Differentiated Instruction with cooperative approach

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Albert Einstein

Ami Ladhawala, a teacher and an administrator in India and the USA with special focus on Math and Reading. She holds 20 years of rich experience, teaching students from various culture and background in India and the USA. Currently, she is working on her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction, focusing on trauma-sensitive care. Her area of interest is to create awareness among in-service and pre-service teachers regarding differentiated instruction and co-operative learning for elementary students. She is passionate about helping teachers incorporating trauma sensitive approach, differentiated instruction, and collaborative teaching style. On the 20th of July, Ms Ami conducted a workshop at Anand Niketan Satellite Campus for Elementary Teachers [ K to 6th grade] of different branches of the school.

The topic was “Differentiated Instruction with cooperative approach”.

According to her, if one looks inside almost any classroom today one can see a mirror of the country; multiple cultures, multiple intellect, advanced learning, different readiness and interest. Children with vast reservoirs of background have the right to expect the teaching which will enhance their learning. It’s time to move away from “ One class fits all”. Hence the need for Cooperative Teaching Approach.

Cooperative learning is a successful teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different ability levels, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject. Each member of a team is responsible, not only for learning what is taught, but also for helping his or her teammates learn—thus creating an atmosphere of achievement.

The workshop aimed to : Recognize the importance of differentiated instruction, Recognize the importance of cooperative learning approach, develop skills to identify students’ ability level, design instruction/content (math or reading) aligned with student’s performance level and state standards, deliver instruction using cooperative teaching approach and Learn to assess students using differentiated assessment process (math or reading). The teachers benefited greatly from the workshop