Making Differentiation More Impactful and Efficient in New York Classrooms

New York’s Marlboro Central School District is using eSpark to save teachers time and accelerate reading growth in first, second, third, and fourth grade classrooms.

We asked Ms. Tracy Feeney how she’s using eSpark’s apps, videos, and critical thinking activities with her first grade students and learned that eSpark helps Ms. Feeney reach new levels of differentiation while saving her three hours of lesson planning each week.

Q: How does eSpark help you meet the needs of all of your students?

“eSpark makes it easy to address the needs of my diverse learners by assigning quests that are differentiated for my students. I can also assign mini-quests that are differentiated for skills that I feel they are lacking.”

Q: What do your students like best about eSpark?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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“My students really like the little characters that eSpark has as they can follow along. They enjoy going on the quests. They enjoy helping each other make videos, and they like getting high fives.”

Q: How much time does eSpark save you each week?

“On average, each week eSpark saves me about three hours because it’s individualized for each student. To differentiate for each of the students in my classroom – I have about 20 - would take me quite a long time (without eSpark).”

Q: Have you seen students grow while using eSpark?

“I have seen students grow while using eSpark. They are definitely more independent, they are self motivated, and I find that some of the skills they’ve learned in eSpark are carried over to our guided reading table. ”