Welcome to the second post in a series designed to support the use of technology for differentiated learning… in and beyond the PBL classroom. Before reading, please take a moment to subscribe by email or RSS and also give me a follow on Twitter at mjgormans. I promise you will find some great information coming your way in the posts that follow…So Sign up now and please pass this on with a retweet. – Mike Gorman (https://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/)
Booking Info – It is time to think about your school or conference needs. Are you looking for a practical and affordable professional development workshop for your school or conference? I have traveled the country delivering PD relating to technology integration, PBL, STEM, Digital Literacy, and the 4 C’s. I have delivered hundreds of workshops and presentations. Check out my Booking Page. Please contact me soon if you have an interest. I am now booked through the end of March, and the 2016 calendar is beginning to fill. In fact, it might be time to begin thinking about next spring, summer, and fall! Look for contact information at the Booking Site.
Part 2: Tech Resources and Tools for Differentiated Learning … More Reading
It was wonderful to see all the people who visited the first post in this series. I have a link here in case you missed it. You will find five wonderful resources to help bring DI to your students’ reading. I thought before going on to some differentiated writing ideas, you may like to see five more reading sites. While there are instructional and management techniques a teacher should use when providing reading at different levels in the classroom, that is not the emphasis of this post. What I am attempting to do is provide the tools and resources for these readings. Once these are found, it is important to follow best practices put forth by the district or school literacy coordinator regarding implementation. Here are five more of my very favorite DI reading sites. I hope you enjoy them also!
- For The Teacher: Reading – This website was started in 2012 and comes from some amazing teachers in the state of Idaho. It contains outstanding reading lessons that use content area concepts. One particular concept is provided at different reading levels. This is perfect for bringing every child to the learning activity regardless of their reading skill. The focus begins with a teacher choosing a reading skill they wish to facilitate. The next step is to choose a reading article, which comes in three reading levels. The article is used to teach and reinforce the skill. It is a wonderful site that focuses on important reading skills while providing student an engaging article at their reading level.
- Front Row – At this website a teacher will find a collection of DI activities in both math and language arts. The website states, “By addressing student weaknesses and building off strengths, Front Row is designed to increase confidence and promote growth in ALL students, regardless of their ability level”. Front Row’s independent math practice program is completely free for teachers. There are also a number of free inquiry based lessons at various grade levels for teachers. Teachers also have access to 5 free ELA articles per month to assign to their students. There is also a paid section of the site you may wish to explore.
- Books that Grow – Discover this wonderful reading tool that provides leveled reading books for students. The whole class can engage in discussions and activities regardless of their reading level. While it was free at one time, it is now a paid application that is worth a look. It is included here because the cost is quite reasonable for a classroom or school for the year. The “Books That Grow” library contains a mixture of classic fiction, primary source documents, myths and folktales, biographies, original science and history books. The books are even accompanied by Teacher Guides, which give teachers important background and teaching tips for each piece.
- Readworks – Make sure you take your time when you visit this amazing collection of resources. I am sure you will walk away with countless possibilities for classroom learning. This site provides “Paired Text” possibilities; which is the reading of two or more texts on a related topic, theme, or story element. It is a practice that can help improve a student’s reading comprehension. As you might know, stamina is also critical to becoming a strong reader. The idea of stamina can be built by practicing reading and listening to texts of increasing length. Readworks has created a collection of longer passages at a range of levels to help build your students’ stamina. There are also multi genre novel study units to engage students. Make sure you take note of the leveled reading passages in multiple content areas that even include question sets.
- Simple English Wikipedia – You may know about Wikipedia but are you aware of Simple English Wikipedia? This is a wonderful site that includes articles for children and adults who are learning English, or just want the regular Wikipedia article broken down in a more basic structure and vocabulary. At the present time there are 116,769 articles on the Simple English Wikipedia site. All of the pages are free to use. They have all been published under both the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 and the GNU Free Documentation License. It may provide your students a new avenue to understand some of those more difficult concepts found in a Wikipedia article.
Readings
Explore these articles that I found through extensive research while reflecting on differentiated instruction in the classroom. You will find ideas from some amazing authors and organizations. Please take a moment to enjoy these articles filled with even more possibilities!
- Make literacy a Focus of PBL …. Suzie Boss (Edutopia)
- News Literacy: Critical Thinking Skills for the 21 Century … Peter Adams (Edutopia)
Thanks for joining me on this wonderful journey of 21st century possibilities. Join me in future weeks as together we continue this adventure in differentiated learning through technology. Throughout the year also explore other posts devoted to the Flipped and Blended Learning, Project Based Learning, Assessing 21st century skills, PBL, STEM, technology integration, web resources, and digital literacy. I enjoy learning from all of you. Also remember to subscribe to this blog by RSS or email and follow me on twitter at mjgormans. I also appreciate your sharing of this post and any retweets. Keep up the amazing work, have a great week, and enjoy this wonderful new year. Welcome to the Future! – Mike Gorman
Booking Info – Are you looking for a practical and affordable professional development workshop for your school or conference? I have traveled the country delivering PD relating to technology integration, PBL, STEM, Digital Literacy, and the 4 C’s. I have done 100’s of workshops and presentations. Check out my Booking Page… Dates are going fast, with time up to and including March 2016 now filled. It’s not too early to begin thing about next spring, summer and fall! Look for contact information at the Booking Site.
21 st Century Educational Technology and Learning 