Differentiation in Preschool: A New Approach to Instruction By Maricsabel Clini

My Educational Context I work in a preschool program which is run by a major non-profit organization. The preschool program in my context is new. It has a new director and a completely new staff. This is my first year working for this non-profit. I teach a classroom of eighteen four year olds. These children’s families fall in the 200% federal guideline poverty level. The breakdown of my class is as follows: 18 Children 5 boys and 13 girls 4 Black, 7 White, 7 Hispanic All fall below the 200% poverty level All children live in Naugatuck All Children are English speaking I would like to discuss outside factors which impact and influence my instruction, for which I have no control. This non-profit is part of a very large national non-profit organization regulated by national guidelines and rules that impact my program. My preschool program is regulated by the strict guidelines and rules imposed by the Preschool Development Grant, which also oversees instruction. In addition, I must follow State of CT Licensing regulations, as well as the CT Department of Early Childhood mandated directives and finally the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) guidelines for accreditation The foundation for designing instruction is based on the State of CT Early Learning Standards (CTELDS). My Educational Context

Plan and Rationale for Differentiated Instruction Goals Open collaboration with my director and education coach, in an attempt to discuss strategies and techniques learned in this course. Second, a new screening tool has been ordered for implementation during the school year 2016-17. This tool is called the Ages and Stages Screening Tool (ASQ).

Pre-Learning (Pre-Active) Activities Make a plan together A pre-learning activity that is included in my lesson plan is a modified K.W.L chart (What I Know, What I want to Know and Learn, and What I Learned). It is unknown what will be in this K.W.L graphic organizer, as the content will be selected by student interest. However, based on the students responses, participation, or lack of participation, I will then have a baseline to establish student differentiated learning clusters to teach specific skills.

During Learning Activities Center Time Make a plan Clustering and Differentiation Create a KWL Chart based on what the students know and want to know. These play based centers will have a diversified assortment of learning opportunities to meet the instructional needs of all my diverse learners. My beginning cluster might be a group of students who I would want to encourage to just visit the center and investigate and explore the items in the center The intermediate cluster is a group of students that I would want to see engagement and participation from in that center. The advanced cluster would be a group of students who I would want to transfer prior knowledge and skills into their daily play activities.

Post-Learning (Reflective Activity) The post-learning activity would involve transfer of skills that were learned in one learning center to other play based learning centers in the room. If students can transfer their understanding and knowledge of what they learned, then the differentiation process was successful.

Content, Process, and Product: Content is universally differentiated in the readiness activities my students engage in. For many of my students attending my preschool program is their first formal educational experience. As a result, content instruction is based and differentiated on a readiness level. (Tomlinson, 2001). Process differentiation is implemented through a wide diverse array of developmentally appropriate activities, Product differentiation will occur through student’s interests. The students select the topic to be taught. The length of the topic to be taught is contingent on how long students are interested in their generated topic of interest. During this time a lesson plan is designed with diverse activities that promote understanding and encourage exploration of the topic selected. The next step is to review the lesson plan and to select a CTELDS standard learning progression that supports the student’s interest. Once these standard and learning progressions are identified the teacher makes a prediction on where the students will fall on the learning progression and will cluster her students for differentiation of instruction.

Strategies for Differentiated Instruction A differentiation strategy I will be expanding and implementing are the types of open-ended questions I ask. It is important that I challenge my students by making questions a little harder depending on the differentiated cluster of instruction that they are in. By asking a higher order of thinking level of Blooms Taxonomy I am encouraging my students to expand their thinking on a given topic. (Gray, & Waggoner, 2002).

Future Goals Continue to attend CTELDS trainings to continue learning about the standards which inform my instruction. Get the Home Visitation Program fully implemented before the start of the 2016-17 school year.   Attend work shops in which I will learn about the CT’s Scientific Research-Based Intervention Framework (SRBI).

I need to find a way to collaborate and convince my director that expanding what is currently done to differentiate instruction will enhance student performance. (Tomlinson, & Eidson, 2003). Summary

References Gray, K. C., & Waggoner, J.E. (2002). Multiple intelligences meet Bloom’s taxonomy. Kappa Delta Pi record, 38(4), 184-187. roxcastaneda. (2012).  Readiness on differentiated instructions. {Video file}.  Retrieved from http://youtu.be/MMyCd5Xafag Tomlinson, C. A. & Eidson, C.C. ( 2003). Differentiation in practice : A resource guide for differentiating curriculum, grades K-5. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Tomlinson, C. A.(2001). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms 2nd ed. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.