SPEAKING OF helping people, I just read a pretty interesting blog post from and edublogger site called "The Educator's Room". My first impression of this site was that it looked very professional and somewhat similar to a news or essay site like "The Atlantic" (of which I am a big fan). The central feature of the site is a series of rotating headlines from the previous few days. These have different authors depending on the topics, but most that I have browsed have experience either teacher, working with a specific tool, or both. This echoes the "newspaper" feel of the site. There are some ads and graphics on the sidebars, so it hardly even looks like a blog at all. I was obviously pretty impressed.
One of the blog posts I clicked on spoke about the differences between accommodation and modification in teaching. This post stood out to me because of these educational buzzwords; with all the practice we have had lesson planning, I hoped this might glean a little more perspective on ways in which teachers can plan to help students. The author, Teresa, has worked as a caseworker for several years before she became a special education teacher. She also has a son with autism, so she is well versed on both the parent and teaching sides of accommodation and modification. Teresa explains the difference quite succinctly in saying, "Accommodations level the playing field, while modifications change the field you're playing on." In other words, accommodations are slight changes made or additional strategies given to instruction to help specific students' needs. This hit a familiar chord in terms of the word "scaffolding," which we hear quite often in discussions about planning and the like. Accommodations may include using additional tools or aides to make the content more accessible for a given student, but the grading remains the same for all students. In contrast, modifications to instruction may merely help certain students experience the same curriculum but in a different way that suits their needs. This includes changing the vocabulary on assignments, lowering the reading levels of texts, or even changing the criteria by which an assignment is graded. This is a very different type of "scaffold," if I understand it correctly.
Though this blog post was short in length, I appreciated the clarity with which it defined and explained these two terms. It was a refreshing change of writing style compared to the often verbose stylings of some of the authors we are assigned in this program. As I was reading, a few questions came to mind in regards to some of these other pieces. I wrote a comment (first one! hooray!) to ask as much:
"Teresa,
Thank you for the post. I am a masters student studying history education at the University of Michigan. In my classes, we talk a lot about scaffolding and differentiating, as you might expect. I was wondering what you think of these terms...How do they compare to "accommodation" and "modification"? Do you frequently use these terms when discussing your practice, and if so, how so? I am just beginning to get more guided and detailed practice planning lessons and assessments. To what extent you consider the accommodations and modifications for individual students when you plan lessons?
Thank you!"
I have not heard back from Teresa at the time of original posting. Updates shall follow.
In any case, I hope to learn more about practical ways to scaffold learning (whatever that ends up meaning). It always sounds nice to talk about ways our practice can apply to students of all skills, abilities, dispositions, and backgrounds, but it is far more difficult to actually plan for these differences in advance and intentionally implement elements of practice that allow all students to succeed. In fact, I'm not fully convinced it is always possible--but I keep hoping and trying to learn. So far, the most important piece of successfully scaffolding seems to be getting to know the students and building trust with them so that they continuously give you their best even when your instruction isn't perfect (or perfectly tailored to them).
It would also help if I WAS the Batman. A kid can dream.
Dear Jimmy,
ReplyDeleteYou had me at batman. I was really intrigued by the ideas of the blog that you mentioned on the difference between accommodation and modification. It sounds like you found a real winner of a blog there which can be quite a difficult feat! It's cool when you can read a post by an established educator and make connections to what we are learning and will be using in the future. I also think that the blog that you described that has a newspaper vibe to it sounds really cool! Blog organization is very important! I hope that you have some success with responses to the comments you made on various blogs! Thanks for your thoughts!
Betsy
This reminds me a lot of a discussion we had this summer in our Reform class centered on equality versus equity in the classroom. This image is the one that strikes my memory of this conversation.
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I wonder if the author thinks that modification and accommodation fit into this same style of picture. What do you think?
I definitely agree that this is something that is so important to think about as we lesson plan, but that it is incredibly difficult to reach all of our students. I am hoping that this is something that comes with time. Scaffolding concepts, as well as expectations for student work, are both so necessary in the classroom.
In one of our general chemistry classes we have 12 IEPs. It is incredibly difficult to both help the students that need help and keep the excitement and challenge up for students that are excelling. I am excited to learn more about how to do this...I am getting inspired to talk to our special ed coordinator for some added perspective.
Thank you so much for sharing this blog with us! It's great to see what real teachers out there are doing in their classrooms and thinking. I hope the author responds to you soon.
Jimmy,
ReplyDeleteI would like to echo Betsy’s comment about batman. I was definitely curious to see where your post was going to take me. I am really thankful to have clicked on your blog because I have not thought of the ideas of accommodations or modifications. Also I have not done my best at differentiating my instructions. I am, as most of us are, just trying to get through the lesson and making sure I get all the assignment criteria covered. I feel horrible verbalizing this because even though we are under the gun to get these assignments completed adequately, we are suppose to be batman or at least robin to these students.
I know the students at my school fairly well, since there are only about 45 that show up regularly. And at this point I think you are correct, the only way I can better scaffold the material is by knowing where they are with the material and what their moods/behaviors are on a particular day. But I certainly don’t think that is enough. Are there things that your have considered changing in your own practices to better serve your students?
Thanks!
I thought you were the Batman so this is extremely disappointing for me. On a different note, it is nice to get some clarity in terms of modification vs accommodation. You are right in that the articles we are given on this kind of subject are typically verbose and usually provide definitions that are difficult to decipher. This issue is something that I have been pondering quite a bit lately. There are several students in my classes who have special needs and require different accommodations in order to perform at their best. In thinking about the different ways that I want to run the classroom come January I have to consider the needs of these students and how I can provide the appropriate accommodations without drastically modifying the assignment. This blog seems like a good place to start and Teresa seems like a thoughtful educator and someone with plenty of experience on this important subject. Again, very disappointed you aren't batman.
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