hey guys thanks for participating its what made our presentation work! i think differentiated instruction really is important and many teachers do it without think...it works
hey everyone! Thank you for participating in our presentation and I think it was very successful because you guys put forth the effort and participation. Differentiation is very important in the classroom, and it is important to apply it in your own ways but still use the methods described. I am nervous about working in a classroom filled with different kinds of students, but I feel the methods talked about will help out.
I am so excited to get to teach in the future. I know there alot of challenges ahead of us and I am so thnkful for the information that we are learning and will continue to learn. Differentiation is such an important topic. I wish my teachers would of knwn mre about this. I can see some problems with it though. It will be hard to explain to a group of kids why one person is getting an A when they only get half of the answers right and they are getting a C for the same correct answers.
What can we do to avoid as much conflict as possible not only from students but from their parents?
I think that it will be tough to explain to kids why some dont have to do the same things as them but its important to remember that You are the Teacher and they are the students. Life is not fair--its not fair for the student who has dyslexia to have to read at the same pace as the student who doesnt but some people expect everyone who is different to test at the same level. So while it may seem unfair from the outside it is the closes to fair these kids will get
I just wanted to say thank you to all that participated in our project on Friday...it makes me really happy to know that all of our hard work was appreciated. Differentiation is really close to home to for me because I have two people in my family with special needs, one who is around the age of 30 and the other who is 2. I know that my 2 year-old cousin will have so many more advantages than what my 30 year-old aunt did. My aunt just sits in a home with a host family and watches tv....it's really sad to think that she is not being challenged and just wasting away. I hope to help the people in my future classes that need it and hope that our group presentation has inspired you too!!
Hi all, You've made some very valid points in your comments. I'm just gonna jump in here if you're interested in my opinion read on... if not, skip it.
I think good teachers do some differentiation automatically - as do just good people. But the true differentiation that's needed in classrooms goes far beyond the random "Try it this way" or "Sure you can have more time." Real differentiation requires lots of advance planning and preparation, but it can be accomplished and accomplished well as long as you're not afraid of good old hard work and have the time to invest. The methods talked about in class are wonderful tools, and they do work - but the teacher has to set them up to work and set the students up to succeed.
Kids are more savvy and understanding than you might think, especially middle schoolers. They know they're not all created equally and to treat them as if they are would not be fair. My oldest son had all kinds of problems and is ADHD on top of it while my youngest son is quite intelligent and things come easily for him. It only took one talk with the youngest for him to understand why we rejoiced over C's for one and were unhappy with B's for the other.
I believe in talking to your students and explaining ideas of differences and differentiation and how you'll be using various methods to help each and every one of them achieve to his/her highest potential. Tell them they can understand that you may be teaching them in various ways because they learn in various ways so they should not even try to compare what they're doing with what others are doing. They're not the same people - they won't have the same results, and you don't have the same expectations. If you leave it for them to notice on their own that the requirements are different - you may have some issues. Head it off at the pass.
Also, if you use learning centers, projects, independent study, flexible grouping, they'll all be doing different things anyhow. You can adjust your expectations per student without needing explanations. It should never be so blatant as one student getting an A and the other getting a C for the same assignment. The first mistake there is teaching in a way that you would be giving the same assignment to these very different children. That would be far too easy to be the right way to do it. That's not where you want to go.
As teachers, you have tremendous amounts of influence on the futures of multitudes of people both students and parents. Talk with them, explain your methods and the rationales behind them. Help them understand that the differentiation you're doing is for the benefit of all students in your classes. Then be sure that it is.
Do not ignore those with higher abilities in order to focus on those with lower. Do not ignore the middle to assist the other two. You need to balance the load and have appropriate learning opportunities for ALL ability levels. I know this sounds impossible, and it is to the full extent. However, the efforts you make to vary assignments, allow students to choose their own methods of exploration and assessment, provide multiple resources at a large variety of reading levels, etc. etc. are all steps in differentiating for those children. As long as you do not teach in the old cookie cutter style - but offer variety and choices and opportunities to do something else while still teaching the same material and reaching the goals of the standards..... you will be on the right track to begin differentiating your class.
Amen - sermon over. Have a great rest of the week. See you NEXT Friday.
This sort of has to do with differentiation...I work at a sportsplex and i work for a child development program (PS. if you have any siblings/cousins from 18 months-9 years old-totally come talk to me!) and we play games based around the game of soccer. Its not intense (obviously, cause the 18 month kids cant even walk) but there are definatley kids that are more advanced in the classes and want to do more soccer-related things like footskills and stuff and then there are kids who never saw a soccer ball and just want to play tag. It's not as hard as you would think to get everyone on the same page, as long as you, yourself are motivated and excited about what your offering to them. Then no matter what the activity, they are at least willing to try it and thats when you give encouraging feedback to them which attracts them more to you and your lessons.
I really liked the jigsaw method of teaching because it allows students to talk with their peers about what they learned. I think it's unfair for teachers who are not trained well enough to deal with special needs students to have them in the classroom, and it's not fair to all the students either.
In my personal experience, I believe the state just wants to rid special needs students of the programs they need because of the costs, which completely disgusts me.
I know this is not about differentiation but I wanted to comment about the 14th I was not impressed by any means with the guest teacher. He had very one sided views and was not willing to listen to any other opinion. He was supposed to be teaching us not lecturing at us becuase we did not agree with everything he had to say.
