Differentiated Instruction

In an ideal world each student would have one teacher who assess the student's strengths, weaknesses and knowledge base and tailors a curriculum and learning environment just for that student. But we live in the real world with classes of 20-35 students with a huge range of abilites and experiences. In one of my recent middle school science classes I had a reading range of 1st grade to high school level. I had students who already knew the state frameworks I was to teach and others who had met few of the previous years frameworks. I had students who came from safe loving homes and others who spent the school day wondering what DSS shelter or foster home they would go to that night. The reality of the public school teacher is that we teach a very diverse group of people. We must teach any and everyone who is placed in our classroom. This can be an overwhelming and seemingly impossible task.

To meet the needs of our students we need to provide differentiated instruction (DI). But we also need to attend meetings, write reports, call parents, help our students clean out their backpacks and navigate the social mine field that is growing up. When do we have time to assess our students, sort out their needs and differences and create an instructional plan to meet the needs of all our students? We know as teachers this is what we strive for but we also know as teachers that our "day" gets in the way. We need to remember that as tough as our task is we are not in this alone and with the advent of the world wide web we have a vast network of resources to help us. A quick search on the internet will lead to a vast array of lessons and activities. There are many online professional development opportunities and networks of teachers sharing ideas and supporting each other.

Technology can also provide us with a quick turn around time on both pre and post assesments. In this day of "data driven" instruction we need to know what our students know and we need to know it now. This helps us focus our time on the essentials and provides us with a chance to provide addtional learning opprotunities for those in need. This helps us focus our differentiated instruction. The more we know about our students, the more lesson and activity options we have at our finger tips, the better our instruction will be.

I seem to be wandering. I could go on rambling - but I think I need to take a break, regroup and think. Below are some resouces on differentiated instruction, I will continue with this topic soon.


Some resources:

Differentiated Instruction: Effective Classroom Practices Report, provides a good introduction to DI. http://www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_diffinstruc.html

Flemington-Raritan Regional Schools in NJ provides a hotlist page regarding DI. http://www.frsd.k12.nj.us/rfmslibrary/di/differentiated_instruction.htm

ASCD-Association for Supervision and Curriculum - has a variety of information on DI. http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/index.jsp

What is the learning process

I am convinced that as teachers we need to reflect on what is happening within our students as each one builds their own framework of knowledge. Learning is not about what is done "to" a student but what is done "by" a student. This leads to the concept of differentiated instruction. This takes place regardless of what a teacher does in the classroom because each student comes into the class with a different experience, knowledge base and learning style. The desired outcome is not always achieved because these factors were not considered. To make the educational experience more productive a teacher should take these factors into account as they plan the class activities. The educational process should allow for options so the student can participate in learning in the ways that work to their strength. Teachers should plan with differentiated instruction in mind.

Getting Started

In thinking about what I would place on this blog I believe the entries would be more like ramblings then well conceived bits of wisdom. As I see more technology used in classrooms, read more about the success and failures in education and play with the new technologies out there I find my views on education, technology and learning are always changing. I need to get these thoughts out of my head so I can examine them and help the ideas develop.

I constantly need to remind myself that education/learning is about what happens WITHIN a student. This should always be our focus - helping the student to interact with and experience content so they can learn and acquire the knowledge for themselves. Learning is an active process not a passive one. My focus as an educator is to find out what a student knows (where they are), know what they need to learn (where they are going), and to provide experiences for them to learn the new skills or information (how to get there).

The Beginning ...

This is the beginning of my blog. I have been reading many blogs and have learned so much from them. I also learn so much from my colleagues. I hope to share some of their best practices in using technology in the classroom.