Student Centered Technology

Section Four: Differentiating Instruction through Technology

Introduction

            As an educator it's very important to help students achieve and get the necessary skills required to succeed in life. For students to accomplish and gain the knowledge needed to become successful, teachers are incorporating technology to assist them in differentiate instruction. That is why teachers are using differentiate instruction through technology to better aid them in the process of making sure students are understanding the way teachers teach and how they receive any instructional information or lecture provided in class. To better assist my students in understanding and obtaining the required information in class, I have found many technology tools that are of great help in teaching students to attain  the skills in which they are lacking on.

Technology to Differentiate Instruction 

Gummii: Is a modern way of helping teachers differentiate instruction in class and to better help students understand and adapt to their individual needs. This is why I will incorporate Gummii into my lessons to enhanced the way my students receive information without struggling understanding of any lecture or lesson. This tool will assist students to comprehend and maintain motivated as they will enjoy playing a game while learning the material they are struggling in class. As we all know students learn in so many different ways that it becomes complicated for students to understand the lesson. The ISTE standards for students indicates that students use creative thinking, while applying existing knowledge to generate new ideas when using technology. That is why teachers are helping students again the necessary information to better understand the material and assist those needs by using different tools that will help them master the understanding of the lecture. ISTE states that teachers plan their curriculum to fulfill the needs of the students by designing an effective learning environment and supporting their lessons by including different technology tools to better aid students way of learning. It is also important to have hands on activities in class because some of us learn by having concrete and manipulatives. (Hand 2 mine) When teaching students different math problems such as the multiplication tables "Task Cards," are a great tool to help students learn all their multiplications.      

Power My Learning: Is a tool to help educators differentiate instruction by delivering information to students in ways they understand. "Power My Learning" provides many tools of instruction to better support learning in and out of class. Students have access to Common Core Standard academic games, videos to meet students educational needs. The ISTE established that students tend to have an understanding of technology concepts, systems and operations. As they will use their current knowledge to learn of new technologies. To assist my students to develop the necessary skills I will incorporate this tool to implement blended learning as every student is different and learn differently. What makes this tool awesome is that teachers don't have to worry about not meeting students educational needs because it ass learning activities, can also include formative assessments that every student can have access to any time of the day and monitor students learning by tracking activity uses and assessments. “Technology improves performance when the application adjusts for student ability and prior experience, and provides feedback to the student and teacher about student performance or progress with the application.” (Smith, Grace E. and Throne, Stephanie)  Maintaining communicated is the key to success and that is why I recommend this tool because teacher can stay communicated with students regarding any feedback on any activity or assessment they have completed. ISTE specified  that the use of technology resources can improve student's learning as it can collect and analyze data, interpret result and communicate with one another on their progress and what needs improvement.

No Red Ink: Is a learning tool that assist teachers differentiate instruction as how well students are understanding what is taught in class, to avoid any misconceptions by providing students with interesting topics they enjoy reading and writing about. This tool will help improve in the areas of grammar and writing skills. As ISTE Standards for students states that creative thinking constructs knowledge and develop innovative products and processes by using technology. No Red Ink is a great tool for teachers by assisting them on creating assignments and quizzes without having to do any grading, students also have unlimited access to help whenever they need it and best of all it helps students target all Common Core skills and teachers can track the growth potentials of students progress. That is why I will integrate this tool into my curriculum to be of huge assistance to students when working on writing a well productive paper, as it is indicated in the ISTE that teachers implement the use of technology to develop students skills and creativity.

Pros and Cons

            "Differentiated instruction is the principle of adjusting your lesson plans to target the individual learning styles of all students in classroom." (Hamilton, Samuel) The pros of using technology to differentiate instruction is that you can target every student at once, have more time to plan other lessons while students are doing their activities or assessments and it can maintain teachers more organized as students achievements or needing progress can be kept in the computer. "Technology has made it easier for teachers to impart knowledge to the students and for students to acquire it." (Sahakov, Roman) The cons of using technology to differentiate instruction its more overwhelming to teachers, as students learn at different paces and styles it brings teachers to have a load of work. Also having to spend more time with each student it limits teachers from getting stuff done in class and hard time keeping up with the schedule. 

Concluding Paragraph  
     Teachers are becoming aware of how important it is to help students gain the necessary skills to become successful through the way they take in information and understand instructions. That is why teachers are implementing technology into their curriculum to differentiate instruction in ways that students can comprehend. It's important for teachers to understand that everyone is different and learn in so many unique ways. There are a lot of resources available to aid teachers on helping students master the areas that they are lacking on and gain the knowledge that is needed to succeed.

References:

Bhaskar K, Santosh. "5 Online Tools for Differentiated Instruction and Assessment." EdTechReview, 2015. August 10, 2015. Retrieved from http://edtechreview.in/news/498-5-online-tools-for-differentiated-instruction-and-assessment

"Hands-On Learning." Hand 2 mind. ETA hands2mind, 2015. February 28, 2015. Retrieved from http://www.hand2mind.com/programs/hands-onlearning

Hamilton, Samuel. "Pros & Cons of Differentiated Instruction." eHow. Demond Media, 1999-2015. February 28, 2015. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/info_7974427_pros-cons-differentiated-instruction.html

"Pros and Cons of Differentiated Instruction." Asia-Pacific Economics Blog. Feb. 27, 2015. February 28, 2015. Retrieved from http://apecsec.org/pros-and-cons-of-differentiated-instruction/

Robb, Laura. "Differentiating Reading Instruction." Scholastic, 2015. February 28, 2015. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/what-differentiated-instruction

Sahakov, Roman. "2 Pros and 2 Cons to Education Technology" Edudemic Connecting Education & Technology. January 15, 2014. February 22, 2015. Retrieved from http://www.edudemic.com/education-technology-pros-cons/

Smith, Grace E. and Throne, Stephanie. "Differentiating Instruction with Technology in K-5th Classrooms." ISTE, 2007. February 28, 2015. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/docs/excerpts/DIFFK5-excerpt.pdf