Backyard Cricket and Differentiation

numeracy leaders teachers Mar 16, 2023

This summer we have been playing a few games of backyard cricket. Everyone gets involved and it is lots of fun! We have a wide range of abilities in our cricket game. From my 3 year old son who is lucky to hit the ball in 1/30 attempts, through to my husband who seems to take great pleasure in hitting my bowling for ‘six’!

Last time we played I was thinking about how cricket games provide a great example of differentiation.

We are all playing the same game. We are all engaged. We are all developing our skills, but by differentiating we are all interacting at our point of need.

For example, when my son is ‘bowling’ we allow him to do an underarm throw and stand much closer to the batter. When he is 'batting we will give him a few slow bowls and then if he isn’t successful we will roll the ball to him. This means the ball comes to him at a much slower pace and he doesn’t have to judge its flight trajectory through the air.

 

 

For my six year old, we have the rule ‘you can’t go out first ball and when she is fielding, if she catches the ball after one bounce, the person is ‘out’ (usually you have to catch the ball straight from the bat).

All of these little adjustments are critical to the success of our game.

I am not ‘ability grouping’ or excluding the younger children and sending them to play their own game because they are not up to the standard of the rest of us… We are all playing, learning, supporting and cheering each other.

Is it frustrating for the older girls? Possibly a little, but we always ‘step it up’ for them. When we bowl to them, it is much faster and they love this challenge.

This week I encourage you to choose just one of your maths lessons and have a think about how you can differentiate the content. We all know that differentiation is not easy, it requires forethought and planning. It may be that everyone is playing the same game, but some students are playing with decimals. Or it may be that you make a conscious decision to modify your questioning to ‘bowl faster’ to those students who are ready for a challenge whilst you are ‘rolling the ball’ to others.

Howzat?!

Want to learn more from Dr Ange Rogers? Click here to find out about her 'Quality Place Value Assessment in Years 3-6 Mini Course'

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