Week 1

What is Differentiation?

(Koschmeder, 2012)

What is the History and Theory behind Differentiation

History Theory O Differentiated instruction

dates back to 19th century one-room schoolhouses. In these schools, they had multiple grades in one room, and the teacher had to accommodate all the different levels of learning in the one class (Sousa, & Tomlinson, 2011).

O Students are not all the same, and so teachers need to know their students, and focus their lessons on the learners to maximize their potential (Sousa, & Tomlinson, 2011).

Question: How does differentiated instruction look different from

traditional instruction approaches?

Traditional O The classroom

community is a teacher- centered environment, with a one-size fits all approach to teaching.

O The teacher will employ a direct teaching model, which would require the students to sit quietly and absorb material from the teacher.

O Students would spend the majority of their time preparing for high-stakes assessments, and attempt to retain material for these tests by memory repetition.

Differentiation O The classroom community

is a teacher-centered environment, with a one- size fits all approach to teaching.

O The teacher will employ a direct teaching model, which would require the students to sit quietly and absorb material from the teacher.

O Students would spend the majority of their time preparing for high-stakes assessments, and attempt to retain material for these tests by memory repetition

What are the characteristics of a diverse student?

O Visual: This type of learner prefers to

see material illustrated on the broad or in text. They also benefit from multi- media presentations and visual stimulants displayed around the classroom.

O Audio: This type of learner prefers to listen to material being delivered from the instructor by lecture or in a group reading session.

O Hands-on: This type of student prefers a little of both visual and audio, along with the ability to put hands on a project and solve problems with a physical mechanical process.

Every student is different, and no one learns the same way. We like to break our learners into three different styles of learners

What are the characteristics of a diverse student?

O Interests: It is a good idea to understand what interest your students, for example: Do they like to play sports, do they like to draw/paint/sculpt, or maybe your student is a gamer.

O Background: Most students come from very different backgrounds that consist of household racial make-up, and socioeconomically different make-up.

O Ethnicity: In today’s classroom, our students have a variety of racial and religious backgrounds. As a teacher and parent, we need to be sensitive to other student’s religious and ethnic beliefs.

There are a number of other factors that play a role as well; and should be considered when working with our students.

The Benefit of Differentiation in the Classroom

O In the world of classroom education it is important to understand that each student has a different style of learning. It is the teacher’s responsibility to evaluate their students and determine the needs of each student. During the course of a unit, the teacher can implement multiple methods of teaching to address these different styles of learning of their students (Estes, Mintz & Gunter, 2011).

Negative Outcomes of Differentiation

O The only down side to differentiation is the time it takes for a teacher to prepare class lessons. This is why differentiation is not a main stream concept. For this concept to be affective, it is imperative that the teacher take the time to prepare detailed and multiple lesson plans; using many different form of teaching models (Estes, Mintz & Gunter, 2011).

Classroom Mindset O Students and teachers

need to have a growth or fluid mindset. This means Students must be ready and willing to grow and succeed. Teachers must be encouraging, and push students to advance (Sousa, & Tomlinson, 2011).

Let’s Build a Winning Team

(Castañeda, 2012)

References

Text Estes, T.H., Mintz, S.L., & Gunter, M.A. (2011) Instruction: A models approach. Boston, MA: Pearson. Siegle, D. (2014). Technology. Gifted Child Today, 37(1), 51. doi:10.1177/1076217513497579. (Ashford University Library). Sousa, D. A. & Tomlinson, C. A. (2011). Differentiation and the brain: How neuroscience supports the learner-friendly classroom. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

References

Video Castañeda, R. (2012, July 10). Building a community [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d13vl4WIN_I Koschmeder, C. (2012, June 11). What is Differentiated Instruction? Retrieved June 2, 2015, from https://youtu.be/YAWKxpCv1Fw

References

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