My Classroom Analysis

Successful differentiation is all about proper planning. If a lesson is well planned and well organized, the chances of it being difficult or going awry are significantly reduced. For me, one of the simplest ways to differentiate my lessons has been in regards to individualized pacing. Making this possible, and manageable, took a few years, however, I have it down to a workable system that allows students to work at their own pace, to an extent, without creating chaos in my classroom or adding undue stress to my workload. While I believe in students having the time they need to successfully complete an assignment, I am also a firm believer in hard deadlines and learning time management skills. Essentially the majority of my assignments are …show more content…
This plan relies very heavily on the use of technology, without which I believe I could still make this plan work, although it would look very different and potentially not be as fluid. Through the use of Schoology.com, I am able to provide students with all of the information and materials from class digitally. This means that everything needed for the completion of the assignment is readily available to them both in and out of my classroom. Schoology also allows the students to submit their work, which allows them to work from home but also allows me to see when the work was completed. So far, I have seen this allow students who, despite working hard during class were unable to finish the assignment, receive full credit where they previously might not have. I have also had students tell me that when they reviewed the material later it finally “clicked” which, for me, is fantastic. The added ability for me to grade directly on the computer and offer comments on their work has boosted student growth in my class. What I am looking forward to working toward is a far more open ended final …show more content…
What I would like to do is present students with the goal of the project and allow them to build their own project that accomplishes all goals. What this would allow is unbridled creativity on an individual level. Students would still have the option to work in groups or alone, which is almost always beneficial. The difference between this project and other would be that students would have to think about how a project will connect to the class BFEORE they complete it. This is asking them to think about the project from a completely different angle. I anticipate that this could be difficult for a multitude of reason. I plan to account for this in two ways. The first is to create a very thorough and specific rubric for students. We will go over the rubric as its own lesson so that I am able to address any confusion up front. The second way I plan to keep things in line will be to have regular check-ins with students as they work. By scheduling these days ahead of time, students will be able to split their project into smaller due dates leading up to the final due date. This will also allow me to see their progress and address any issues regarding their completion of the