Differentiated Instruction

Does one size fit all? Many seem to think so. Jeanie Rottle’s presentation referencing Differentiated Instruction and the various strategies was certainly insightful. I have taught at the various levels and used a multitude of strategies in the past. One of the most important components of the workshop involved the use of multiple intelligence charting. Differentiated Instruction is extremely beneficial to students as well as teachers. We live in a diverse society and our schools are representative of the aforementioned. When instituted in a professional manner, differentiated instruction can ensure success for all students. One size does not fit all!

Differentiated Instruction

I saw many posts on differentiated instruction and I realized that I was wanting to ignore them. I want to ignore differentiated instruction for many reasons...but mainly because it does involve extra work and planning. I have been teaching at least one inclusion class for the last 4 years (with 4 different sped teachers) and I have found that a good sped teacher can really help with differentiation. I've been with the good and the bad but I have learned lessons from all of them. Even the worst of the sped teachers I worked with taught me some basic skills on creating and maintaining relationships with students. She gave me no teaching assistance but she spent a lot of time cultivating caring relationships with students and when it is all said and done, her care may be the important thing a student gains all year. The best of the sped teachers I have worked with shared with me her arsenal of good strategies for hands-on learning...a lot of cut and paste that really, all the kids like....and that same sped teacher also has good ideas for basic drill and practice which is necessary for many slower or reluctant learners. And I say reluctant because many kids aren't really "slow", they just have too many other dramas playing out in their minds to always let real learning in. With differentiation, not only are learning opportunities modified but time limits and grading are also modified. The inclusion kids can do as much as most of the others many times they just need more time. I get in a hurry and have to remember to slow down so that every student can learn. I see differentiation is an ongoing challenge that I will keep working at.

Thinking Maps

When I think back to all the professional development I have had this year....and there has been a lot for me....one of of the workshops that really excited me the most was the thinking maps one. Christy Nolan came to our school and gave us a class that defined and showed us how to use thinking maps. I don't want to say "everybody" because it is never "everybody"...but most of the teachers I talked to were excited about them, too. Our media specialist even commented several times that it was so nice to see so many teachers engaged and even laughing during Christy's couple of days at our school. We are looking at using thinking maps school wide at our school next year. I think that is a great idea. Using the thinking maps over and over along the three grade levels will help it become ingrained and give students learning tools they can use in high school and college. I also find the thinking maps a handy way to organize data myself.

2009-2010 TSS Blog: Differentiated Instruction

2009-2010 TSS Blog: Differentiated Instruction
Being the 1st grade inclusion teacher at my school this year, I've found myself searching for ways to differentiate instruction so that all my students receive what they need in order to be successful. Jeanie Rottle offered some valuable and useful ideas I was able to incorporate into my classroom. The most useful tool for me was the curriculum map which addresses all learning styles. It is such a well laid out and thought out graphic organizer which makes addressing all subject areas and learning styles an easy task. Evidently, visual learning is one of my styles because seeing it all written out on this organizer made the task at hand much clearer. At the workshop I picked up extra curriculum maps for my 1st grade team and had them laminated. I look forward to us working together this next year and planning according to Jeanie Rottle's maps.

Tammy Durrance
Fox Elementary

Differentiated Instruction

My differentiation journey began years ago in the classroom. Differentiation does not take place over night; think of it as a wonderful work in progress. Once I felt comfortable with one aspect of differentiation, I would begin to add something new. For example, I first explained to my students and their parents what would be taking place that year and how it would affect their learning in a positive manner. I then added small things such as allowing my students choices in their reading and writing. I worked extremely hard that year, but the experience taught me so much. Take ample time to plan, plan, plan!

Differentiation

Jeanie Rottle presented some great strategies on differentiating instruction. I actually tried the learning styles assessment at the beginning of this school year for the first time. Using this assessment gave me even more ways to group my students. It also helped cut out students questioning why some of them have different assignments or tasks than others (my swd). I am excited to use the multiple intelligence chart while lesson planning to see if I can develop tasks that cover each learning style AND she gave use a breakdown of ideas in the booklet! That makes the challenge that much easier. Thanks Jeanie

M. L. Tate

If you need suggestions on how to address every learning style, grab Marcia Tate's book Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites. I was pleased to find I use many of her strategies such as movement/games (we set chairs up in a 3x3 block and play tic-tac-toe when we review for a quiz, the students are divded into two teams X's and O's), acting out a concept, writing songs or poems. One strategy I had not used was music. I have since implemented it into my lessons with great success. I thought it would be a huge flop and I kind of dreaded trying it because I thought I would have to deal with smart remarks about the genre of music, but the kids were curious! One thing I learned by trial and error was it worked better if some type of classical music was playing before my students entered the classroom. I shared this with my peers and team teachers began using it as well. Now the students ask what the title of the songs are and who the composer is!