Differentiation in DT
So, we're three weeks into our projects from the start of the year, already your seeing a gap permeating in all your classes between the most able and less able. Your top ability students are flying through and your struggling to keep up with them and your less able are hanging onto your apron stings, this could be literal in some cases. We think back to the first lesson when each student was at the same starting point, you did your demo and each student knew exactly what they needed to do. What went wrong? Why have you now got students competing for your attention all lesson, with the incessant chorus of Sir, Sir, Sir of Miss, Miss Miss. In a nutshell, it's because your differentiation it's up to spec.
Now we all know what differentiation is so I'm not going to bore you with the pedagogy of it all but what I will try to do is share with you some effective techniques that I use. But before we start just a little note on my two bugbears when it comes to differentiation. The first of these is differentiation by outcome. This isn't really differentiation, in the way that you didn't sit down and plan it and it has no impact on the students, it's simply a result of a range of abilities in your class. You might argue that you will push the higher ability kids to achieve higher quality outcomes, such as getting them to file down a surface to remove surface scratches, re-cutting a joint or redrawing lines on a sketch. But this isn't differentiation by outcome, its differentiation by feedback. Of which is a highly effective differentiation technique. The other from of differentiation that sadly is all to common in DT classrooms is the use of high ability students to support the lower ability students. Learning leader, table manager or supervisor, what ever it is that you call them effectively they're doing your job for you and plugging the gaps in a poorly planned lesson. Now I agree the high ability students do gain valuable experience in reflecting on the process they've completed by teaching in to another student. But pause for a second and think, how would you feel if that were you? You're passionate about the subject, very able and chance is you want to be challenged and moved on but all you are getting to do is help out with 'the thick kids'. What more than reflecting on the process are you learning. How are you being moved on? How are you being inspired and the love for the subject being nurtured? The answer to all of these is you're not, you're being used as free labour. You might be thinking but the students in my class love helping out and it's important for character development and I agree. My issue is that this is the default tactic for too many teachers. Yes there is a time and a place for it and it can be very effective but we can do better to differentiate for the top end and therefore we should.
So what would I suggest?
1) Videos
Ask the students in your class what they watched on TV last night you'll likely be met with blank expressions and the response " Don't watch TV." Today's generation are acutely tuned into watching short videos on Facebook or You Tube so tap into it. Get your technician to video every demo you do and save them on a classroom computer or share them with students so they can access them on their phones during lesson. Alternatively invest in some cheap tablets that can float around the classroom for students to use when required.This allows the low ability students to access help on what to do next or to self assess their own technique, it can also be used to allow the high ability students to move on. If you really want to run with this then you can have specific extensions tasks for those that are able to be stretched.
2) Plan Extensions In
When you first sit down to produce a SoW make sure that it has the capacity to be extended to include more advanced skills, this will allow the higher ability students to me stretched. If the projects you run don't allow for this, then they should be binned and replaced by something that can. A poor SoW shouldn't be an excuse for not pushing the higher ability students.
3) Let Them Make Mistakes
We all want the students to produce high quality outcomes and worry way too much about this affecting the morale of students. The upper echelon of differentiation in DT follows this simple process. Teach the students via a demo to the whole class, lets the class do the task, let them make mistakes, bring them back round and then show them how to fix their mistakes. This way they start to realise that you can fix your mistakes. This builds resilience! Students start to realise that just because they didn't get it right first time they can fix their mistake. This really pushes the rigour of learning in the classroom. Now if at this point you identify students who are likely to be unable to fix their mistake you can start to put in places some differentiated resources, i.e letting them run the saw against a clamped block to get a straight cut or use an isometric grip to help with sketching. What really upsets me is when a well meaning DT teacher develops a project so it becomes fool proof to the point where the students cannot get it wrong. All this does is undermine your expert demonstrations and build a false sense of ability in students. If students cannot fail because you've reduced the rigour of the protect then why do they need to listen to your demo? Students will switch off because 'It's easy', and they're right because you've made it too easy for them.
4) Resources At the Ready
I'm not going to go over all the potential resources that could me implemented to support learning, but what I will do is emphasise that these should be at hand at all times during the lessons and accessible to students. This will lead to students becoming much more independent and more confident in leading their own learning. This usually takes form as some type of, help desk. where all the resources are their for students to select as they need or for you to direct students to. This will make lessons flow and reduce the amount of time students are paused on task while you gather resources.
