERED AND DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION 1

Student-Centered and Differentiated Instruction

Laura Fisher Seay

Regent University

In partial fulfillment of UED 495 Field Experience ePortfolio, Spring 2017

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Introduction

Differentiation and student-centered instruction can be a difficult task to master as

an elementary school teacher. It takes time, energy, and determination. The most important

aspect of instruction is to know your students. It takes a long time to determine each individual

students needs, but that is essential for the students to learn, especially those students who are

on a lower level. Teachers must realize that the high students need to be pushed and understood

just as much as the lower students and the on grade-level students. It is a balancing act, but a

very important opportunity to reach every student. I have learned how to differentiate through

this first placement because of the population that I have the honor of teaching. My first class is a

gifted cluster class with 14 gifted students in a class with 23 students, then my afternoon class is

an inclusion classroom of 21 students, eight of those students have Individualized Education

Programs (IEP). I have been able to see how differently these two groups interact with the

content as well as their peers. It has opened my eyes to understanding how to meet each students

individualized needs.

Rationale for Selection of Artifacts

In my class, we have four 20 minute rotations during language arts. I have two classes,

one a gifted cluster class and one an inclusion class. The differences between abilities are

obvious. Some students need extra help, while others need to be challenged and encouraged to

think even deeper. The rotations help to scaffold this information and delivery of the content

being taught. I included one week of differentiated activities that occur during one of the 20

minute rotations. The Standard of Learning, from the Virginia Department of Education, we

were working on was ENGLISH 4.6 a: The student will read and demonstrate comprehension

of nonfiction texts. A) Use text structures, such as type, headings and graphics, to predict and
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categorize information in both print and digital texts (2017). The students were working on text

features. During their rotations, one of them is called The Box, which is when the students

work on leveled independent work. This independent work is based on their own personal level.

There is work for the below grade-level, on grade-level, above grade-level and even extensions

for when students finish their work for the week. When the students are working individually or

with a partner during this station, it is a great use of student-centered learning. Student-centered

learning is a technique that allows students to take responsibility for their own learning. The

students are given the opportunity to become the teacher. This is used significantly in this

rotation. The students can work together and add to their own knowledge on their own, since the

information is on their individual independent level.

The lesson plan that is included shows how differentiation is planned throughout the day.

Each class gets the same lesson plan, but it is scaffolded differently. Each class has the same

whole group lesson, but the prompts are different between the morning and afternoon class. The

morning class, gifted cluster, need higher level thinking questions to be asked, while the

inclusion class, need much more straight questions asked. There are students who are higher in

the inclusion class, so those deeper level thinking questions are still asked, but directed more

towards those higher-level thinkers. The lower students have an easier independent work, while

the higher-level thinkers have the same concept, but the work is more challenging. This creates

for learning throughout the entire classroom, no matter the level of the students. Differentiation

is not just giving those students who are above grade-level more work, it is about quality of

work. Those above grade-level students need to be challenged, not just more and more busy

work.

Reflection
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Differentiating for students is not an easy task for any teacher. It is difficult and time

consuming, but necessary. Dixon, Yssel, McConnell and Harden wrote differentiation is an

approach to curriculum and instruction that systematically takes student differences into account

in designing opportunities for each student to engage with information and ideas and develop

essential skills (2014). Through differentiation, each student gains the knowledge that is

appropriate for their learning abilities. Many teachers take the easy route and use the same

worksheets or lessons for the same students, when that is not usually going to help every student

learn to the best of their abilities. According to Lufkin, equality is not the answer. Lufkin wrote

The trouble with equality is that, if people are not starting on level playing field, giving them

the same thing maintains the inequality that already exists (2014). Students do not learn the same

and should not always be given the same activities and instruction. It is common knowledge that

every single person was created unique and therefore learn differently. In Romans 12:4-8, Paul

writes For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all

have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body and each member belongs

to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us (NIV). Each

student is individually created and have a place in the classroom. They have strengths in different

areas, as teachers, our job is to enhance that strength and allow students to feel confident, as well

as, cultivating that weakness and growing the knowledge needed. It is easy to assume that all

students will learn from the same activity or the same worksheet, but that is normally wrong.

Each student learns in their own way, and just like Jesus taught many different people, the

Pharisees, women, men, children and sinners. He taught each group in a different way, because

he knew they all had a different way of thinking and catered to that unique thought process. In

the same ways, teachers must teach in many ways to reach each student.
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References

Dixon, F. A., Yssel, N., Mcconnell, J. M., & Hardin, T. (2014). Differentiated Instruction,

Professional Development, and Teacher Efficacy. Journal for the Education of the

Gifted,37(2), 111-127.

Education, V. D. (n.d.). English. Retrieved February 11, 2017, from

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/english/index.shtml

Holy Bible: New International Version. (2005). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Lufkin, M. (2014, December 3). Creating an Equitable Learning Environment. Retrieved

February 11, 2017, from

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/support/virginia_tiered_system_supports/resources/2015_fal

l_institute/Micromessage_to_reach_and_teach.pdf