“70 percent of US middle and high school students require differentiated instruction that focuses on their individual strengths and weaknesses.” – Read Next, page 8. This quote, from a study completed in 2004 by Catherine Snow and Gina Biancarosa, both Harvard University researchers, illustrates the need to address the diversity of literacy skills among adolescent students. The division we see for teachers in the middle grades and middle school is evident when school districts require all students to learn from grade level textbooks and content literature anthologies that most students do not. they can read. Statistics from a US Department of Education study found that more than eight million American students have reading difficulties and read two or more years below grade level (2003). The data also shows that high school students in the bottom 25 percent of their class are 20 times more likely to drop out of school than excellent and proficient readers.
Right now, too many middle and high schools across our nation place students in a curriculum where everyone reads the same text and completes the same assignments. It is not working and here are some reasons. Since 1992 little or no progress has been made in reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which is the nation’s report card. At this rate, the number of adults without the education and literacy skills to work in the 21st century tech jobs will continue to rise. Add to the NAEP results and studies completed by Snow and Biancarosa and the US Department of State, the daily frustrations you and I experience trying to reach diverse student classes with a set of textbooks. , then the need to explore other methods of instruction becomes obvious. .
In any middle grade or middle school class there will be groups of students reading below, at or near and above grade level, and you and I need to differentiate reading instruction to meet the unique needs of each student. This is the heart of differentiating reading instruction. This is why teachers and researchers have begun to look closely for ways to help adolescents read and write for many different purposes. This is the reason why we must abandon a single text for all students and bring several texts to our classrooms. The use of multiple texts allows each student to learn at their instructional level. In this way, each student can continue to improve and develop reading skills and stamina to prepare for the dramatic changes in the job market in this and the next century.
At this point, you may be wondering exactly what differentiated reading instruction is.
Differentiation is a way of teaching and not a packaged program or the same workbook for all students. When you differentiate reading instruction, you need to know your students so well that you can plan learning experiences that will improve students’ reading, thinking, memory, and writing. What follows are some key principles that form the basis for differentiating reading instruction.
First: Continuous and formative assessment invites you to continually identify student strengths, as well as areas of need, in order to match instruction and learning experiences with each student.
Second: The diverse students in your class have varying skill levels and experience in reading, writing, thinking, speaking, and problem solving, which requires that you develop instruction that reaches all students.
Third: Work in partners and small groups whose membership changes as students show you that they need to go back to teaching or are ready to move on.
Problem solving places the focus on differentiated classes on problems, topics, and concepts, allowing teachers to focus on big ideas using multiple or different texts instead of everyone reading a novel or textbook.
Finally, choice is at the heart of differentiation. In addition to required and required assignments, teachers offer their students options in reading and writing assignments that relate to a unit.
Therefore, to differentiate reading instruction, teachers need to think about the purpose of assessments: they are a way of gaining insight into their students’ learning. When teachers know their students and respond to their strengths and needs, they can support and maximize learning and reach all readers.