I really hope this has helped you rethink your approach to differentiation and that it helps you in the weeks to come as the gaps start to form in your classes.
Stay reflective.
The DandTblog
Now we all know what differentiation is so I'm not going to bore you with the pedagogy of it all but what I will try to do is share with you some effective techniques that I use. But before we start just a little note on my two bugbears when it comes to differentiation. The first of these is differentiation by outcome. This isn't really differentiation, in the way that you didn't sit down and plan it and it has no impact on the students, it's simply a result of a range of abilities in your class. You might argue that you will push the higher ability kids to achieve higher quality outcomes, such as getting them to file down a surface to remove surface scratches, re-cutting a joint or redrawing lines on a sketch. But this isn't differentiation by outcome, its differentiation by feedback. Of which is a highly effective differentiation technique. The other from of differentiation that sadly is all to common in DT classrooms is the use of high ability students to support the lower ability students. Learning leader, table manager or supervisor, what ever it is that you call them effectively they're doing your job for you and plugging the gaps in a poorly planned lesson. Now I agree the high ability students do gain valuable experience in reflecting on the process they've completed by teaching in to another student. But pause for a second and think, how would you feel if that were you? You're passionate about the subject, very able and chance is you want to be challenged and moved on but all you are getting to do is help out with 'the thick kids'. What more than reflecting on the process are you learning. How are you being moved on? How are you being inspired and the love for the subject being nurtured? The answer to all of these is you're not, you're being used as free labour. You might be thinking but the students in my class love helping out and it's important for character development and I agree. My issue is that this is the default tactic for too many teachers. Yes there is a time and a place for it and it can be very effective but we can do better to differentiate for the top end and therefore we should.
So what would I suggest?
1) Videos
Ask the students in your class what they watched on TV last night you'll likely be met with blank expressions and the response " Don't watch TV." Today's generation are acutely tuned into watching short videos on Facebook or You Tube so tap into it. Get your technician to video every demo you do and save them on a classroom computer or share them with students so they can access them on their phones during lesson. Alternatively invest in some cheap tablets that can float around the classroom for students to use when required.This allows the low ability students to access help on what to do next or to self assess their own technique, it can also be used to allow the high ability students to move on. If you really want to run with this then you can have specific extensions tasks for those that are able to be stretched.
2) Plan Extensions In
When you first sit down to produce a SoW make sure that it has the capacity to be extended to include more advanced skills, this will allow the higher ability students to me stretched. If the projects you run don't allow for this, then they should be binned and replaced by something that can. A poor SoW shouldn't be an excuse for not pushing the higher ability students.
3) Let Them Make Mistakes
We all want the students to produce high quality outcomes and worry way too much about this affecting the morale of students. The upper echelon of differentiation in DT follows this simple process. Teach the students via a demo to the whole class, lets the class do the task, let them make mistakes, bring them back round and then show them how to fix their mistakes. This way they start to realise that you can fix your mistakes. This builds resilience! Students start to realise that just because they didn't get it right first time they can fix their mistake. This really pushes the rigour of learning in the classroom. Now if at this point you identify students who are likely to be unable to fix their mistake you can start to put in places some differentiated resources, i.e letting them run the saw against a clamped block to get a straight cut or use an isometric grip to help with sketching. What really upsets me is when a well meaning DT teacher develops a project so it becomes fool proof to the point where the students cannot get it wrong. All this does is undermine your expert demonstrations and build a false sense of ability in students. If students cannot fail because you've reduced the rigour of the protect then why do they need to listen to your demo? Students will switch off because 'It's easy', and they're right because you've made it too easy for them.
4) Resources At the Ready
I'm not going to go over all the potential resources that could me implemented to support learning, but what I will do is emphasise that these should be at hand at all times during the lessons and accessible to students. This will lead to students becoming much more independent and more confident in leading their own learning. This usually takes form as some type of, help desk. where all the resources are their for students to select as they need or for you to direct students to. This will make lessons flow and reduce the amount of time students are paused on task while you gather resources.
I really hope this has helped you rethink your approach to differentiation and that it helps you in the weeks to come as the gaps start to form in your classes.
Stay reflective.
The DandTblog
Comments
Post a Comment