KNOW YOUR STUDENTS- The most important information for teachers
In order to differentiate instruction, you need to know your learners by their:
1. readiness
To gauge student readiness, consider:
• Prior knowledge
• Current skills
• Work habits
• Prior experience
2. interests
Consider student’s interests in lesson and unit planning:
• Academic
• Career
• Personal
• Recreational
• Social
3. learning preferences
Describes how we prefer to acquire, process and remember new information.
• Visual – See it
• Auditory - Hear it
• Kinesthetic – Do it
• A combination
Multiple intelligences theory: Howard Gardner
• Verbal linguistic
• Visual spatial
• Logical mathematical
• Naturist
• Existential
• Intrapersonal
• Musical rhythmic
• Interpersonal
• Bodily kinesthec
Plan weekly lesson plans with activities that cater to each multiple intelligence. To ensure you cater to all different students.
Environmental
Some preferences to consider:
• Working away from others versus working alongside others
• Structured work space versus casual work space
• Light, bright setting versus subdued setting
• Quiet setting versus music or other background sound
It is important to have a student profile and a class profile to effectively plan lesson to cater to the students. (Learning for all has templates)
