Differentiating instruction in the LOTE classroom.

[Doug Moore]

Does anyone have a successful management plan for differentiating instruction in the LOTE classroom. Also, does anyone use data to identify students for differentiation? We have a situation where we are combining a level 1 language class with bilingual natives (7th grade) and Heritage language learners who are deficient in their reading and writing skill in their Heritage language.

[Melody Wubbenhorst]

I'm not sure if this will help, but when I find people who are very high performers in my classes, I assign them a book to read in class in order to prevent "boredom" from my "slow" class instruction. The rules I set are the following. They need to maintain a 94% in their quizzes and tests and write a book report after a specific period of time of the assigned book. They will automatically earn a 100% for that quarter because they are doing extra work. This work though is challenging them and accelerating their learning. It's personalized for them. So far, I have not had one student maintain less than a 97%. They love the freedom of being able to grab their book in class and read when they feel they've mastered the new material and completed their assignments. These class leaders also act as helpers during group activities and "strong partners" when we doing pair work.

In your case, I believe the Heritage language learners need to read a lot and could very well act as leaders. I think this method would work for them. They haven't learned Spanish in a formal setting, and the quality of Spanish spoken at home might be a bit degraded.

In the case of your bilingual students, if they are true bilingual students with first-hand, native experience, then I believe they should not be in your class and should be moved directly to a literature-based class or at least a level 2.

[Pat Cesario]

Melody

Your method sounds great. I'd like to try it. This summer I plan to come up with a few ideas for differentiated instruction.