STAR-POST (Art) January 2020 FINAL_STAR Post Art Jan 2020 | Page 6

Hence, differentiation in art
means providing for the individual
student’s learning needs in class,
so they can all make progress in
learning.
How to Begin Differentiated
Instruction in our Art
Classroom?
In Term 3 of 2019, I had the
opportunity to teach a Sec 1,
mixed ability class over 8 weeks
in one of the FSBB pilot school.
Based on my stint, I culled out
key fundamentals for one to
begin practising differentiated
instruction in our art classroom.
Starting with the basics
“SOAR”
Study to know our students,
so we can better support
them
Organise the art classroom
and allow for flexible learning
groups
Advocate Assessment for
learning
Responding by differentiating
(content, process, product)
1. Study to know our students,
so we can better support them
“The biggest mistake
in teaching is to treat all
children as if there were
variants of the same
individual and thus feel
justified in teaching them
all the same subjects in
the same way.”
- H. Gardner
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The first step is getting to know
all the students in your class. This
means looking at and studying
their data, understanding their
family background, who they
are, what they already know and
understand, and where their
artistic level of understanding is
like. Which levels are they at based
on the Art Learning Outcomes as
spelt out in the revised Primary Art
Syllabus? In the art classroom, who
already has very strong aptitude
and positive attitude towards
the subject? Who does not and
what are the root causes for that?
Who are the students who have
good prior understanding of the
fundamentals of art knowledge
and skills? Who has little exposure
and lack of skills or even interest
in the subject? What could have
resulted in that? What other
interests would these students
have so that these could tapped
on or leveraged upon as themes
for the students to inquire further?
The range of differences within
the class can be huge. Knowing
the students take time especially
when art teachers only see the
students once a week. Hence,
in the 2018 revised Lower Sec
Syllabus, teachers were highly
recommended to spend the
time in Term 1 of Secondary 1 to
get to know the students well.
Differentiation requires recognising
the variety of individual learning
needs within a class, planning to
meet those needs, providing of
appropriate instructional guidance
and evaluating the effectiveness
and progress of students’ learning.
Teachers could leverage on
technology (eg. Kahoot, Padlet,
SLS, See-Saw and etc.) to gather
students’ data.
The following suggestions may be
useful to support you in eliciting
students’ current understanding,
knowledge, skills and interests:
• Teacher observations
• Student profiling and
inventories
• Questionnaires and surveys
• Focus group discussions with
students or/and parents
• Teacher designed diagnostic
tasks and tests
• KWL (What I Know, What I Want
to Know, What I Learnt)
• Brainstorming
• Studying samples of students’
past works (art portfolio or
visual journal if applicable)
• Questionnaires and surveys
• Students’ self-assessment and
reflection based on art task(s)
Besides these, one quick and
useful tip is to work closely with
the students’ form teacher and
perhaps other subject teachers
too. They would be able to
provide us with more information
about each student.
2. Organising the Art
Classroom and Allow for
Flexible Learning Groups
Well planned organisation of
your art classroom is vital to
complement differentiated
teaching and learning by providing
choices or tiered assignments
to facilitate students’ learning.
Such organisation will facilitate
the use of flexible grouping. The
practice of using different kinds
of grouping could be based on
common themes, readiness/prior
knowledge, or students’ progress
at different times throughout
the year. Like in any effective
An example to illustrate how I do grouping for the class based on students’
readiness
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