A [[ zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA Can; Most Can; Some Can. Some Practical ldeas for Using Differentiation Strategies in the Classics Classroom zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihg Caron Downes; Clare McDonnell D s. Steven Hunt 9). First the teacher gives a vivid reading of the story with effective use of voice. expression and gesture. Then he instructs the pupils to re-envision the story. Because the teacher instructs those pupils he There has been a great deal written about differentiation. Sometimes perceives as being more able to write a poem and those be perceives as being less able to draw a picture of a moment in the story 'which what has been written has been rather theoretical and it has been interests them', he thinks he is differentiating according to ability. In difficult to see how the teacher might put differentiation strategies into practice in the classroom. This article investigates some of the a simplistic way, of course, he is. But all he is doing really is giving different activities - a perceived harder one here, an easier one there good practice exhibited in Classics teaching - in both a language and - to different pupils. What is the overall learning outcome of these a civilisationlliterature lesson - where differentiation. strategies have activities? It is merely the production of a set of poems and the been put to good use. production of a set of pictures, neither of which especially develop pupils' learning unless they do so by chance? Civilisation and literature What then might be better than this? Take the same topic: the A teacher who sets out to provide different activities for different Cyclops. For a start one of the key ways which would improve this pupils is not really using differentiation strategies at all if those teacher's teaching is to consider what exactly he wants the pupils to 1101 all targeted at the same learning outcome. For activities arezyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA example, the teacher starts a lesson on the Cyclops (Odyssey. Book learn. The teacher decides that the learning outcome for everyone inzyxwvutsr IFFERENTIATION IS NOT doing different things; it is doing the same thing differently. 25 the class is that they will gain some understanding of the nature of the Cyclopes in general and Polyphemus in particular. He then wants the pupils to make a comparison between this non-Greek behaviour and that of the Greeks. He identifies specific references in the text which he wants the pupils to identify or which he will draw their attention to if they do not do so: the Cyclopes' lack of agricultural and civic interest, their lawlessness, their disinterest in the gods, whilst J walked between them offering points to consider. All of the students were able to come up with a point or two, but J started with the lowest ability row to guide them through the start of their discussion. After the discussion J asked one volunteer from each row to annotate the passage on the JWB to explain their points to answer their question for the rest of the class. J encouraged the students to comment on the points made by each row and to ask questions if they their violence, their stupidity and so on. He wants in particular to ensure that they understand the concept ofzyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA xenia and how it were unsure. The whole activity took about twenty minutes and operationalises a point of contrast between Greek and non-Greek. He meant all students had been able to consider the passagefrom afew does, however, not want to paint the Cyclopes in entirely a bad light, different perspectives and make notes on each of them. ' or, for that matter, Odysseus in entirely a good one. He wants to draw attention to the sweet, pastoral nature of Polyphemus, the fact that Now, this differentiated lesson seems on the face of it to consist of three separate activities going on in the same room - exactly the the other Cyclopes did come to help him, the pathetic scene at the thing we are trying to avoid, where three groups of pupils of end of the book where Polyphemus realises that the curse has come true; and he wants the pupils to realise that it is Odysseus' personal supposedly different abilities are completing three different tasks. curiosity which endangers his men (not for the first time). This seems to be failing the 'not doing different things, but doing the same thing differently' mantra. Is this any different from the class Now, how might this much better teacher think of differentiation in the classroom? Not by giving different groups of pupils different described at the start of this article where some pupils are writing a things to do and leaving it at that. Nor, for that matter, by hoping that poem and others of them are drawing a picture? Well, of course it shares something with that lesson - some pupils are doing one thing after discussing this information with all of the pupils all of them while others are doing another. But the difference is this: in the will be able to recall the basic plot, most will be able to recall Regulus lesson the learning outcome is bigger than the mere carrying specific details of the concept of xenia, and some will be able to out of the activity. In the poetry/picture lesson, the learning outcome point out that the Cyclops wasn't all that bad This is just seems to be the production of poems and pictures. There is no differentiation by outcome again.zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA explicit connection between the different activities and different It would be better if the teacher considered differentiation not by products. In the Regulus lesson, however, the learning outcome is an outcome but by input. He designs different tasks for different pupils examination of the whole passage from three different perspectives in such a way that they suit the individual pupils' needs and also - something which is carried out in three separate portions, but which, when added together, deliver the desi.red learning outcome which is then combined with a class discussion where each group for the whole class. This needs careful planning. Not only does the makes its own contribution. Indeed, Downes is at pains to point out teacher need to identify a number of specific activities which will that the individual activities carried out by the three separate groups lead to an accumulation of knowledge, but he also has to identify were all focused on the same passage, took ten minutes to achieve, activities which suit the abilities and learning styles of the individual and were then subject to a further 20 minutes of feedback and pupils or groups of pupils. The teacher also needs to plan for when discussion. It is this final stage which makes the