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.