Thinking in Twos: It All Begins and Ends with Adapting Instruction!

What is Adapting Instruction?

When it comes to adapting instruction, teachers are clueless. How? What? Why? I get emails all the time asking me to clarify what is meant by "adapting instruction," so here's the scoop in a nutshell.

Think what happens with your students after a test. Some of your students might say: "I didn't know anything!" or "That test was hard!"

Have you thought how this is tied to your instruction?

If you want to create a successful testing experience for ALL your students, you'll need to rethink your teaching.

How Can You Adapt Your Instruction?

When we adapt instruction, there are two main important questions we usually need to ask: HOW? and WHAT?

Here is an example of what I mean -

The WHAT part of adapting instruction relates to the changes in terms of WHAT a student is expected to learn.

As teachers, we constantly need to refine or modify our instruction especially after a test. When we know what our students are truly capable of doing (not where we think they should be) then we are able to modify our instruction to engage those students more effectively.

The HOW part relates to the changes in HOW a student accesses or demonstrates learning.

So once we know the content areas that are problematic for our struggling students, we need to provide more opportunities (mainly practice) in a variety of ways. The key is to DIVERSIFY instruction using group/pair work, authentic instruction and practice exercises, etc.

When we are able to provide a variety of meaningful learning experiences, we accommodate all levels of student ability and knowledge.

The ideal method of adapting instruction is to make changes in instructional level, content or performance level.

How Can You Accommodate Different Levels of Student Ability and Knowledge?

As teachers, we need to use a variety of accommodations to provide equal access to learning for all types of learners. Here are some types of accommodations:

Size - Adapt the number of items that the learner is expected to learn or complete. Adapt the size of the information by enlarging.

Time - Adapt the time allotted and allowed for learning, task completion or testing.

Level of support - Increase the amount of assistance for a specific learner.

Input - Adapt the way instruction is delivered to the learner.

Difficulty - Adapt the skill level, problem type, or the rules on how the learner may approach the work.

Output - Adapt how the learner can respond to instruction.

Participation - Adapt the extent to which a learner is actively involved in the task.

Alternate Goals - Adapt the goals or outcome expectations while using the same basic materials.

(Adapted from the Center for School & Community Integration, Institute for the Study of Developmental Disabilities, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN)

What is the Ideal Method of Adapting Instruction?

To recap, the ideal method of adapting instruction includes the following tasks:

• Accommodate the child's learning needs
• Remembering the learning styles
• Be eclectic
• Maintain the integrity of the curriculum
• Reduce the density of the material

Remember, fair does not mean that everyone gets the same things. Fair means that everyone gets what they need. You make a difference as a teacher when you continue to provide meaningful and productive learning experiences.

So what are you waiting for?

Your students want to be engaged - the questions are HOW? and WHAT?

What question will you answer today?

Try it!