differentiation in the the different activities carried out by the pupils are shared with the lesson effective as a learning tool for all the pupils. rest of the class and how that might be achieved. And finally he With this example, then, as a guide, how might you, the teacher, needs to work out how all the pupils in the class are able to arraoge, differentiated learning activities for the Cyclops story synthesise the results of the whole process. The most important of mentioned at the start?zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONM these cornrnodities is therefore time in which to be able to carry the original activities, to share them, and then to synthesise them. L anguage Caron Downes describes an example of how this might work in Let us consider a further example drawn from a Latin language practice using the set text passage Regulus. Although the text has lesson. If we were teaching the imperfect tense using a passage of been translated by the pupils from the Latin - it is part of a GCSE Latin, we might consider that different pupils in the class would be Latin examination prescription - the lesson itself is devoted to able to gain an understanding of the imperfect tense in different investigating the text now in translation. Thus it shares similar ways. Some would recognise that there was a different tense which concerns with the example of the Cyclops story discussed above.zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA was shown by the presence of a 'b' in the verb termination; others might be able to recognise this clue and translate each occurrence of 'J am placed at an independent, coeducational boarding school this this in the form 'was doing something' or 'were doing something'; term. The year 10 Latin class are a fairly high-ability class of 16 others again might be able to articulate the difference between the students. The class has been in the same seating plan for the continuous past action represented by the imperfect tense and the majority of their lessons throughout the term, the plan divides them completed past action represented by the perfect; yet again others into three rows according to their ability. The class have just begun might be able to use more flexible forms of translation such as 'used looking at the set prose literature, starting with Pliny's text Regulus to do something' or 'began to do something'. Now it would be a (Letters, 2, 20). strange teacher who started the lesson by identifying individuals The class translated 10 lines of Regulus, alternating between within the class and taught them only to do one of these things and working as a whole class and in pairs in order to reach the translation. J wanted the students to look at these lines to explain the no other. A s practitioners we would expect everyone to be able to articulate their understanding of the imperfect tense in these waystechniques Pliny uses to manipulate the opinion of his audience. perhaps SOme more successfully than others. Essentially, then, this With this in mind, J asked each row to work together to answer a process of differentiation is again by outcome: we teach all pupils, question. I staggered the difficulty of the question according to the regardless of ability or learning style, the same material in the ability of each row. The first row reflected on the way Pliny activity, with the expectation that some might tu rn out to be better manipulates our feelings against Regulus, which 1 felt was the than others at whatever activity it is. In the case of language teaching easiest question. The middle row was asked to think about the way and learning, I suspect that the majority of differentiation in the case that Pliny adds pace and immediacy to his story. The final row had of language learning - grammatical features, for example - would to consider the portrayal of Verania 's superstitious nature in the J 0 tu rn out to be by outcome. We might say that, at the end of this lines. lesson, all of the pupils have understood that the imperfect tense canzyxwvutsrq I gave the students 10 minutes to discuss the questions in their row 26 .-~ -------- the translation, This made the Latin (and the plot of the story) easier be recognised by the presence of a 'b' in the verb termination and to follow, - as it was broken up into narrative sections. I had that it can be translated as 'was' or 'were doing something' in translated some of the less important (in terms of plot and English;zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA most of the pupils can say that tile imperfect tense grammar/vocabulary) phrases of the story, to save time on corresponds to a continuous action in the past, rather than a translation. completed action; and some of them zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA w ill be able to use more idiomatic translations according to the particular context of the The students completed one of the fallowing extension tasks if they passage - such as 'used to ' or 'began to do something'. In such a finished the translation of the story: lesson we would expect that the knowledge and understanding which we expect as a bare minimum would be something. we want all the pupils to attain, and WI! would like most pupils to be able to identify that there are more sophisticated ways of doing the same thing, and we would like a few to have yet more sophisticated ways -They changed their translations into more 'natural-sounding' English - either writing out their translations again. or practising the conversation with those around them. The purpose of this activity was to look ahead to the end product of the work on this story - the students acting it out in small groups. again. But even in language teaching differentiation by input is achievable. In the following case, note how the needs of all, most o They wrote a description of what they thought would happen in the and some pupils are accommodated. elate McDonnell describes court case: (in English) to use later in their plays if they wished. how she uses differentiation to support language work in Latin:zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA '1 teach a very mixed-ability Year 8 Latin class, Who studied Latin for a few weeks in Year 7, and then opted to study it in Year 8. They are up to Stage 10 of the Cambridge Latin Course. There is one EAL student in the class. and around five with recognised learning difficulties. A number have also beenrecognised at being Gifted and Talented at Latin. This wide range of abilities means that differentiation in lessons is essential. 1 taught a lesson on in apodyterio (CLC Book 1, Stage 9). 