Let's revisit the opening questions and reflect on what we have learned by participating in this bookstudy.
In your own words define differentiated instruction.
How frequently do you use or will you use differentiated instruction?
What are some examples of how you have used differentiated instruction in your classroom?
What do you hope to gain or have you gained from this book study?
What is the one skill that you are most anxious to apply to your classroom?
What is the skill that you are the most skeptical about applying to your classroom?
Please share any other reflections you have after reading "How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms?"
DI in my words would be to provide a variety of learning presentations/ideas/evaluations to students of varying intelligence and learning styles so as to reach as many as possible while "lcoking" them in by motivating them with concepts that they feel are important to them.
ReplyDeleteI use it some, but I would love to work on it much more based on some of the ideas through thist study.
I feel some of my PBLs have demonstrated some of this by students creating podcasts, fixing national problems that arise and bridging them with the past (i.e. French Revolution with current Egyption Revolts)
I have gained a lot of insight on how to better motivate students by giving them more of a voice and helping them feel more pertinent to their lives.
I'd like to try and implement some of the ideas about grading as well as allowing students to create their own idea for a project and follow through with it.
I think having several types of learning going on in different areas could be very hard to keep up with and distracting to other students.
I like the book and the ideas it has on how to approach DI. It would be great for someone interested in doing this type of thing in the classroom but has no idea on where to start. And for someone just looking to better their teaching skills.
To recap - DI is providing quality instruction/learning opportunity for all students in way that is individual to his or her needs.
ReplyDeleteI think as I've answered these questions and read the chapters, I do this a lot more than I realized. I didn't realize that when I have students do notes various ways that is DI. I just thought I was mixing it up. I feel I use it weekly, if not daily.
I think notes, demonstrating, reading with the students, writing with the students, giving them an example of what I want, etc. are all good examples of the ways I use DI. I also adjust writing assignments, quizzes, and tests based on individual needs too.
I hope that I can be more efficient at DI after completing this book study. I also hope that I stop seeing it as a burden - sorry, but it is easy to get worn out when we think about how we have to get 100+ students to learn (sometimes independently) on a daily basis.
I think I am most anxious to apply differentiating products. I know that I need to have check points. As we get ready to write research papers, I will have "check-points" for sources, note cards, works cited, rough draft, etc. because I want to prevent them all from procrastinating. I want to guarantee they do this step by step.
I'm still skeptical about the cookie cutter mold - all students have to complete a 7 page research paper with correct parenthetical documentation. Despite how I teach this and put it on the board and in the packet, I still have numerous students every year turn in a papers with not quotes, not documentation, and noting cited! How do I prevent that?
I wish I had had fewer courses on the history of education (since it has changed so much and will continue to change) and more courses on THIS because this is the here and now and what teachers are actually expected to do! I started my masters years ago and sadly one of the two courses I tooks was...History of Education - like having it the first time around in college wasn't enough. I saw my master's as a waste of time and sadly never finished. Something like this would be so much more important to me being an effective teacher!