Successful Strategies for Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners
By Margaret Bowerman
Kyrene Del Milenio School, Arizona
May 2005 - Feature
One of the greatest challenges teachers face is effectively reaching a roomful of students with
varying abilities and learning styles on a daily basis. When I completed my special education
certification 27 years ago, I knew I’d be constantly working to develop a curriculum rich enough for
all students. Fortunately, I’ve found that technology is the perfect tool for providing learners of all
abilities the opportunity to achieve.
In my third-grade class of 25 students, I have seven students with special needs, two identified as
gifted and 16 considered typical. The technology I use for planning, instruction and assessment
ensures that they are all engaged learners. The techniques I use to facilitate my students’ success
include a classroom structured around learning centers and small-group work, integration of a
variety of technology tools, and assessment organized around the multiple intelligences.
I have been using technology tools since the early ’80s, but it wasn’t until a 1999 Project Venture
grant that I could put a critical mass of technology tools to work in my classroom and see what my
students and I were capable of doing. The grant provided five additional computers (adding to an
existing four), a color printer and a projector for the class. Then in the summer of 2000, I was one
of the first U.S. teachers to complete an innovative professional development program called Intel
Teach to the Future, which focuses on effectively integrating technology into existing curriculum. A
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant from this program gave me funding to provide additional
tools for my classroom. These resources, tools and techniques put me on a path to reach all of my
students with enriching experiences.
Arranging the resources in my technology-rich classroom required me to come up with a layout that
was not only convenient, but also allowed me to adequately monitor learning as well as the safe
and healthy use of technology. I have three locations in my room where I have deliberately placed
these resources. Along one wall is a bank of six computers that students use primarily for partner
and center work. Against the opposite wall is a computer workstation connected to a SMART Board
interactive whiteboard, a projection system, VCR, microscope, webcam and FlexCam. The monitor
at the workstation, which is connected to the interactive whiteboard, is visible to me at all times
so that I can quickly evaluate students’ work and monitor their behavior. The center of the room
has a workstation, projection system, speaker and microscope that I use for presentations and
student sharing. I also have an additional computer, laptop and overhead projector available at
this location. This structure makes the technology available without being overwhelming, while the
layout allows for both safety and convenience in terms of technology access and use.
Developing Effective Lessons
One of the early mistakes I made using technology was thinking that it would automatically engage
all of my students. I now know that just because something is new doesn’t mean it will match a
particular student’s learning style; adding a technology-based activity doesn’t necessarily improve
learning either. The Intel Teach to the Future program helped me understand which technologyrich activities would be most effective. The program uses a backward-design approach that begins
by asking essential questions to get at the heart of what students need to learn, as well as what
skills they need to acquire and demonstrate. Once I determined what lessons would meet our
learning objectives and state standards, I could then decide when and where the addition of
technology would be most appropriate.
This philosophy helped me focus my instruction. I found that I had many activities for my students,
but they were not all necessarily lessons. The result was a concept I call “Jobs and Choices,”
wherein students understand which activities are the jobs they must perform to master the
material, and which are elective choices that enable them to demonstrate their mastery of a skill
or key concept.
One example is a math lesson using the “Place Value Ticket,” which is a list of activities that
includes exercises from our text and games promoting and supporting our concepts. It includes four
jobs that must be completed by the end of the week, and a list of six choices from which students
must select two. Technology is used as a tool in several of the activities, including as part of
interactive whiteboard exercises and Web-based games. By distinguishing between jobs and
choices, I ensure my students are mastering their requirements while providing opportunities for
alternative learning.
The addition of technology allows me to easily tailor lessons for the different levels of students —
simplifying or adding complexity to a ticket depending on the individual learner. With a Microsoft
PowerPoint activity, for instance, I may create a fill-in-the-blank template for those at a lower
level versus higher-level students who would get less direction. For example, in a unit on
geometry, one of the targets third-graders learn is to develop definitions of geometric terms from
measuring, constructing, and classifying models and figures. The jobs include looking up definitions
of key terms in a math resource book, playing a matching game with definitions and pictures, and
writing a description of a geometric shape after looking at a picture of that shape. The choices for
demonstrating this target include creating information (index) cards for each definition, using
modeling clay to construct 3-D shapes, creating a poster in Microsoft Publisher or Word that
includes definitions and a drawing, or creating a PowerPoint slide show with a key term and
graphic representation on each slide.
