luv2teachHi Stacy I teach in Ontario, Canada. Several years ago, differentiation was the big buzz word in the middle school grades. I attented 10-12 school funded workshops that year alone. I do find differentiation is really beneficial for the students but you need to consider your goal to decide whether to differentiate by product or process. I think many...See MoreHi Stacy I teach in Ontario, Canada. Several years ago, differentiation was the big buzz word in the middle school grades. I attented 10-12 school funded workshops that year alone. I do find differentiation is really beneficial for the students but you need to consider your goal to decide whether to differentiate by product or process. I think many educators differentiate the process naturally when you realize that a student(s) are not understanding something, you try to teach it in another way or you start out knowing that you will present your lesson to reach a variety of learning styles. Sometimes the means of getting there is the same but you can offer the students a variety of ways to demonstrate their learning (ie. choice boards, etc). The one thing that can be difficult when doing this is ensuring that the students realize that the content learning you are looking for in their end product is the same whether they choose to write an essay or present their learning as a song or a poster. Many think one is easier but then fail to include real content. In short, sometimes it's in the back of your mind and other times you need to do significant planning to make it work.
Good luck. Lynn
On 2/29/12, Stacy E. Brandt wrote: > I am a college student in Davenport, Iowa. We are currently > looking at differentiation in the middle school classroom. > I would like to know how many teachers use differentiation > and how often to you make lessons with various skill > levels? I also wonder if those plans are written down or do > you just have them in the back of your mind while you are > teaching? I appreciate any feed back I receive on this > topic! Stacy
Stacy, you will find a lot of help in the blog post linked below. Teachers contributed their ideas and favorite reference materials related to differentiated instruction. Best of luck!
Hello, I am looking for teachers willing for a phone call / email tomorrow. I am developing a mobile application tool that helps studying for students and allows teachers to see metrics. You can tell us your favorite mobile application for study so that I can decide what is suitable for teachers needs. Thank you.