Professional Experience 4 Professional Inquiry Project EDUC 4206

Report
Focus
The overall focus of my Professional Inquiry Project (PIP) was using differentiated teaching
approaches to ensure all students needs were met and all students were engaged. This was
in relation to the AITSL (2017) Standard 1.5 which is to ‘differentiate teaching to meet the
specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities’.
Therefore, my inquiry question was: How will I use a differentiated approach to teaching
when planning and implementing to ensure the specific learning needs of all students are
met and to gain maximum student engagement?

Teaching behaviour and curriculum area focus

It was important for me to inquire with this focus as I needed to ensure that all the students’
needs were met in the one classroom. From my mentor teacher discussion for a review on
my teaching in Professional Experience 3 I understood the necessity to complete my inquiry
into this area of my teaching. The purpose of this focus was to improve my teaching quality
to the best of my ability; to determine how differentiated teaching affects student’s
achievement in the classroom; and to help students to learn effectively with differentiated
instruction through engagement. Differentiation is important as different students learn in
different ways and that by increasing the variety and types of instructional activities provided
in the class, teachers can ensure that students are provided with the best opportunity to
learn the content, increase student engagement and academic achievement (Bender 2013).
In addition to explaining how teachers could differentiated their instruction, Dr. Tomlinson
drew from the work of Dr. Howard Gardner, and his theory of Multiple Intelligences as a
basis for understanding how students might need to learn difficult content different ways
(Bender 2013; Tomlinson 2014).
From discussions with my mentor in Professional Experience 4 we were able to decide upon
the inquiry being completed in the curriculum area of Mathematics with a focus on exploring
number concepts. I planned to emphasise my differentiated teaching when introducing and
setting learning experiences or tasks. Differentiated teaching in Mathematics ensures that
children of all backgrounds stand a better chance of reaching their potential, achieving at
high levels, and becoming successful (Smutny & Von 2010).
For differentiation to be effective, the teacher needs to know where each student is on their
learning journey and how they can deliver lessons at varying levels of difficulty based on the
ability, interests and needs of each student (Tomlinson & Moon 2013). Differentiation can be
defined as a way of teaching in which teachers modify curriculum, teaching methods,
resources, learning activities, and student products to address the needs of individual
students to maximize the learning opportunity for each student in the classroom (Tomlinson
2014).

Context
The placement site was a rural area school. It consisted of a Junior School (R-3), Middle
School and Senior School. In total there were approximately 193 students. The Junior
School is made up of 4 classes, two of which have composite year levels. The class I
worked in was a combined year 1/2 class with an enrolment of 25 students. A number of

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these students were on speech programs and some with verified specific learning difficulties
(XXX Area School website).
The school has implemented the Teaching for Effective Learning pedagogy which includes
strategies to engage and involve students. Generally, the emphasis is placed on the student,
their learning style and their needs.

Design and data collection

To begin with I intended to collect data in the curriculum area of Maths for differentiated
teaching and learning twice a week. I did not feel this was able to happen with so much else
going on in the classroom. Consequently, I did not get as much data to analyse but I felt it
was sufficient in a classroom environment. Throughout the inquiry process I continued to
collect data once each week, mostly on Fridays as I introduced lessons in Maths.
The data collection methods I used were mentor observations, personal journals, and
student feedback sheets for student engagement and feedback on my teaching. Through
using a triangulation of techniques, it enabled my data to be authentic and valid (Grundy
1995, p.21). I intended to collect this data on my own practice and also its impact on student
learning.
The first method I used was mentor teacher feedback. This was focused on my mentor
making judgements about my personal teaching practice using a differentiated approach and
the student’s engagement levels. This was completed in the afternoon once I had taught the
lesson.
To collect data from the students there was a short feedback sheet with 10 questions. These
questions focused on the key engagement developments of the students during the lesson
including affective, behavioural and cognitive; also, their feedback on my teaching abilities
for the lesson they were involved in.
The last method was a personal journal where I was able to reflect upon the quality of my
differentiated teaching practice, interactions with students and the mentor feedback I was
given. This enabled me to understand how I could improve my practice towards an approach
to pedagogical practices using differentiated teaching.
All of the approaches for data collection were used without being modified as they were able
to provide the results I needed to improve my teaching practices and further planning
(Grundy 1995, p.15).

Data results and analysis

The results showed a focus on both the progression of my teaching through improved
teaching practice and the student’s engagement levels in the classroom having a positive
impact on their learning (Roy 2015, pp 109). I discovered how beneficial differentiated
teaching is for student learning. I gained results both quantitively through statistics of the
student feedback results; and qualitatively through comments from my journal and the
feedback from my mentor to ensure they could be validated.
Five differentiated teaching approaches were demonstrated as the Mathematics
task/experience was introduced. The first approach was using a different learning
environment such as the gym and learning groups as the process were used. This included

