New York City is the largest school system in the country with 1,800 schools. It is a diverse school system where students represent diverse identities (racial, ethnic, gender, linguistic), lived experiences and socioeconomic classes. They speak different languages at home and have varying immigration statuses. There is diversity of gender, gender expression and sexual orientation. Many students have special needs. It is common to have students that represent various special populations as well as students from diverse cultural backgrounds. The research is clear that a one-size-fits-all approach to learning is not effective.
This course seeks to aid the NYC public schools in their goal of providing equitable and excellent education for all students (Equity and Excellence for All: Diversity in New York City Public Schools) and is guided by the essential question “How can we create powerful learning experiences to meet the wide range of student needs in the 21st century classroom?” This course presents differentiation as a solution for answering this essential question and meeting the needs of a diverse student base.
This course will provide educators with the tools to necessary to implement differentiation effectively in their classroom by being able to identify and meet the needs of all students. It provides tips and downloadable resources that educators can start implementing immediately along with two authentic tasks (designing Instruction for the 7 learning styles and crafting performance-based tasks) and a final project (a comprehensive DI lesson plan) that ask ASPDP teachers to think deeply about the subject matter and apply it to their students in meaningful ways.
NYC DOE ASPDP teachers will be able to:
At the end of this course, the learner will be able to:
Differentiating Instruction in the 21st Century Classroom
