ERIC Number: EJ854842
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1550-1175
Multi-Age Made Me Do It: A Teacher Tackles Differentiation in Math Instruction
Kobelin, Melissa
Schools: Studies in Education, v6 n1 p10-22 Spr 2009
This article describes one teacher's efforts at creating a differentiated mathematics program in her multi-age first- and second-grade classroom. The author describes challenges encountered and successes met in this process, as well as the structures she uses to meet a variety of student abilities, including open-ended problem-solving tasks, tiered tasks, and spiraling-scaffolded tasks. Through these structures, she is able to offer students opportunities for problem-solving, development of fact fluency, and direct instruction in algorithms. Although the author acknowledges that greater differentiation is expected in multi-age settings, she makes the case that traditional graded classrooms could and should make use of a differentiated approach, suggesting that math curriculum guides should be developed to help teachers make differentiated programs a reality.
Descriptors: Problem Solving, Curriculum Guides, Teachers, Mathematics Instruction, Individualized Instruction, Grade 1, Grade 2, Elementary School Students, Program Implementation, Scaffolding (Teaching Technique), Teaching Methods, Age Differences, Mathematics Curriculum
University of Chicago Press. Journals Division, P.O. Box 37005, Chicago, IL 60637. Tel: 877-705-1878; Tel: 773-753-3347; Fax: 877-705-1879; Fax: 773-753-0811; e-mail: subscriptions@press.uchicago.edu; Web site: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Education; Grade 1; Grade 2
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A