11 comments:
hey guys thanks for participating its what made our presentation work! i think differentiated instruction really is important and many teachers do it without think...it works
hey everyone! Thank you for participating in our presentation and I think it was very successful because you guys put forth the effort and participation. Differentiation is very important in the classroom, and it is important to apply it in your own ways but still use the methods described. I am nervous about working in a classroom filled with different kinds of students, but I feel the methods talked about will help out.
I thought the presentation today was good because it was not all lecture and we got to have an opinion! Thanks!
I am so excited to get to teach in the future. I know there alot of challenges ahead of us and I am so thnkful for the information that we are learning and will continue to learn. Differentiation is such an important topic. I wish my teachers would of knwn mre about this. I can see some problems with it though. It will be hard to explain to a group of kids why one person is getting an A when they only get half of the answers right and they are getting a C for the same correct answers.
What can we do to avoid as much conflict as possible not only from students but from their parents?
I think that it will be tough to explain to kids why some dont have to do the same things as them but its important to remember that You are the Teacher and they are the students. Life is not fair--its not fair for the student who has dyslexia to have to read at the same pace as the student who doesnt but some people expect everyone who is different to test at the same level. So while it may seem unfair from the outside it is the closes to fair these kids will get
I just wanted to say thank you to all that participated in our project on Friday...it makes me really happy to know that all of our hard work was appreciated. Differentiation is really close to home to for me because I have two people in my family with special needs, one who is around the age of 30 and the other who is 2. I know that my 2 year-old cousin will have so many more advantages than what my 30 year-old aunt did. My aunt just sits in a home with a host family and watches tv....it's really sad to think that she is not being challenged and just wasting away. I hope to help the people in my future classes that need it and hope that our group presentation has inspired you too!!
Hi all,
You've made some very valid points in your comments. I'm just gonna jump in here if you're interested in my opinion read on... if not, skip it.
I think good teachers do some differentiation automatically - as do just good people. But the true differentiation that's needed in classrooms goes far beyond the random "Try it this way" or "Sure you can have more time." Real differentiation requires lots of advance planning and preparation, but it can be accomplished and accomplished well as long as you're not afraid of good old hard work and have the time to invest. The methods talked about in class are wonderful tools, and they do work - but the teacher has to set them up to work and set the students up to succeed.
Kids are more savvy and understanding than you might think, especially middle schoolers. They know they're not all created equally and to treat them as if they are would not be fair. My oldest son had all kinds of problems and is ADHD on top of it while my youngest son is quite intelligent and things come easily for him. It only took one talk with the youngest for him to understand why we rejoiced over C's for one and were unhappy with B's for the other.
I believe in talking to your students and explaining ideas of differences and differentiation and how you'll be using various methods to help each and every one of them achieve to his/her highest potential. Tell them they can understand that you may be teaching them in various ways because they learn in various ways so they should not even try to compare what they're doing with what others are doing. They're not the same people - they won't have the same results, and you don't have the same expectations. If you leave it for them to notice on their own that the requirements are different - you may have some issues. Head it off at the pass.
Also, if you use learning centers, projects, independent study, flexible grouping, they'll all be doing different things anyhow. You can adjust your expectations per student without needing explanations. It should never be so blatant as one student getting an A and the other getting a C for the same assignment. The first mistake there is teaching in a way that you would be giving the same assignment to these very different children. That would be far too easy to be the right way to do it. That's not where you want to go.
As teachers, you have tremendous amounts of influence on the futures of multitudes of people both students and parents. Talk with them, explain your methods and the rationales behind them. Help them understand that the differentiation you're doing is for the benefit of all students in your classes. Then be sure that it is.
Do not ignore those with higher abilities in order to focus on those with lower. Do not ignore the middle to assist the other two. You need to balance the load and have appropriate learning opportunities for ALL ability levels. I know this sounds impossible, and it is to the full extent. However, the efforts you make to vary assignments, allow students to choose their own methods of exploration and assessment, provide multiple resources at a large variety of reading levels, etc. etc. are all steps in differentiating for those children. As long as you do not teach in the old cookie cutter style - but offer variety and choices and opportunities to do something else while still teaching the same material and reaching the goals of the standards..... you will be on the right track to begin differentiating your class.
Amen - sermon over. Have a great rest of the week. See you NEXT Friday.
Blessings,
Diann
This sort of has to do with differentiation...I work at a sportsplex and i work for a child development program (PS. if you have any siblings/cousins from 18 months-9 years old-totally come talk to me!) and we play games based around the game of soccer. Its not intense (obviously, cause the 18 month kids cant even walk) but there are definatley kids that are more advanced in the classes and want to do more soccer-related things like footskills and stuff and then there are kids who never saw a soccer ball and just want to play tag. It's not as hard as you would think to get everyone on the same page, as long as you, yourself are motivated and excited about what your offering to them. Then no matter what the activity, they are at least willing to try it and thats when you give encouraging feedback to them which attracts them more to you and your lessons.
ASHLEY PEASE
I really liked the jigsaw method of teaching because it allows students to talk with their peers about what they learned.
I think it's unfair for teachers who are not trained well enough to deal with special needs students to have them in the classroom, and it's not fair to all the students either.
In my personal experience, I believe the state just wants to rid special needs students of the programs they need because of the costs, which completely disgusts me.
I just wanted to say that I thought that the jigsaw method worked great. I liked that we taught each other and shared the information that we read.
I know this is not about differentiation but I wanted to comment about the 14th I was not impressed by any means with the guest teacher. He had very one sided views and was not willing to listen to any other opinion. He was supposed to be teaching us not lecturing at us becuase we did not agree with everything he had to say.
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