JOURNAL ARTICLE REVIEW: DIFFERENTIATION STRATEGY ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS

OVERVIEW

Differentiation is a widely used framework, incorporating a variety of strategies for student success. Differentiated Instruction was developed by Carol Ann Tomlinson many years ago.  Her goal was to provide a framework to help teachers meet the needs of the growing numbers of diverse students found in a classroom.  The goal of differentiated instruction is to use flexible groupings during the academic day to provide specific instruction to each groups’ needs.  Using initial assessment to determine readiness and teaching in the student’s zone of proximal development, the teacher can group students according to their need, using effective teaching strategies. The three elements of instruction to meet the needs of the students are content, process, and product. Content is what is taught; process is what will be used to teach; product is how students show they have learned the concept.    

INSTRUCTIONS

For this Journal Article Review: Differentiation Strategy Assignment, you will choose one of the strategies used to differentiate instruction for a specific group of students. This is not about differentiated instruction on a whole, but a specific strategy used in a differentiated classroom. Article reviews enable you to think critically and to synthesize information. 

In this course, you will conduct two separate Journal Article Review: Differentiation Strategy Assignments on differentiated instruction strategies – a different strategy for each. Search for articles from the online Jerry Falwell Library that discuss various differentiated instruction strategies – not differentiated instruction. All articles used must have been published within the last 5 years.

After reading the article thoroughly, you will summarize and critique the peer-reviewed academic journal article in your own words. The summary must include:

• The article’s title and purpose

• Identification of the author(s) of the article and their qualifications

• A review of the main points of the article

• A summary of the differentiated instruction strategy

After the summary, you will provide a critique by reflecting on the article’s effectiveness. Avoid focusing on mechanics (e.g. “too wordy”, “too long”, etc.) and instead focus on the content of the article. This is an opportunity to demonstrate critical thinking. The critique must include:

• Your evaluation of the article’s strengths and weaknesses.

• Your overall takeaway from the article; your personal reaction and reflections.

• Examples of how you can apply the concepts in your classroom

Do not directly quote from the article. Instead, summarize and paraphrase. Make sure to include all the key concepts presented in the article and any important examples that support or further explain its key concepts. 

• The length of the assignment is to be 2-3 pages composed in current APA formatting.  You need to make sure you include a title page, citations, and references page. The title page and references page are excluded from the total page count.

• Use in-text citations throughout your journal article review and make sure to reference the article on the references page. Citations are added when you paraphrase and directly quote.  Add the page number in the citation when you direct quote.