IL&FS Focus

Differentiated teaching basicsVasanthi VasudevThere‚s an ancient saw which says that if you have to sing to the cow to milk it, do it; if you have to dance to coax the cow, just do it. Sama dhana bedha dandam ‚ a famous Sanskrit adage, reiterates this wisdom: do whatever it takes to achieve important objectives.This principle underpins the relatively recent psychopedagogic concept of differentiated teaching.”Let no child be left behind,” says Carol Tomlinson, an expert on differentiated teaching who has done pathbreaking research to demonstrate the efficacy of this concept. She has successfully developed this pedagogy to motivate students to learn through warm and friendly methodologies based on empathy and respect for individualism in learning.Differentiated teaching derives further legitimacy when viewed through the lens of Howard Gardner‚s multiple intelligences theory, which defines human intelligence as a collection of at least nine abilities or adaptive skills. It explains individual differences in the context of every individual having differing degrees and measures of the nine dimensions of intelligence.Let‚s step aside for a while from theory and take a walk through a typical classroom. What does one see? There is a set of learners who have been grouped together on the basis of either age or ability or both, and on the basis of the study programme they have chosen. Collectively this group is called a class and for all purposes, it‚s addressed as a homogenous unit. All students in the group are given the same curricular inputs; they are tested and assessed by common norms and above all, taught by standard methodologies and pedagogies. The pace and plan of learning is all pre-set and the teaching juggernaut trundles on, unmindful of whether the student devotee is on board or left behind!Who sets the pace, and decides on the style or method of instruction? Essentially, the teacher. Yet invariably the teacher is following her script or lesson plan. It can be assumed that the teacher communicates the pattern of her pedagogic design with great skill. But unfortunately, her pattern is not acceptable to all students simply because her teaching style does not sync with the learning capability of every student! The teaching may be perfect but learning is not guaranteed. And all too often a lot of toil comes to naught.Let me illustrate this paradox with real-life examples narrated by teachers during several differentiated teaching programmes I have conducted. Not a few maths teachers lamented that their impersonal, strict subject/ concept oriented approach to teaching maths often made humanitarian learners in class, i.e children who learn only when they relate personally to a teaching environment and to subjects, shy away from learning. Or take the case of an English teacher who adopts a story-based approach to teaching grammar. This doesn‚t suit ‚Ëœtheoretical-analytical learners‚ in a class who prefer to learn through concepts, principles and rules. Likewise the ‚Ëœvisual learner‚ hates classes where the teacher explains without writing on the blackboard. Quite obviously a uniform pedagogy or methodology even if brilliantly executed, doesn‚t suit…