Technology to Support Differentiation

Freckle Education 

    Freckle education is a digital program that allows students to access reading, math, social studies, and science information.  Teachers can purchase the program for twelve dollars a month. Freckle Education is a Common Core-aligned program with resources for math, ELA, science, and social studies for K-8 that adapts to individual student skills” (Kakkar).  For their reading library, students take pre-assessments that determine what their independent reading levels are. Then, it provides articles and texts at the independent and instructional levels, along with questions.  When students answer questions, they earn coins, and can go to the "store" to purchase things for their avatar. Teachers create rosters and can assign grade level standard work; however, the program will also provide the standards-based information at a reading level if the teacher desires.  For the math portion, it works similarly with pre-assessments and teacher assignments; however, there is also fluency practice where students can earn coins for however many problems they solve within a certain timeframe. Another great thing about this program is students can only visit the store for 3 minutes each session, so time is not wasted during the intervention or work time.

    It is extremely user-friendly for educators and students. It is simplistic and tabs are easy to locate and find. Assignments align with common core standards, which allows for all teachers to know how to assign and know what students are working on, as well as their performance.  The leveling of reading content allows for teachers to assess comprehension while allowing lower level readers to independently read. The progression through the levels by earning coins also motivates students to continue working on the intervention portion and making progress.  Students can also access videos for explanations and more support when needed, and teachers can assign this support at the beginning of an assignment to play when students aren't successful. "Many standards-aligned assessments are adaptive, increasing in difficulty as students master skills, and students can access video lessons as feedback" (Common sense education).  Students are able to see a visual representation of the task at hand in order to get a better understanding of the standard being assessed.

    In my classroom, this program has been used as an intervention tool to help students increase their reading and math skills. However, it has also been used to assess student understanding of standards that have been taught in a motivating way.  Students enjoy earning the coins and have become self-motivated to go into the program to continue their learning and progress.  Freckle education is a great technology tool that differentiates and provides effective intervention, instruction, and assessment, while using engaging and motivational methods.

Dreambox

    Dreambox is a program that is available for our entire district. It is 7,000 dollars for an unlimited number of students. Once students are on teacher rosters, they sync with the Dreambox roster, making it easy for teachers to see student performance and progress, as well as assign activities. This program has students take a pre-assessment to gauge their current level of performance. After this is determined, learning paths are generated for the grade level in which they are needing instructional guidance. Dreambox is a game-based format that has map on their home page for different “quests”.  If a student is struggling in an area, teachers can assign more practice, as well. This data allows teachers to determine what small group interventions to provide to students. When students have completed a level, they earn a certificate. “As a UDL teacher, you must know your students and understand your content so that you can plan a lesson that is motivating, meaningful, and allows students to customize their learning activities to meet their individual needs” (Murawski & Scott, 2019, p. 204).  As an educator, this information allows me to provide engaging interventions, as well as create lessons that are meaningful and engaging for students because of the game-based format.

Edpuzzle

    Edpuzzle is a video program where students can learn information from videos, while answering questions throughout the video. When I taught science, I used this to reinforce what we had been learning within the classroom.  For example, if we were talking about heat transfer, I would find a short video that students could watch independently on their devices on Edpuzzle. Throughout the video, I would insert questions, that could be read aloud, that checked for comprehension.  This was an easy way to create engagement and assess student learning at the same time, rather than simply using a worksheet. Providing the information in this format provided access to all learners to complete the activities.

Dreambox and Freckle Education-Ownership of Learning

    Dreambox and freckle education both provide opportunities for students to have choice within their learning. “Providing choice within an assignment promotes the healthy development of student autonomy” (Dabrowski & Marshall, 2019, p. 10).  In Freckle education, they have access to hundreds of assignments and activities that will further their learning reading and math skills.  The amount of effort and progress they make determines how many coins they earn, which creates motivation and engagement.  Dreambox has students take a pre-assessment to determine their skills. They then have a learning map where they can choose what standard they want to work on.  The standards and maps progress as they move through their independent levels. Providing choice creates motivation for student learning, as well as buy-in and engagement within the programs.

 References:

Dabrowski, J., & Tanji, M. R. (2019). Choice & Relevancy: Autonomy and personalization in assignments help motivate and engage students. Principal, 98(3), 10–13.

Freckle Review for Teachers. Common Sense Education. (n.d.). Retrieved April 19, 2023, from https://www.commonsense.org/education/reviews/freckle

Kakkar, S. (n.d.). Teachers first - thinking teachers teaching thinkers. TeachersFirst Review - Freckle Education. Retrieved April 19, 2023, from https://www.teachersfirst.com/single.cfm?id=15952

Murawski, W. W., & Scott, K. L. (2019). What really works with Universal Design for Learning. Corwin a Sage Publishing Company.