Honestly, the idea of differentiated instruction, what it is and what it isn’t, is kind of a new concept to me. I mean I learned about it in college as parts of different classes, but never really looked at the definition of it and how to apply it thoroughly in the classroom. It was more like here’s some idea for students who are visual, here are some ideas for those who are kinesthetic, but they were more like use the projector, and that’s something that’s just a natural part of class, but I don’t think it’s necessarily differentiating.
I have small classes, my largest class is my science class which is 17, and we do a variety of activities, from lecture, small group discussion, whole class discussions, and different types of assessments that have the means to reach all students. My math classes have ten and seven students, so it’s very easy to work one on one with them, which allows me to teach them how to do different concepts in different ways, so without having to think about it beforehand I can differentiate as I work with different students.
So as far as learning about differentiation in the classroom, I have already learned a great deal this week and I’m expecting that that will only continue as the weeks go on and we read more and do more posts. I also enjoyed reading the other posts and getting ideas from other teachers out there who have done some great things in their classrooms. It made me reflect on how I am doing different activities in the classroom and what I need to change and what I can improve. I can see this next week as being a bit more of a challenge as my knowledge of Minecraft is zero, but the little amount of research I have done is getting me interested in how to use it in the classroom, so maybe it won’t be all that difficult at all.
I have small classes, my largest class is my science class which is 17, and we do a variety of activities, from lecture, small group discussion, whole class discussions, and different types of assessments that have the means to reach all students. My math classes have ten and seven students, so it’s very easy to work one on one with them, which allows me to teach them how to do different concepts in different ways, so without having to think about it beforehand I can differentiate as I work with different students.
So as far as learning about differentiation in the classroom, I have already learned a great deal this week and I’m expecting that that will only continue as the weeks go on and we read more and do more posts. I also enjoyed reading the other posts and getting ideas from other teachers out there who have done some great things in their classrooms. It made me reflect on how I am doing different activities in the classroom and what I need to change and what I can improve. I can see this next week as being a bit more of a challenge as my knowledge of Minecraft is zero, but the little amount of research I have done is getting me interested in how to use it in the classroom, so maybe it won’t be all that difficult at all.