1 asked some orientation questions about the first four lines of the story, to make sure that the students understood the initial plot1 then gave the students a free choice of resources to work on the CLCstory: -They used their descriptions to write some Latin phrases using the dative case (e.g. iudices fu ri iudicium dant). The differentiated tasks and extension activities enabled almost all of the students to finish translating the story and understand the details of the narrative by the end of the lesson, which enabled them to act it out in the next lesson. 1asked some general comprehension questions about the plot to check understanding, and to inform those who didn't quite finish. as to what happened in the end of the story. The students are used to differentiated tasks (especially extra vocabulary lists), and so were able to decide for themselves which activities to choose and whether or not they would like the vocabulary help. The wording of how the different options are introduced is important, and follows what they are used to in the school. For example, for those doing th e translation, 1 said: 'if you want a challenge ': and these taking the vocabulary list: 'if you want a bit of help with the meaning of some words '. ' «T hey could use the standard vocabulary lists which are glossed in the text book and are available at the end of the text book. They could also use a separate vocabulary list of key' words from the story. to save time looking up words. o Differentiation is achieved here because those pupils perceived as of below-average ability are recommended to use the most resources and those who are perceived as of above-average ability are recommended to use the fewest, as Table I shows: -They could either write out a translation into English of the rest of the story into their exercise books, using the CLC textbook. «They could use a worksheet to assist them translate most of the rest of the story. This had the Latin on it, with space underneath to write Ta bl e 1: Diffe 1 eren tlia t e d resources How many pupils should be able to accomplish the task? All ; Most or use w h en teachtnz Latin language Perceived ability of pupil (tick represents whether a pupil would be recommended th~ resource support named in the right hand columJi) Above-average Average Below-average v- ./ ./ v- v- Some ./ through a translation activity Whh:h resources needed Type of resource Text book and integral vocabulary As above + extra vocabulary As above + worksheet assistance Number of resources in.use Some Most All Clare also draws attention to one of the most interesting features of the differentiated activities in her classroom: that of allowing the pupils free choice to make use of whatever resources they th in k are suitable for them from a range provided by the teacher. In the pictures below we can see how comfortable the pupils are with using the extra vocabulary list on its own (Figure I) or the extra half the pupils chose not to use any extra resources at all, and several, such as can be seen in Figure 3, moved onto the extension activity. Some teachers might feel uncomfortable with the idea of giving different resources to different pupils, out of anxiety, I suppose, of identifying below-average pupils in front of their peers. Bu.t because pupils are used to being able to choose for themselves vocabulary list and the worksheet assistance (Figure 2): what they do not show is how pupils sometimes sitting alongside were using very different resources and had set themselves personal challenges not to 'cheat' by looking at their neighbours' work. Furthermore, about which resources they use - from one lesson to the next, or even freely within a single lesson - any anxiety about stigmatising pupils should be reduced. It could be argued, then, that when a teacher provides differentiated 27 Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 learning materials such as this pupils are able to accomplish a additional help. This might well not be during the single lesson or number of positive things: they have all been able to access the even in a sequence of three or four lessons. But there comes a point information revealed in the Latin passage; they have all been during a course when the teacher considers that one form of prepared to carry out the next activity in the learning sequence; they differentiation has been superseded by another. We want there to be have all set themselves reasonable challenges and personal goals in a point where pupils of below-average ability do not need those extra their own learning; the weaker pupils have not been held back, but vocabulary sheets any more, or where the pupils of average ability have been offered the chance to develop their learning of vocabulary are able to articulate something significant about the passages of and translation; the more able have been able to exercise a more literature under discussion without depending on the sort of personal response to the Latin narrative. This sort of differentiation scaffolding which was given at the start of term. If we just keep is common practice in this department, which is why it works so wellzyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA supplying vocabulary on and on they get over-reliant and there is in maintaining motivation and interest among the pupils, ensures that less incentive to learn. Conversely, without the extra vocabulary in the first place, these pupils could quickly become disengaged and pupils are not deterred from Latin, and probably goes a long way to learn little or nothing at all. Thus differentiation strategies succeed or fail depending on the degree to which the teacher monitors the progress of individual pupils in the class. Differentiation, then, is merely a part of personalised education and should be part of every good teacher's armoury of teaching techniques. If readers have further examples of differentiation strategies which they have found to work well in the classroom, please write about explaining the high levels of numbers choosing the subject and examination success of pupils of all abilities in Latin in the school. Differentiation is not just something which we carry out just to tick a box set by management or Ofsted. If as teachers we are truly interested in supporting pupils in their learning then we should be providing the support that is helpful for all the different pupils in our class. But there is more to differentiation than simply providing the support. Differentiation is not a one-off occurrence. It is part of them to the JACT office. planning in every lesson. Moreover, differentiation is flexible and progressive: when we plan our scheme of work we should identify Caron Downes, Clare McDonnell and Steven Hunt the points at which wezyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA withdraw the support - the points where we University of Cambridge PGCEzyxwvutsrqpo expect everyone in the class to be able to accomplish the task without 28