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Teach English in Shuangshipu Zhen - Baoji Shi

Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Shuangshipu Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Baoji Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language.

Differentiated Instruction and Instructional Grouping ITTT CTBE Summative Assignment Martha A. Irwin According to a wide array of accepted educational research, there is much more to differentiation and instructional grouping than simply dividing students up into equal groups based on their test scores. Hall, Vue, Strangman and Meyer (2003) record that differentiating instruction “is to recognize students’ varying background knowledge, readiness, language, preferences in learning, and interests. The main goal and aim to differentiated instruction is to complete the “process to teaching and learning for students of differing abilities in the same class” (pg. 2-3). Proper differentiation suits student’s needs rather than making classroom content easier for the teacher to deliver. There are many drawbacks to utilizing instructional grouping in the ELL classroom, but these drawbacks do not out weigh the benefits. Sometimes educators ineffectively employ grouping strategies that divide students unfairly based on their school achievement test scores. Often times students are divided up according to their ethnicity and economic background (Bannister, 2016, p. 340). ELL students should not be ostracized among the classroom. Students placed in lower achieving groups often do not have the same expectations as students who are placed in higher achieving groups (Bannister, 2016, p. 341). Higher achieving students are often expected to be more competent when completing classroom tasks compared to lower achieving students. Since learning expectations help determine learning outcomes, instructional grouping can be used to help teachers differentiate based on instructional input as well as student product (Bannister, 2016, p. 342). For example, a teacher could give a written test on a given subject for students and then have the higher achievers in the class design a presentation on the subject in conjunction with the written test. Futhermore, a teacher could pair a lower student with a higher student so that the higher student could help teach the lower student how to complete an activity. It is the teacher’s responsibility to facilitate these groups to ensure that students are staying on task when they are operating in these groups. Despite the setback of employing ineffective grouping methods into classrooms, there are many benefits to utilizing differentiation in the classroom. Tomlinson (2016) explains that curriculum will make more sense to students as long as it stays relevant to them. One way curriculum stays relevant to students is when they are working in collaborative learning groups, where each student has work to contribute to the group and holds a place of dignity (Harold, 2010). Furthermore, the way information is taught to the student is influential in keeping them engaged and being able to use that they learn (Tomlinson, 2016). Sometimes students learn better with others who are like them in ability and other times students learn better when they are placed with students who are not like them in ability. The key factor in these groups’ design and implementation is that they do change from time to time within the school year and students do not stay in these groups all the time throughout the entire school day (Harold, 2010). Investigative, collaborative group-work can help afford ELL students to make the gains necessary in their language studies. (Ward, 1987, p. 2). When students work in groups of two to five and complete tasks to achieve their learning goals, they are often given ample amounts of opportunities to speak and converse with one another. Even allowing students to engage in learning center activities within these small groups can also be effective in helping them make language acquisition gains. These practices should be incorporated into the ELL classroom along with peer tutoring (Harold, 2010). Ward (1987) writes that it is important to keep learning groups current and change them when timing is appropriate and that students spend a lot of time on task when split up into small groups. References Bannister, B. (2016). Breaking the spell of differentiated instruction through equity pedagogy and teacher community. Cultural Studies in Science Education, 11(2), 335-447. Retrieved from: http://link.springer.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/article/10.1007/s11422-016-9766-0 Harrold, M. (2010). An illustration of differentiated instruction in a primary classroom. [Web Video]. Retrieved from: http://www.diffcentral.com/Video_Clips.html#elementary Ward, B. A. (1897). Instructional Grouping in the Classroom. Retrieved from School Improvement Research Series: https://myasucourses.asu.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-13916839-dt-content-rid-81057172_1/courses/2016FallA-X-ECD565-83096-83098/Dev-X- ECD565-EarlyChildhoodOnline_ImportedContent_20141231110418/Documents/Instructional Grouping in the Classroom.pdf


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