t r u c t io n

ti n g I n s
r e n ti a n t h e
Diffe c h n o l o g y i
s i n g T e ra d e s
U d i at e G
I n te r m e
ere Are Three Main Types of Students

tudents who are truly self motivated.

are the students we all love to have. The students who do all assigned work as expected or more.
et up every morning with the motto; “I just can’t wait to class”. Sadly, these students are few and far be

The students who go through the mo

e are the students who know, in the long term, that they need to be successful in school. T
real desire to learn the curriculum, however work toward learning the facts to get a passin
Their motto: “I am learning how to play

dents who tune us out.

school totally irrelevant and totally uninteresting and see no real purpose for it in their life. They are m
ed to having anyone who asks for their attention, like musicians, video games, work really hard to get i
ing offered isn’t engaging, they truly resent their time being wasted. They are quickly becoming the m
o: Engage me, or enrage me.

Mark Prensky, “Engage Me or Enrage Me, What Today’s Learner’s Demand”, EDUCASE Review, September/October 2005
What is Differentiation?
Differentiating instruction means creating
multiple paths so that students of different
abilities, interest or learning needs experience
equally appropriate ways to absorb, use, develop
and present concepts as a part of the daily
learning process.
 How do we differentiate instruction?
CONTEN ACTIVITIE
T S
-Using Howard Gardiner’s
-Involves assessment for Theory of Multiple
learning, assessment as Intelligences as a basis of
learning, and assessment instructional planning.
of learning. Differentiat
-taking assessment results ion -Providing students with
tools to support their
and directing instruction learning (ie. Graphic
at students requiring more Organizers)
explicit teaching.

PRODUC ENVIRONME
T NT
-Open ended, student -Changing the learning
directed, inquiry based atmosphere from desks in
learning that engages the rows to accommodate student
senses and learning styles. learning needs.
(Ie. learning groups,
-Allows students to complete incorporating movement,
tasks at their grade level D.P.A., Energizers)
 Differentiating the
Intermediate Classroom
Environment with
Technology
 Classroom Printer
On a private network, connected
only to the macs so that students
can print directly within their own
classroom to hand in final writing
tasks.

Laptop Cart
Keeps the laptops in a safe,
secure storage area that is
mobile and also serves as a
charging dock.

Student Laptops (Macbooks for

Grade 7/8)
Remote Desktop capability connects
all computers together, allows
teacher to monitor student actions
Student Laptops (Mini-
Notebooks Grade 5/6)
Uses familiar software such as
Microsoft Word and Powerpoint for
students to communicate their
understanding of key concepts more
effectively. Assessment data shows
that student writing has improved
with the use of these laptops.
LCD Projection Unit
Connects to laptops, macbooks (for student
presentations), and document cameras. A far
more versatile projection system versus the
overhead lamp projector.

Promethean Interactive
Whiteboard
Engages the three learning styles
(Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic)
through an interactive interface that
allows students and the teacher to
manipulate objects on the screen.
Document Camera
Connects to LCD projector. An instant
projection of any images placed under the
camera, allows for more versatility when
projecting documents vs. old overhead
transparencies.

Wireless Keyboards
Allows teacher to move around the classroom when
teaching with the computers as opposed to being
situated behind a desk. Teachers can make
observational assessment of student understanding
Learner Response Systems
Students interact with the Promethean Board through a variety of
“anonymous” question and answer formats. ActivHub saves all student data
from assessments completed on ActivExpressions. An alternative method to
assess for, as, and of learning.
Front Row Phonic Ear System
Amplification system that can be
used to evenly distributes the
teachers voice throughout the
classroom.
School Computer Lab
30 computers available to staff and students in all grades.
Computers are loaded with most recent OSAPAC software which
deals with a whole host of curricular expectations across all
grade levels. (ie. Math Circus, Mathville, Clicker 5, Career
Cruising, Geometer’s Sketchpad, Word Processing Programs)
Specific Content Area Examples of Differentiation
with Technology:
MATHEMATICS:
-Online virtual manipulatives can be accessed individually by

students on laptops or for whole class instruction on Promethean

Board
http://nvlm.usu.edu

Calculation Nation, an online mathematics gaming site, allows

-

students to compete against each other in real time.

http://calculationnation.nctm.org
OAME – CLIPS
-Online virtual site with modules for helping students understand

and work through mathematical process from Grades 7 – 12.

http://oame.on.ca/CLIPS/index.html
Language Arts
- Differentiating With Word Processing Programming In the Classroom:
Both Dell mini-macs and Macbooks have text-to-speech capabilities for
students who have difficulty with sight word recognition and fluency
which improves comprehension.