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using the students’ strengths, weaknesses and abilities to work in organised groups for peer
support. ‘The class describe this as Ying and Yang as they fit together perfectly, and the
students understood that this would enable less capable students to strengthen in this area
of learning’ (see appendix 1). This approach enabled students to develop ‘teamwork and
leadership skills, confidence in physical tasks, and encouragement towards each other’ (see
appendix 2). Therefore, this resulted in a 91% overall engagement of students for this
differentiated approach. It also displayed that 70% of the students had positive faces for my
teaching practices and 78% thought the lesson was interesting (see appendix 3).
The next approach trialled was an open-ended task that was set in 3 levels of development
for the learners to choose their own. This enabled students to have ‘opportunities for self-
extension, creativity, problem solving and teamwork with others’ (see appendix 4). Using the
3 levels of development meant students could ‘choose their own level of learning to succeed’
(see appendix 5). This resulted in a positive response to the lesson and a boost in
confidence to ‘have a go’ in their learning.
After that I used a small group target meeting to differentiate the teaching and learning. This
approach allowed the students who understood the task to complete it independently while
the students who didn’t understand to stay in a small group on the floor to complete it
together. My mentor teacher commented (see appendix 6) that he could ‘see their
understanding of the concepts evolve as they began to apply learning and reasoning’. ‘Using
this approach, I felt I could better cater for the students who needed one-on-one support
whereas the others could complete individually. This also enabled some students in the
small group to become leaders and teach the others how they understood the task’ (see
appendix 7). This resulted in 91% of the students feeling positive about the lesson and 86%
putting smiley faces for my teaching practice (see appendix 3).
Following that I attempted to incorporate hands on resources, digital learning and
scaffolding. My mentor teacher commented (see appendix 8) on how well the lesson was
introduced using ‘visual learning through the use of a PowerPoint presentation, how hands
on manipulation was used to ensure engagement of students was kept and, scaffolding
using a proforma’. He also added to the comments that the ‘students were engaged
throughout the lesson’ which links to 84% of the students agreeing that they were involved in
the lesson and enjoying the lesson. It also displayed results of 95% of students responding
that the lesson was made interesting (see appendix 3).
The last approach I used was a challenge task that ensured some success opportunities for
all students as there was access for different entries of learners with varying abilities. This
was achieved as my mentor teacher noted that the learning was beneficial as there were
‘success opportunities for most students’ (see appendix 9). Successful experiences or tasks
such as this in learning mathematics results in self-confidence in students. Therefore, it
supports students to have a positive attitude towards the learning as they are ‘more
motivated to complete tasks’ (see appendix 10). 89% of the students also commented that
they learnt something during the lesson as well (see appendix 3).
These results enabled me to understand the results clearly as majority of the mentor
feedback was positive with only minor changes to practice and the student feedback from
the lessons were all above 50% positive responses meaning that the differentiation
approaches were successful in meeting the individual needs of students and keeping
students engaged in the classroom.

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Reflection
As a future teacher I will continue the practices including differentiated teaching as there are
many benefits to student learning. I will also ensure there is time for reflection at the end of
sessions or tasks, so students can share their learning as this supports the lower learners to
understand strategies from other students. I also understand the importance of continually
positively impacting students’ engagement with the math content, and ultimately student
achievement. I discovered insights into how vital this approach to teaching and learning is in
the classroom to ensure all students needs are met and their motivation and engagement to
learning is constant throughout the teaching of Mathematics.
I have gained more strategies for this approach to teaching and understand that each
differentiated approach may have worked for this group of students but may not in another
classroom. It is about trying with your cohort and discovering what works for them and the
learners within it.
I now have a better understanding of differentiation within the classroom and how this leads
to meeting the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities. From this
inquiry, I also have gained many new teaching strategies when using the differentiation
instruction and understand how these approaches meet the needs of all students and
engage them in their own learning.

Conclusion
The main outcome is, I now understand and can incorporate differentiated teaching into my
practice to improve student learning outcomes for everyone. Differentiated approaches to
teaching enable all students to reach goals in their own learning plans. Students can
understand that there are many ways to learn and when connecting experiences to different
contexts the learning becomes more meaningful and they become more engaged in their
learning therefore, achieve more success.

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References:
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) 2017, Australian
Professional Standards for Teaching, viewed 21 September 2018,
<https://www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/standards>.
Bender, W. N. 2013, Differentiated Mathematics Instruction, K–8: Common Core
Mathematics in the 21st Century Classroom, SAGE, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Grundy, S 1995, Action Research as Professional Development, Innovative Links Project,
Western Australia, Murdoch.
Roy, K 2015, Effective Teaching Strategies: Lessons from research and practice, Chapter 5:
Becoming a reflective teacher, Cengage, Melbourne.
Smutny, JF & Von, SE 2010, Differentiating for the young child teaching strategies across
the content areas, preK-3, 2nd edn, Corwin, Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Tomlinson, C.A 2014, Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners,
Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2d edition ASCD, Alexandria.
Tomlinson, CA & Moon TR 2013, Assessment and student success in a differentiated
classroom, ASCD, Alexandria, VA, ch. 1.
XXX Area School, School website, Government of South Australia, Department for
Education, viewed 21 September 2018, <http://www.XXXX.sa.edu.au/>.

Appendices:
Appendix 1: Task 1 Personal Journal

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Appendix 2: Task 1 Mentor feedback

Appendix 3: Student feedback results

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Appendix 4: Task 2 Mentor feedback

Appendix 5: Task 2 Personal Journal

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Appendix 6: Task 3 Mentor feedback

Appendix 7: Task 3 Personal Journal

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Appendix 8: Task 4 Mentor feedback

Appendix 9: Task 5 Mentor feedback

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Appendix 10: Task 5 Personal Journal

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