For students who need more support in learning the skill, I can provide PowerPoint tutorials,
examples of other students’ work and guided practice of the skill. If the student needs assistance
in demonstrating mastery of the skill, I can also provide a slide-show template or publication from
which they can get the information or a visual model. This technology allows for more or less
structure depending on the students’ skill levels.
Assembling Work Groups
In planning my lessons and group work, I begin with an assessment of what my students already
know. Using technology as a productivity tool myself, I create a spreadsheet of skills to be
mastered by each student. I can then sort by skill to break students into small work groups at
learning centers around the classroom. In math, for instance, I can easily determine who has
mastered rounding to the tenths place, who is ready to move on to the next assignment, and who
needs to continue the rounding activities for reinforcement. Having a fast, easy way to group my
students by skill means more time can be spent on developing actual lessons. Skill-sorts let me set
up an optimal number of learning centers with the right mix of activities to keep the range of
students on task and progressing.
Students are often paired or grouped in threes with a mix of skills to complete a project. Each
student has a lead responsibility, and every student is accountable to one another. Roles vary so
that each student has the opportunity to try new things. Often, natural talents emerge and
students of all levels find roles in which they can contribute something of value to the group. In
fact, one autistic student has become the class expert on adding graphics, transitions, builds and
sound to PowerPoint presentations.
As students work at the learning centers, I move around the room posing questions and getting to
know who still needs to work on a particular skill. There are also times when everyone comes
together and students take turns demonstrating what they’ve learned. The presenters take pride in
sharing, while the other students learn from hearing their classmates’ explanations. One student
who experiences language delays has been able to use the interactive whiteboard to highlight
examples of parallel and intersecting lines seen in geometric shapes. Because the terms are listed
on the board along with the examples, the child is able to verbally and physically identify the types
of lines in the shapes.
I have had my more advanced students prepare tutorials on reducing fractions for learners who
were just beginning to understand this math concept. These students first developed a storyboard
of the steps for accurately reducing fractions. Then they worked together to determine what
details they missed or needed to add and what wording to use. They created the PowerPoint file
and gathered feedback from small groups of peers to ensure they were stating the steps clearly and
using the program’s features appropriately. Even for advanced students, going through a smallgroup peer-review process prior to presenting to the whole class reduces their anxiety and builds
confidence in their presentation skills. I’ve also repeated this process with other groups to develop
tutorials for math and reading.
Assessing Diverse Learners
My mix of special-needs and gifted students may not constitute a typical classroom, but even socalled “typical” students will challenge a teacher with various learning styles. To meet this
challenge, I try to assess my students in as many different ways as I can; not just through a written
report or presentation.
Children perform well when they can learn and express themselves in a number of different ways.
As a result, the “show what you know” paradigm has become a cornerstone of my teaching.
Drawing on the multiple intelligences, students help determine what they must do to demonstrate
their knowledge and mastery of a skill, and then choose among the criteria of which activities are
best suited for them. For example, during a unit on desert plants and animals, they have four
categories from which to choose at least one activity each:
1. They may use words — writing paragraphs about the similarities and differences between
two animals;
2. They may use pictures and numbers - graphing the temperature over a week’s time;
3. They may use music and their bodies - writing a song about the ecosystem and using motions
to help us learn; or
4. They may use their friends and self to perform a play.
I often use a rubric to evaluate each activity, particularly those that are technology-based.
Through the Intel Teach to the Future program, I began refining rubrics as an assessment tool. This
helped me learn to look at the content of an assignment separate from the process, and then judge
the quality of each. For instance, the rubric for a PowerPoint presentation would include
evaluations of the content itself (e.g., the number of facts included), the slide layout (e.g., the
readability of the text and use of graphics), the length of the project, transitions between slides,
and the use of proper writing conventions. I now work with my students to define the rubrics; those
involved in developing the rubric tend to be more successful.
Technology is not an isolated tool or experience for my students. As I plan and deliver instruction, I
use every opportunity and tool available to make learning more meaningful. Because of the indepth training I’ve received and the allocation of materials I have, my choices for delivery of
instruction and assessment of skills for my students continue to expand.
San Jose, Calif.-based freelance education writer Sandra Duncan co-wrote this article with Ms.
Bowerman.
http://www.thejournal.com/magazine/vault/A5356.cfm