Introduction

In order to meet the diverse learning needs of my student population, I implement a variety of instructional strategies that encourage learners to develop a deep understanding of content areas. These strategies include integrating technology into my curriculum, promoting student collaboration, and allowing students the opportunity to share thoughts and opinions with peers. Using these engaging strategies throughout the school year assists my students in building skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways. These strategies also give me insight on student understanding, and allows me to make the necessary adjustments in order to ensure that all students reach mastery. Each strategy is differentiated in order to meet the diverse learning needs of my students. Differentiation allows each student a better opportunity to grasp the concept. I use these instructional strategies in unison throughout the school year in order to equip my students with the tools needed to achieve their end of the year goal of moving one proficiency band on the TRC assessment.

Integrating Technology

Integrating technology into my instruction provides a great deal of benefits for my students and myself. In my classroom students have access to a wide range of technology including: NewsELA, FlipGrid, Kahoot, and Lexia. Each of these applications assist my students daily, in hopes of reaching our big goal by the end of the year. Through these applications students receive differentiated instruction catered directly to the area of need. The applications provide me with up to date data on student progress and misconceptions. The data received from these applications assist me in providing the instruction necessary in order to reach mastery.

NewsELA

The image below shows a leveled NewsELA article that students use during literacy stations.

NewsELA is a resource that provides students with leveled news articles, quizzes, and writing prompts. Each week during our literacy rotations, I provide students with differentiated news articles that are related to our unit. Students are able to choose an article based on their Lexile level, and read them during their station. While reading, students are searching for the central idea of the text. Students use the information learned from these articles to assist them in completing the quizzes and writing prompts that follow. NewsELA allows me to immediately receive results, which helps me understand which students are excelling and struggling with this skill. I use the data received from these assessments to create mini lessons for students with misunderstandings and address them during our guided reading station.

Flipgrid

The image below shows our class discussion board, where students can post responses.

In my classroom, students have shown a high interest in using social media. In order to incorporate their interests into my instruction, I allow students to use an application called Flipgrid. FlipGrid is an app that allows students to record responses to questions, and post them on a discussion board that classmates are able to reply to. Flipgrid promotes student discourse and higher order thinking skills by requiring students to respond to peers’ self recorded video logs. Students respond to classmates’ videos by asking questions that will continue conversation. This innovative app also highly engages students by allowing them to react to classmates’ responses with an emoji. Students enjoy using Flipgrid on a daily basis during our literacy stations. Flipgrid allows my students to receive daily independent practice on their speaking, listening, and comprehension skills.

One of our school-wide goals for this year is to improve reading comprehension skills among students. I use NewsELA partnered with Flipgrid to allow students to share the main idea of a text through this video logging application. After reading a NewsELA article, students construct a paragraph stating the main idea of the text on a Flipgrid script. They use this script to guide their response while recording their own Flipgrid video. Student responses are posted on our classroom grid which allows other classmates to view and respond. Flipgrid + NewsELA allows students to collaborate and engage in meaningful discussions between classmates. Flipgrid + NewsELA enhances my students communication skills through speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Pictured below are leveled NewsELA articles with the accompanying Flipgrid Script.

Lexia

Lexia is a blended learning application we use in our classroom to support student development in reading. Lexia allows students to work at their own pace and on their own personal level. Lexia recognizes each student’s misunderstandings and provides scaffolded instruction to assist students who are struggling with a particular standard. Lexia also creates a personalized curriculum for each student which is geared towards mastering each of our standards by the end of the year. Lexia allows me to personalize and adapt instruction for every student in the classroom. I am confident that when students are in literacy rotations using Lexia that they are receiving high quality tiered instruction, which allows me time to work with other individual students or groups. This application provides me with weekly updates on student progress. The updates include a list of struggling students and also provides me with personalized lesson plans in order to assist them in overcoming these hurdles and reaching proficiency. The images below are screenshots of gameplay from Lexia. The first image outlines activities that will be completed on Level 13. The second image shows gameplay from a singular and plural sorting activity. The third image is a reading passage that students must use to assist them in answering the text dependent questions that follow. The fourth image shows gameplay from the text dependent questions that follow the passage. The fifth image shows data from our class' usage. Our usage goal is to reach 30 minutes of Lexia play each week, and students have consistently achieved this goal. The last image shows the progress of a student who struggled to meet usage times last year.

Kahoot

Kahoot is an application I use to record formative assessment data through interactive quizzes. In my classroom we use Kahoot for exit tickets. Following each lesson, students participate in a Kahoot quiz that pertains to the daily objective. Students enjoy answering questions through this innovative and engaging iPad application. Upon completion of the quiz, my students and I immediately receive the assessment results. Students use this data to reflect on their answer choices. I use the data to check for student understanding and misconceptions. The data from this assessment also allows me to make the necessary adjustments to my instruction for the following day.

The images below are screenshots from Kahoot gameplay. They also show the process of how students easily access Kahoot.

Collaborative Group Work

In my classroom I provide students with a variety of opportunities to collaborate with their peers. Socratic Seminars and Gallery walks are two activities that are conducted in my class that promote student discussion. When students engage in these activities they are developing and enhancing their speaking and listening skills.

Socratic Seminar

Socratic Seminars allow students to build on their learning through discussion and collaboration. During a Socratic Seminar, students facilitate the discussion, and I play the role of the discussion leader. The goal for this activity is to promote meaningful conversation about our text, which will bring us closer to being able to answer our text focusing question. A text focusing question accompanies every story that we read throughout the year. I use Socratic Seminars to allow students to gain a better understanding of our text focusing question through speaking, listening, reading, and writing. During a Socratic Seminar, students practice higher order thinking skills through deep discussion among peers. As the discussion leader, I circulate the classroom and listen to student responses which allow me to check for any misunderstandings and address them immediately. I also use this opportunity as the discussion leader to provide guiding questions for my students when necessary, in order to push the thinking of my learners. By the conclusion of each text, students are expected to use all acquired knowledge from the variety of activities to assist them in answering the text focusing question in a writing prompt. The images displayed on the right show the text focusing question, students participating in the seminar, and three student responses.

Gallery Walk

Gallery walks promote collaboration and discussion by allowing my students the opportunity to tour the classroom in small groups in order to respond to a text or image. A truly transformational teacher provides kinesthetic, visual, and auditory instruction throughout the year in order to meet the learning needs of all students. During a gallery walk, students are expected to circulate around the classroom and respond to the given prompt. Students strengthen speaking and listening skills through content related discourse among classmates. Following the discussion, students collect their ideas, and share any remaining thoughts or lingering questions on a post it note and continue to the next gallery exhibit. The images on the right show students participating in a gallery walk, and student responses left on an exhibit.

Student Friendly Rubric

Student friendly rubrics allow my class to become familiar with the expectations for high quality work. Prior to students turning in an assignment, they must score their work using a student friendly rubric. This revising process requires students to review their work before completion to ensure that they are producing high quality work regularly. Students may review their own work independently or collaborate with classmates during this editing process. This process encourages learners to reflect on their thinking and to analyze their work to see if it aligns with the expectations listed on the rubric. This entire process allows students to independently determine if the expected outcome was achieved, and to make any modifications prior to turning in the assignment.

The document above is a student friendly rubric that shows how my students evaluate each other's writing.

Conclusion

A truly transformational teacher utilizes an array of instructional strategies that allows students to grasp and conceptualize the content. The instructional strategies I use in my classroom promote collaboration and conversation; both of which contribute to the growth of the holistic student. All of the instructional strategies that I use are purposefully planned in order to ensure that my students are receiving high quality instruction that will lead them to reaching their end of the year goal.