In Season 1, Episode 14, I sat down with Rachel Lesinski to discuss the importance of differentiation and personalized learning for our students. She shared stories from her conversations with students about what they wanted to engage in and the variety of answers they provided. Our students are so unique so it is not a surprise that singular approaches to instruction and assessment will leave out many of them. Here are a few tips from our conversation.
- Start Small – Any opportunity you take to listen to the thoughts and interests of your students can begin to shift the culture of learning.
- Provide Choices – Identify opportunities to provide your students with choice in your class. (listen to episodes 15 & 16 for more information)
- Be Responsive – Use the data you collect about student progress to inform “next steps” in your classroom.
- Be Respectful – Model for your students the type of respectful interactions that you hope they demonstrate while working with others.
