Running Head: STUDENT-CENTERED AND DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION

Student-Centered and Differentiated Instruction

Jennifer King
Regent University

In partial fulfillment of UED 495 Field Experience ePortfolio, Spring 2015

STUDENT-CENTERED AND DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION

Introduction
As I look around the classroom I see students expressing themselves in different ways,
one girl is always humming to herself while another student quietly dances to hidden rhythms,
while other students bury themselves in books, several girls fill notebooks with sketches, and
others pass notes while others are constantly talking. While these actions disrupt classroom
instruction, they demonstrate the students unique interests and abilities. It is important to create
a learning experience that will reach each of them. Differentiation is a method that allows
teachers to reach students who are on different levels and focus their instruction on the students.
Rationale
The two artifacts above reflect my ability to differentiate for students needs and provide
student-centered instruction. The first artifact (1) is a photograph of three of the ways I used to
introduce students to the concept of the hundredth place in decimals. The second artifact (2) is a
lesson plan that I developed that is student-centered. Together these demonstrate my ability to
differentiate my instruction to meet the different learning needs of my students and the lesson
plan shows that I am focused on the students when designing my lessons.
Artifact 1 shows the different ways I used to teach a fourth grade class the hundredth
place in decimals. In the lesson I first introduced the hundredth place. Then in order to illustrate
it for the visual and kinesthetic learners, I used the base 10 blocks where the hundreds flat
represented one whole number and the tens rod represented one tenth and a unit represented a
hundredth. This allowed the students to experience decimals visually and with their hands. I also
used picture representation with an array of a hundred squares that represented a whole, and then
colored in the squares to show how many hundredths a decimal represented. This allowed the
visual learners to experience decimals. Finally, the students played a game using cards to create

STUDENT-CENTERED AND DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION

decimals on a game board with the five place values of hundreds, tens, ones, tenths, and
hundredths. The students had to place their cards in the correct place values to create different
decimals. This activity reached the kinesthetic and interpersonal learners while providing all
students with practice representing decimals. I chose this picture because it shows how I
combine different activities within my lessons to allow many different learning styles interact
with the concept. The three methods illustrated in the picture allowed me to reach four different
learning styles in one lesson.
The lesson plan, artifact 2, represents my ability to center instruction around the students.
In this lesson I introduced the concept of authors purpose to a fourth grade class. The students
were engaged throughout the lesson. At the beginning of the lesson I engage the students through
reading a story and then use the story as a bridge to introducing authors purpose. Then after I
explain what authors purpose means, I allowed the students to have experience identifying the
authors purpose in short excerpts in pairs. Then I gave the students practice in identifying
textual support for the authors purpose they identified. I also provide support for students with a
lower reading level. There is a lot of reading included in this lesson plan, so during the lesson I
read each selection aloud to keep all the students on the same pace and allow the students on a
lower reading level stay involved. Each component of this lesson is intentionally centered on the
students interaction with the material and provides them with experiences with authors purpose
that allows them to become acquainted with the content and demonstrates student-centered
instruction.
Reflection
All of my professors in the Teacher Education Program at Regent University stressed
differentiation and student-centered instruction and it is important to me to center my instruction

STUDENT-CENTERED AND DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION

on the students. Differentiation allows teachers to reach students with different learning styles
and needs (Tomlinson & Allen, 2000). Differentiation sets the stage for student-centered
instruction in whole group and small group settings. These artifacts helped engage my students
in the lesson. In artifact 1, the students who would not have understood the concept of decimals
when I wrote it on the board were able to experience decimals in different ways.
Wiggins and McTighe (2005) point out that in order to reach diverse learners, teachers
should design instruction to engage each student through hands-on, active, meaningful
experiences so all the students have a meaningful experience (p. 195). Their thoughts remind me
that the focus of each lesson is the engagement of the student and this occurs when instruction is
focused on the students and differentiated to meet the variety of needs in the classroom. Not all
students will find every activity meaningful, but if the lesson contains several different methods
of instruction or meaningful activities, more students will have a meaningful experience.
Listening to the skilled direction of my cooperating teacher and keeping the needs of the student
in mind allow me to meet the diverse learning needs of the students.
It is important to me to differentiate and center my instruction on the students. Not only is
it effective, there are examples of it in scripture. In 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 Paul explains how he
has become all things to all people so that by all possible means [he] might save some (NIV).
Paul was dedicated to spreading the Gospel that he presented his message in such a way that his
audience would understand. Paul was a messenger; he realized that conveying the message to
others was more important than the way he delivered it. In the classroom, my job is to present the
material in a way that the students will understand. I need to present the lesson in a way all have
a chance to understand the lesson. I need to provide each student with a chance to engage with
the material and reach a deeper understanding of how the world works.

STUDENT-CENTERED AND DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION

References
Tomlinson, C. A., & Allen, S. D. (2000). Leadership for differentiating schools & classrooms.
Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design, (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson.