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My Inquiry project centres on the question

How might educators differentiate instruction to meet the diverse needs of their students?

This question arose for me, due to the wide variety of learners in my Kindergarten class. My students range from ELL level 1 to being able to write full sentences. As I planned my lessons for this diverse group, I found it challenging to determine how to best support and engage each of my students to their fullest potential in an early primary classroom. I found that my lessons engaged most, but not all, with some children finishing early and others not at all. It is important to me to offer each child points of entry and extension where they can learn and explore at a level they find comfortably challenging in order to set them up for success.

Differentiated instruction has always seemed intimidating to me. How do I allow each student an equally beneficial learning experience without planning 24 individual lessons? How do I stay within the curriculum, while also being respectful of everybody’s various talents and learning trajectories? I feel that these are important questions to investigate as I continue my journey as both a student and an educator.

Students come from a vast array of backgrounds and locations, culturally, socially and academically, and therefore bring different strengths with them into the classroom setting. According to the BC Teachers’ Federation, in 2011-12, one in four BC students spoke a language other than English at home. As such, it is critical for us as educators to know how best to engage a spectrum of students and build upon their existing knowledge, and for students to connect to each other and to the learning process as a whole.

Entering into a Kindergarten setting, I started out knowing very little about which resources, skills and interests my students are coming in with. A large part of the teaching process has involved developing relationships to learn these things, and mapping students’ various strengths and challenges based on this information as well as their academic and social progress. According to the literature, I am already implementing a key strategy in differentiated learning as matter of course (Logan, 2011). This provides a logical starting point to gain insight and examples of effective strategies to include all learners during this process, as well as knowledge about what the benefits of differentiated education look like in different contexts.

This is a complex topic, as each student brings a specific set of talents and challenges that are informed by their previous experiences, as well as their home life and their access to learning resources. Parental involvement and outlooks are also a key component in students’ attitudes and interests. This points to the importance of building relationships with students and learning about their backgrounds and interests, and how this might be incorporated in the literature on differentiated instruction.

As en educator, I want to create a cohesive and accessible classroom environment that incorporates and celebrates the different resources students bring into the classroom. I am a strong proponent of co-constructing knowledge, and to do this it is pivotal to open up the floor to all students to contribute and build on their own experience and interests, so that we may all learn and explore together. I believe that this process is inherently relational in nature, and I am curious as to what extent relationships and experiential knowledge plays a role in differentiated education. This inquiry project will explore how I best can include, engage and inspire progress in a range of learners as I step into my role as an educator, not only during my practicum experience, but into my career as well.