- Helps students recognise omissions and/or errors in their writing as

word processing typically improves editing and proof-reading.

- Students can access a variety of texts online from every genre and
era.

- Students can copy and paste text into word documents and highlight
key information for their own notes.

- With Macbooks, teachers can scan PDF versions of worksheets and

send to student laptops for students to complete and send back to
teacher = paperless classroom.
MEDIA LITERACY IS TEACHING WITH COMPUTERS
- Teach kids about dangers associated with Social Media usage
- Analyse advertising technqiues used to target teenagers, bias in

media coverage, etc

- Look at a variety of forms of media through YouTube and other

sources.
 BitStrips for Schools:
-Students generate teacher moderated comics to

communicate their understanding.

-Teacher’s control their own classroom module.

Students have to register and log in with their
own specific classroom code. Privacy and safety

Eg: This student is showing her interpretation of

-

Article 28 of the UN’s Declaration of Human

Rights.

Movie Maker and/or iMovie Programs:

-Allow students to communicate their learning

through a media literacy lens by creating videos

which can be open ended combinations of music,
pictures, video, text, and recorded sound and
video.
- Video creation involves a lot of planning and Lucas Remembrance Video.m4v
“unseen” literacy skills that go far beyond the
final product.
- Students research, synthesise, summarize, and
Establishing a Classroom Blog/Website
Blogs allow Teachers
for: can post assignments and tasks online for
students to complete and respond to. Another step
toward the paperless classroom.
-Students can see each
others work and
comment on the writing
of their classmates.
Provides a form of
intrinsic motivation to
put more effort into their
writing.

Teachers can post

-

YouTube videos of a
variety of media OR of
videos filmed in the
classroom for students to
watch and respond to.
As a method of writing assessment, teachers can post links to news articles
or other texts online and direct students to read and respond directly on the
blog to a series of questions or prompts. Teachers can then assess student
writing right on the blog.
-Also a great place for teachers to post daily homework tasks as a method of
direct communication with parents who log on.
What We’ve Found:
The Pros and Cons of Using Technology
to Differentiate the Intermediate
PROS Classroom CONS
- Technology can be used in all subject areas. - A lot of class time wasted on technology
failures and flaws
- Increases student engagement through - As the technology usage becomes more
virtual storytelling, field trips, streaming video, commonplace, students start to develop an
virtual manipulatives, and online gaming apathy toward it and engagement levels begin
opportunities. to drop.
- Learner Response Systems open the door to - Planning lessons and building templates on
more consistent, valuable, and immediate Promethean Software to work in conjunction
assessment and feedback to students and with Learner Response Systems takes a
teachers about student learning and progress. considerable amount of time.

- Having access to some technology in the - If you don’t have “all of the tools” the use of
classroom still opens the door for teachers to technology in the classroom is limiting. (eg:
differentiate in many ways, despite the ActivBoard without Learner Response
limitations. Systems)
Individual student mac laptops equipped with - With introducing Macs in the classroom,
-

mac programming and Remote Desktop
access allows for a paperless classroom
approach to assignments.
- Teacher training available to keep them
computer literate and up to date on current
software capabilities
significant class time is needed to train
students on how to use the Mac and its
programming.
- Teacher training is costly to school boards
and time consuming. Some teachers unwilling
to invest that time and others say they are
tech challenged.
 “Do not confine your
children to your own
learning, for they were born
in another time.”
-Hebrew Proverb

Adapting technology to fit your style is an ongoing process. Do not try to do

everything at once. Every journey begins with a single step.
Taken from : 6 Steps to Success In Teaching With Technology