Reflection+week+of+January+11

This week's reading focused on differentiated instruction. Differentiated instruction includes the learning content, process and products associated with learning. Teachers need to understand that students have different needs. Not all students learn in the same way. This is really not a new idea. Teachers have been setting their classrooms up for varying learning styles for years. I can remember getting into groups and producing videos when I was a student in 1978!

Sometimes teachers need to realize that there is a middle ground. Some students will need individualized instruction while others will need very little instruction. Grouping students together based on learning styles or abilties can help those students reach higher levels. Just as we shouldn't always put a high level and a low level student together we shouldn't always group lows with lows and highs with highs. Varying these groupings can help all excel.

Realizing that there are different ways of obtaining the product is really the key to differentiated instruction.