Differentiate Content

Five ways I can differentiate content for my upcoming lesson on hemispheres and our world in order to reach all of my students, specifically English Language Learners, Special Needs Students, and Advanced or GIfted Learners are as follows:

Since it is important to take into account the student's readiness, interest, learning profiles, I create the following activities.

English Language Learners

1. Color a picture of the world that shows the hemispheres, continents, and oceans. They will then trace the words that are pre-written on the picture.
2. Whole Brain Teaching Vocabulary review.
1. Teacher will say mirror words. Students will mirror the teacher's words and gestures. For example, teacher will say “the prime meridian splits the eastern and western hemisphere.” As she says prime meridian, the teacher will place her arm in front of her body in a vertical direction like she is about the wave. When she says eastern hemisphere she will point to that side of her arm and then the other side for western hemisphere. After the teacher repeats this a few times, she will have the students use the Think-Pair-Share strategy. They will turn to their partners and teach their partner about the prime meridian and eastern and western hemisphere will using the gesture.
3. Listen and sketch a GLAD activity.
1. Teacher will read passage about “Dividing the Earth.” She will stop frequently, every 2 to 3 sentences, and have the students draw what they heard. For ELL, she will show pictures for those who need the additional help. They can copy the picture of what was just read.  

     4.) Poem/Song: The students will sing a song that I wrote to the Tune of Farmer in the Dell which is another GLAD strategy.

I know my continents, I know my continents.

Yes I do, Yes I do.

North and South America, North and South America

Those are two

I know my continents, I know my continents.

Yes I do, Yes I do.

Europe, Asia, Africa, Europe, Asia Africa

But there’s more, but there’s more

I know my continents, I know my continents.

Yes I do, Yes I do.

Antarctica, Australia, Antarctica, Australia,

Now we’re through, Now we’re through.

     5.) Yes/No nod to questions about picture map. For example, is this the Eastern Hemisphere? Is this the prime meridian?

     6.)  Point to strategy: Teacher will ask student to point to Northern hemisphere on a printed map. Teacher will ask student to point to each continent.

Special Needs Student: For my particular class, this student is identified on their IEPs for dyslexia. He is very interested in art and prefers learning orally. He struggles in reading and is currently reading a first grade level independently; however, if read to, his comprehension levels is at grade level.  His lesson activities/process will mirror that of the English Language Learners because of his preferred method of oral activities, but I will change his product output will differ since he can produce a higher level then yes/no answers.

1. Color a picture of the world that shows the hemispheres, continents, and oceans. They will then trace the words that are pre-written on the picture.
2. Whole Brain Teaching Vocabulary review.
1. Teacher will say mirror words. Students will mirror the teacher's words and gestures. For example, teacher will say “the prime meridian splits the eastern and western hemisphere.” As she says prime meridian, the teacher will place her arm in front of her body in a vertical direction like she is about the wave. When she says eastern hemisphere she will point to that side of her arm and then the other side for western hemisphere. After the teacher repeats this a few times, she will have the students use the Think-Pair-Share strategy. They will turn to their partners and teach their partner about the prime meridian and eastern and western hemisphere will using the gesture.

   3.) Listen and sketch a GLAD activity.

a.) Teacher will read passage about “Dividing the Earth.” She will stop frequently, every 2 to 3 sentences, and have the students draw what they heard. For ELL, she will show pictures for those who need the additional help. They can copy the picture of what was just read.  

  4.)  Poem/Song: The students will sing a song that I wrote to the Tune of Farmer in the Dell which is another GLAD strategy.

I know my continents, I know my continents.

Yes I do, Yes I do.

North and South America, North and South America

Those are two

I know my continents, I know my continents.

Yes I do, Yes I do.

Europe, Asia, Africa, Europe, Asia Africa

But there’s more, but there’s more

I know my continents, I know my continents.

Yes I do, Yes I do.

Antarctica, Australia, Antarctica, Australia,

Now we’re through, Now we’re through.

5.) I would upload the following questions on google classroom. The student would copy and paste the question into http://ttsreader.com/ where the question will be read aloud to him. Student will answer the following questions using dictation feature on google:

1.What facts would you choose to support that the Tropic of Cancer is warm?

2. Go to Kiddle and reasearch warm destinations. Select a warm destination in the world and look it up on a map to find where its exact location is on our world. (You will need to use the (-) button to zoom out the map. Which continent is your destination located? Does your location support your new knowledge about warm areas on earth?

Advanced or Gifted Students

1. I would compact the lesson for them to accelerate the pace, so they could move onto research to dig deeper with the content. After I taught them the basic vocabulary, I would have them work independently to explore on the Chromebooks.
2. Students would do a research project on earth and our hemispheres.
3. They would create a presentation using multimedia to teach the class about their findings.
4. I would change my questions for this group to DOK 3 & 4 and open ended questions, where they would need to extend their thinking. These higher order questions would help them extend their knowledge.

I would have them classify the different hemispheres. Into what groups could you organize these things? What are the defining characteristics of each group?