Many students in my main placement would benefit from differentiated, especially when it involves using technology. Most of the students are very familiar with technology and are excited about using it in school, in addition to their personal lives. Three students, in particular, come to mind when I think of using technology to differentiate instruction.
The first student I think of is a male ELL student that struggles in subjects that he generally excels in because of his difficulty understanding the language. In this case, I would use technology to demonstrate the connection of the words and concepts, especially in math. Additionally, he could use an app to translate words that may deter him in his success.
Another student that comes to mind a female student that has a fascination with fantasy and finds joy in playing online fantasy based games (in addition to drawing cartoons based upon the fantasies that she is exposed to). Using technology may be a way to engage her in classroom activities while relating it to things that are so very important to her. I have seen the way that integrating video game talk in a math interview resulted in the student fulfilling the math questions, but not seeing it as doing math problems because he was talking about something that he likes. Taking this approach may have similar results with this student. One drawback with this student, though, may be that we are encouraging the student to live in a fantasy world that she seems to be overly involved with to the point where it could be dangerous for her development (this has been a worry for me as I have heard her mention certain situations with online games and meeting strangers). But, would that be pushing my personal opinion on what is too little/much exposure to video games?
There is another male student that would benefit from differentiated instruction because he has a hard time staying attentive and focused and tends to act up in class. Engaging this student may be one way to help this student succeed and reverse the behavioral problems that have been occurring. Having the student follow along with the lesson, or controlling the speed of information, may help the student.
Using an iTouch in the classroom has both pros and cons. I know that there are a lot of apps available to help students in many ways and, since many of my 3rd grade students already have a personal iTouch, they will know how to navigate the technology. Though, their familiarity with the technology may cause the students to get off task or abuse the privilege (for example playing games). Managing the students’ use of iTouch may be hard, since the screens are small and my aging eyes have a hard time noticing them from a distance.
I am excited to learn more about the capabilities of the iTouch as I spend more time playing with it and exploring new apps.
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