STUDENT CENTERED/DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION 1

Student Centered and/or Differentiated Instruction

Nicholas Kowalski

Regent University

In partial fulfillment of UED 495 Field Experience ePortfolio, Fall 2018

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Introduction

Instruction is the primary thing that often comes to mind when one thinks about

teaching or education in general, and while it is certainly not everything (as the other

papers on these topics will attest to), it is certainly a primary responsibility of a teacher to

provide instruction to students. Student-centered instruction specifically, is when

instruction is based not on the instructor (such as lecture) but rather through student lead

exploration. This is not to say that lectures and other instructor-centered instruction is

bad, rather it simply should not be the entire basis of instruction. Differentiated

instruction is crucial as well. Not all students learn in the same way or at the same rate,

and not all students start out with the same level of skills or knowledge. This is where

instructors must differentiate their lessons in order to adapt to these students.

Rationale

The first artifact that I have is a lesson plan covering the impacts of mid to late

19th century western migration on Native Americans. The lesson broke students up into

groups to investigate a specific person or event and answer basic questions about who

this person is; mainly when did they live, what did they do to support Native Americans

and how did their actions influence the lives of Native Americans; for events it would be,

when was it? what happened, and how did this influence the lives of Native Americans.

They would do research on the Internet trying to answer these basic questions and share

their answers with their partners. Afterwards students would present their findings and

then the instructor would provide supplementary information and tie the various topics

together. This is clearly student-centered, the whole concept of exploring the internet and

discovering this information in a guided environment is a wholly student-centered

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concept. It is also differentiated in that it provides various ways for students to learn and

groups in which students can provide their strengths to the group while at the same time

coping fro their weaknesses.

The second artifact is a lesson that I have from AP US History. This lesson is a

hybrid of lecture, discussion, and student-led document investigation and analysis.

Students would learn essential background information from the teacher through lecture

relating to the concept of manifest destiny and American territorial expansion during the

early to mid-19th century. This has elements of student led instruction in that it promotes

students to dive into these document head-first and provides them with questions that will

help them to truly analyze and contextualize these documents on a deeper level. It is

differentiated in that it uses videos, lecture, readings, and discussions in order to complete

the necessary instruction. This helps to differentiate between students with different

learning needs. It also asks for constant feedback from students especially when it comes

to thesis creation.

Reflection

Student-Centered instruction is something that we have been taught throughout

our education journey. It is a massive power shift in the classroom and is, quite honestly,

a model that is more conducive to teaching students the values of our democracy; after

all, these students are budding members of their communities and have to learn how to

take responsibility for their learning. This starts with the teacher giving up on the old

authoritarian ideas for the classroom, and start to give some of that power to students

(McCarthy, 2015). After that there are quite a few strategies for implementing student-

centered instruction into the classroom. This includes strategies as simple and essential as
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discussion and collaborative leanring to more creative designs such as brainstorming

exercises, and presentation creation (Teach Thought, 2017). Democratic ideals stem from

Chriatian egalitarian thinking. These ideas of equality have shifted the ideas of a

inhernetly superior ruler that is in charge of lessers, to people that are created as equally

loved children of God. This is reflected in the classroom. Students are not things that

should be ordered about, or forced to conform to our ideas of perfection, but rather fellow

brother and sisters in Christ that need guidance and help from someone with more

experience.

Differentiation is something that is inhernt in the Christian faith. No two people

are the same. Every single person has a different purpose and path to walk in life. It’s our

role as Chriastian educators to realize this, understand the magnitude of this challenge,

and address it in the classroom. Differentiating is also something that I have been taught

in theory over and over again in school, however it’s practical uses only made sense to

me after actually getting into the classroom. Making sure that students have not only

instruction that is designed to meet the needs of learners with different learning styles

and base knowlede, but also making sure that there are constant checks on how well

students are mastering these skills, and understandings (Robb). These things are essential

for creating effective classrooms.

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References

McCarthy, J. (2015, September 9). Student-Centered Learning: It Starts with the

Teacher. Retrieved November 7, 2018, from edutopia.org:

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/student-centered-learning-starts-with-teacher-john-

mccarthy

Robb, L. (n.d.). What is Differentiated Instruction. Retrieved November 7, 2018, from

Scholastic: https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/what-

differentiated-instruction/

Teach Thought. (2017, November 14). 28 Student-Centered Instructional Strategies.

Retrieved November 7, 2018, from teachthought.com:

https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/28-student-centered-instructional-

strategies/