This post is regarding that crucial topic of professional learning communities (PLC) that many teachers are always struggling with because of the amount of work needed every year to prepare. With "learning exceptionalisms" being a topic on the table of discussions, now Ontario teachers in Canada (specifically) are discussing what "De-Streaming" is going to look like for schools/boards and Universities in Canada, teachers are wondering constantly, "how can we make this work?" while students are constantly wondering, "how will this make my life eassier?"
I don't have the answers for every teacher, but here is a model I began implementing in class recently (years ago now), as I have many different ranges of personalities, cultures and students in class. Most times, students will cluster together at a given station that their friends are at, however it offers opportunities for students to see what it is their friends are doing/how their friends are learning as well as a chance for some students to discover personal strengths. Teachers can also intervene and redirect students to areas that they feel will be most beneficial for them/more appropriate to their tier. While students are in a station/tier the teacher can guide students into subtle changes that can allow them to transition to the next tier more efficiently.
One example might be in a grade 10/11 literature class, tier one, a student can find information on the internet, copy and paste information with a reference into a document that answers some basic questions about the text; at the next tier the student can either paraphrase or directly quote from the text in an organized/structured body of writing their response to a prompt or the questions of the previous tier. As the tiers vary through levels the final tier might be something along the lines of not only discussing the text through insights of the story itself, but doing so with minimal assistive technologies, and using varied types of evidence to accomplish validation of sources (as an example), the tricky part is incorporating or ensuring that the necessary conversations and observations are documented and reinforced in the tiering process, students need to approach the tier, introduce themselves and their goal, discuss with others what they have already discussed or accessed and find someone in the next tier to provide an editing opportunity for them. Students would be publishing drafts as they progress through tiers and would eventually be told, after these two-four days (depending on the density of the task) of writing, revising and drafting, your next day is publishing. This would be what the teacher summatatively assesses.
Generally I use this model when introducing a lengthy reading text in class that may be used for a discussion/inquiry introduction.
You can find an example of a lesson plan incorporating this "four-corner" adaptation on my TPT (along with many other freebies here):
A quick summary of how the class works (for me),
1. set up four stations and have students standing at the back of the class with their things until the instructions are over.
2. Instruct students to collect a page of the reading/text from the teacher and look at the board.
3. The teacher will introduce the four groups functions/learning environments
Self-Direction
a) One area is self directed, no technology included/cellphones/laptops/translators are left at the front and a lined page is taken with a pen to the group along with the reading, the student will read by themselves (if they would like to have music, that is up to the teacher) where they should read once without assistance, and then after calling over the teacher for a check, can collect their device and do a once over to ensure they really comprehend the text/reading. Generally this is a quiet section of the room where students can work independently.
Read-A-Loud (Teacher/Student Led)
b)The teacher or "lead" student or ALL students can read out loud and inquire through question and answer throughout the text. This is a bit more chaotic as there are sometimes many questions and some students who are there for the enjoyment of listening to the text but could actually be working independently. Cellphones are not allowed here, the teacher can assign one "fact checker" with a cellphone to guide the group questions.
Group Inquiry
c)Students normally migrate into a giant roundtable form of discussion in which they are reading at different paces, sometimes off topic talking to their partners/group members and are able to discuss with each other while also jumping between their own reading. No cellphone are allowed here, questions that cannot be answered by other group members, should be passed on to the teacher. Usually students start elsewhere and when finished reading, will go here for debriefing/consolidation of ideas from classmates.
Flipped Classroom (teacher discretion)
d) Students who have read the article beforehand can actually move into a reflection/discovery of ideas about the text at this station, they may call the teacher over for questions, they may have their cellphone, or other technology. Generally students who have read and understand the text already are moving onto an extension/further reading piece that will allow them to enrich whatever lesson they are supposed to be taking away from that class. These students will also sometimes want to start in the group inquiry and then move off to the Flipped Classroom section after as well.
4. Teacher will allow students to migrate and plant themselves after handing in their cellphones.
5. Teacher will move to the "Read-A-Loud" section (unless no students have gone there, but teachers should encourage some students to move here as needed. Teacher should check the relation of which students are arranged in the class and assist others as needed, normally this is about 20 minutes.
6. Teacher will lead the class discussion/active learning portion of the class at this time, but now every student will (or should) have a substantial knowledge base of the reading in the class.
Again, this is not perfect, but it has worked for me in a number of ways, "Running Records", "STEP identification/On-going Assessments", "Anecdotal Notations", etc.
Alternative to the method was running this in stations where students would ALL start as a round table read-a-loud and then progress through different areas as needed, this would relieve the need for the "Flipped Classroom station" as well.
Below are some articles and webpages to check out in regards to the need for Differentiation in the classroom.
Testimonial/Guest Blog on Change in the Classroom in the US:
Research based on Canadian School figures:
This is a quick picture of a scratch layout (original organization/try of the class reading model)
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