Collaborating with students
Another method of differentiation, that is especially helpful when working with older students, is a collaborative model.
Developed by Laurie Faith, Activated Learning (AL) is very simple. It asks teachers to add a 5-minute, whole class discussion to their instruction. During this conversation, students and teachers discuss the obstacles they will face in specific assignments and co-create strategies to be successful. Students are told to pay close attention to the executive functions they need to tap into to complete the learning activity. Then, students receive feedback and assessment on their achievement of the agreed upon strategies. These processes can occur at any time of the day, as often as needed.
The more teachers ask of students, the more they challenge their executive functions (EFs). These EF skills, such as attention, flexibility, emotional control, initiation, inhibition, and organization, work alongside creativity and intellect to enable adaptive responses to novel or complex situations. They allow students to express their gifts and talents, learn at school, thrive in the workplace, and enjoy healthy relationships.
AL makes use of well-established instructional practices such as inquiry-based teaching (What will we struggle with?), co-created strategies (What will we do to overcome our challenges?), and meaningful feedback and assessment (I’m going to hold you accountable and track your use of that strategy!). In practice, this metacognitive troubleshooting session will take place when a teacher feels that the class, as a whole, is unable to self-regulate their learning. It sounds like this:
TEACHER: You seem to be having difficulty with these math problems. What are your obstacles? What is difficult about this task?
STUDENTS: We’re rushing and forgetting to do certain steps.
TEACHER: That sounds like inhibition. Am I right? What else?
STUDENTS: For me, it is hard because my numbers get all jumbled up.
TEACHER: That sounds like organization. Am I right?
(Further discussion during which teacher elicits other obstacle ideas and encourages class to connect them to executive functioning.)
TEACHER: What strategies can we use to overcome these obstacles?
(Discussion, during which teacher charts a variety of strategy ideas for the student/s.)
TEACHER: You have suggested several strategies that might work. I will be watching to see which strategy you choose and use. I will be making notes!
This whole class strategy instruction allows teachers to reach all students, on a regular basis, and allows students to learn to be adaptable, independent, and capable of their own metacognitive monitoring, noticing, planning, and strategizing on their own.
Activated learning is especially helpful for students with LDs as it helps students to see that many of their challenges are natural, normal, and shared by their peers, and it trains them to look for and act upon sources of control.