Video: Differentiated Writing
This video is an example of differentiated writing activities in a Foundation-Year 1 classroom. The learning area is Science, and the students have been learning what living things are. They have also learned the scientific term ‘organisms’ as well as studying pollinators in particular.
This video shows a Year 1 student writing the definition of living things on her white board. White boards are often used in this class because they are lower risk than writing on paper. It is easier to edit. In the background, you can hear the teacher negotiating the same sentence with a group of students who are not yet ready to write independently. These two levels of scaffolding are examples of how she differentiates for different abilities and developmental levels in her class, while all are involved in the same activity.
Key Messages
- Notice how this student is ready for independent writing. She can spell the words she is expected to write, demonstrates word concept with her finger spacing, and has good control of handwriting.
- Notice the high level of teacher talk in the background as the teacher scaffolds a lower ability group, negotiating the words they are going to use. These students also wrote on white boards, with the teacher following along behind them so that they could check their spelling. She didn’t scribe so that they could just copy.