Week 4 - Differentiation for Teachers and Learners

I always find the topic of differentiation to be interesting since to me it seems inherent and natural.  It is not something that I typically think about when I do teach other people, whether that be my staff, my Scouts or my athletes.  In order to keep anyone's interest, I present information in different ways.  With my staff, I may delegate a project with minimal instruction but give them an example to follow.  For other projects, I may set up a meeting where face-to-face discussion makes more sense so I can read their body language and give them the opportunity to ask questions immediately.  Finally for other projects, it may require a whiteboard where we can use visual diagrams like "T" accounts and journal entries or math calculations.  This mixes things up for me but also my staff so it is not always the boss doing the talking and the staff associate taking it in and doing what is needed like a robot.  In certain instances, I may be handing off a routine monthly task that I have done for years.  I give some instruction but am always sure to note that my way of executing the reporting is final.  I express that the co-worker should think about why they are doing the task and update the report as they see fit.  It is "their" task now and they should find ways to add value as they get comfortable and be sure to ask questions.  

For my Scouts, I can't take the same approach since they are middle and high school aged boys.  In these situations, I need to understand their backgrounds, interests and learning abilities.  Also some of these Scouts are doing the merit badge to gain a rank while others have the same approach but also show a true interest in the material.  The merit badges that I mainly handle are those required to achieve the rank of Eagle, Boy Scouts highest rank.  When working with the Scouts, I have to consider many different angles when working with them as a group and find ways for them to express their knowledge of the topic.  I found in many situations that sharing a story that demonstrates the example or situation works best.  I may start with my own story creating a connection for the Scout so they may understand the intent or point of the topic.  Next I encourage the Scouts to share their story or an example which gets our conversation going so it is a natural discussion and not an answer the question as I wrote it on the worksheet.  We laugh, get off topic a bit and talk about their interests.  This relaxes the Scouts to share and open up to our time spent discussing the main topic.  Typically after our discussions, the Scouts realize the importance of the Eagle required merit badge.  It isn't something to do now and forget but life skills they will use throughout their life as demonstrated in our discussions.  I love seeing the "aha" moments these Scouts experience.

For my athletes, which was several years ago, I took many different approaches since we could get more hands-on with executing a jump and learning techniques to run faster or more efficiently.  We would run drills with the sprinters and do their interval workouts, much to my jumpers chagrin.  Each year someone would ask why they have to run with the sprinters if they don't really like sprinting events and only want to jump.  I always explained they needed the endurance to run down the runway in order to transfer their speed to height and learn control.  For some that made sense but for other athletes they didn't understand which took me to visual aids.  I was able to find video footage of track and field athletes lose control and show how endurance, speed, muscular ability and knowledge help a jumper.  We varied workouts weekly so their brain and body didn't know what to expect each day.  We might do circuits with varied exercises to speed workouts to endurance distance runs to weight lifting to jumping techniques.  I would video tape (back in the day before our smartphones) my jumpers so they could visualize what they were doing well and where corrections were needed.  We would sit as a group so everyone could learn from the other.  My rationale was if I couldn't make a meet, the jumpers knew how to help each other and what to look for and give cues for correction or encouragement.  Practices were fun but could also be hard working and fulfilling.  I taught my jumpers that working hard can be fun and educational that they are learning skills that they can take with them.  

I was using differentiated learning before I even knew the term!  I would think that using differentiation should be a natural thing for a teacher since they are vested in their career and students.  I can see where this may go astray since there is so much pressure about student performance, standardized tests and evaluations.  Also I wonder if giving certain teaching approaches and methods actual terms and names throws educators off.  Since it has an actual name, people feel pressured to understand and use the term or apply it to their teaching thinking they were doing something wrong.  It may turn out that teachers may have been doing it all along and just not realizing it.  I could be wrong but I think it is just an inherent approach and technique.  As my mother stated to me when I discussed with her my change in career plans, she was surprised that I didn't become a teacher instead of going into business and accounting.  When I asked her why, she just said I was a natural because I was always teaching my sister, family and friends.  I didn't make them do something a certain way but found a way to explain or present it to them so they would understand.  I believe I was using differentiation from an early age and have used it throughout my career in business and in life!