ABSTRACT
Collecting information from relatives obviously gives students a comfortable and accessible way to move beyond their own experience. Relatives provide a comfortable and accessible way for students to move beyond their own experiences. Tina avoided telling students what they were supposed to think—she preferred instead to let them develop their own ideas about the assignment’s purpose. Rather than telling them what she thought the purpose was, she periodically asked students to reflect on what they thought. History can seem a difficult and distant subject for English language learners, particularly those whose families have recently immigrated to the United States. These students often struggle when learning history: The language is tough, the topics unfamiliar, the purposes unclear. Tina’s approach to differentiation was both more realistic and more productive than individualized instruction.
