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Running head: WEEK 3 ASSIGNMENT

Christopher Lee Harris

Week 4 Assignment
Mat 674 Differentiate Instruction
June 1, 2019
Professor Cameron
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Running head: WEEK 3 ASSIGNMENT

Spanish Restaurant Project

Grade

10th

Subject

Spanish 2

Standard

WL.CM2.I

Participate in real-world, spoken, written, or signed (ASL) conversations related to self and the

immediate environment, creating sentences and strings of sentences to ask and answer a variety

of questions in transactional and some informal settings.

Value of differentiated instruction

Differentiated instruction in today’s classroom is a way to be sure you are doing your best to

evolve learning so that all students are developing necessary attributed to progress academically

as well as individually. Differentiated instruction in today’s classroom allows teachers to modify

the content, process and product in which student are interpreting, interacting, internalizing, and

demonstrating understanding or learned content.

Project

Students in this section will be learning the vocabulary to be able to order food at a Spanish

speaking restaurant. They will need to be able to communicate all activities involved from the

moment they enter the restaurant, all possible interactions while in the restaurant, until the exit

the restaurant. This project will be a week long and students will be assessed the following week.
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Throughout the week students will be confronted with different obstacles for example asked to

create their dialoged in formal and informal settings or they will be presented with some sort of

food allergy.

Compacting

Compacting for this project may first be present in the class discussion as to speak about the

necessary vocabulary needed to be able to perform the task at hand. This conversation allows me

to get a feel for “what students know for the upcoming content” (Tomlinson, p. 2852, PDF

version). This section could include review of basic conjugation upon greeting people when

entering a restaurant of when asking for simple previously learned vocabulary. As this will be

review for many students there will be moments that students may be working on their

assignment from another class or unrelated topic.

Differentiated Homework with Homework Checkers

Differentiated homework for a project such as this one would include three homework

assignment in which the students can “choose” from of possibly be assigned. For example,

students could have a homework assignment to write 3 complete sentences in which they are

ordering their favorite food at the restaurant, for another more developed student they would be

asked to write a dialogue in which the costumer and waiter are having the conversation asking

and ordering food, finally the most sophisticated could be the waiter and costumer having a

conversation asking and ordering food while implementing a non-food related question and

answer to the conversation, for example, “where is the restroom?”.

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Running head: WEEK 3 ASSIGNMENT

Homework checkers would be stations in which students would get together based on the

homework assignment they chose. Homework checkers would then be a rotation where students

are analyzing the students work next to them as to correct any errors and write down clarifying

question to ask the teacher. Finally the session would end with class discussion lead by the

teacher in answering question clarifying and checking for understanding.

Flexible grouping

For this project a Jigsaw would be a good exercise to get students to work individually and with

students in and out of their particular groups. I would set up stations for example, typical

greetings when entering a restaurant, formal ordering, informal ordering, common restaurant

questions and responses. When thinking about this activity I already see that it would need to be

modeled for best practices. Even perhaps including a scripts protocol that would help to keep

students engaged on the task at hand or even a check list.

Interest Centers or Interest Groups

When thinking of interest centers or interest groups regarding this project the suggestions I

always get is to take a field trip to a Spanish speaking restaurant or creating a restaurant

experience in the classroom. In a previous year I created a restaurant where students we able to

create the menu which really had the students interested. Upon entering the classroom they were

being assessed on their abilities in the real life restaurant type experience. I believe taking a field

trip to a Spanish speaking restaurant would be the most beneficial as it would relate to real life

situations.

Learning Centers/Learning Stations

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Learning centers and stations would be represented in a Jigsaw format as well but instead of

students having to go to the different stations they would be able to choose based on their

immediate need. This activity could come towards the end of the project where students could

decide what they need to improve. Also it is important that students have the resources of for

example, Quizlet to be able to see section vocabulary, or the class website for videos of Spanish

speaking restaurants in order to provide assistance if the teacher is busy. As mentioned in the

previous Jigsaw it would be beneficial to have a script or protocol when using a Jigsaw station as

to remain on task and not waist time, perhaps incorporating a timer could also be useful.

Tiering

In this project tiering can come up in many different aspects. One we had previously mentioned

is in their homework, as they have an option to do one of three homework assignments all

elaborating on the same information while some more sophisticated than others. I believe that

whatever the activity there could be a B. and C. option as to further develop student’s abilities.

For example it would be easy to add a station to a Jigsaw in order to further develop a concept or

simply provide examples of more elaborate language.

Varying questions

When thinking of varying question it is important to allow students time to converse with each

other about what the questions means to them. High school is a nerve wracking time and in many

cases students need to feel comfortable before they are willing to participate. Having the

opportunity to bounce ideas of their partners allows students to feel more secure in their

responses. Some of the questions you may see regarding this project would be like, “what kind of
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Running head: WEEK 3 ASSIGNMENT

language can you expect to hear in a Spanish speaking restaurant?” Then by allowing students

the time to talk it over their processing the information at hand. It would also be a good idea to

write the questions on the board or have them on a presentation.

Conclusion

Many of the activities seen in this lesson plan would be of great additions in creating a more

differentiated classroom. Some that I will be sure to use are, mini lessons particularly for my

advanced learners as to be sure to challenge them to continue their growth. I will be

incorporating differentiated homework assignments as well as I believe this way I will reach

more students and the collaboration of homework checkers will continue the learning process

rather than simply check to see if the answers they wrote were correct or not. Finally I would like

to work on ways for flexible grouping because this year I realized how much more engaging

students can be if they are not siting at their desk for the entire period.
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References
Tomlinson, C. A., (2017). How to differentiate instruction in academically diverse classroom.
Alexandria, VA: ASCD.