671: Differentiation

For differentiation, I chose my 672 course. This particular assignment was our project regarding integrated language development. We were given the autonomy to create our own fictional class and a coinciding lesson plan. My particular role within this group assignment was to create a differentiation model to suit the demographics of our class. The breakdown of our twenty first grade students are as follows: ten general students (we refer to them as mainstreamers) (50%), five ELLs (two Spanish speaking, two vietnamese, one mandarin, 25%), two GATE (10%), two bilingual Spanish (10%), and one student with an individualized lesson plan (5%).
Like the other areas I discussed, I utilized my past experiences to help with the learning process. I used what I saw in my classes growing up, and I used what I have learned from all of my courses at USC. 

This piece shows growth in not only ELD, but also utilizing the more knowledgeable other (MKO). Since two our our students were Bilingual Spanish speakers, they would be paired with the Spanish-speaking ELLs. The other group included our GATE, IEP, and other ELLs. The initial plan was to mix our gate students with our other students, referred to as mainstream. The teacher would work with the IEPs and other ELLs individually until they at least reached the ability to produce the phonics and understand the articles we were learning. From there, the GATE students would be called upon to teach this particular group of non-Spanish speaking ELLs the concepts of articles and prepositions. This gives the GATE students an opportunity to teach the concept, which is an effective way to learn the material, and gives an opportunity to these particular students to be involved with the rest of the class without too much instructor interference. I also brought up that this group may only be required for a speaking assessment rather than a written one.

I believe this piece in particular will provide the blueprint for how I handle a language learner that does not share the same language of any of their classmates. Depending on how many there are, I would take the opportunity to hold a 1:1 or 3:1 meeting with these particular students before releasing them to my MKOs so that I can benefit my with a stronger Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) by allowing them to teach. From my experience as a student, I learn better when I can learn from my peers and my instructor. Evidence can be found here.