Assignment #4: Differentiated Instruction Your Classroom

I find the prospect and concept of Differentiated Learning (DI) very intriguing. It seems at first glance to either strike a balance between several different teaching methods/ styles or to pull them all under one umbrella. I doubt that it is a magic bullet and I wonder how different it really is from quality, varied instruction that good teachers have employed up to now. As I am not yet a teacher, I’m not in a position to say whether trying to plan for DI would be beyond a reasonable time investment, day in and day out. I feel confident however, that starting a career with DI as a modus operandi or at least a goal to shoot for cannot be much more difficult than starting out without it. I’m sure that incorporation of DI in my toolbox will make me a stronger, more effective teacher. There are a few points of DI that stand out for me more than others. They are: flexible grouping, on-going assessment, and student selected tasks.

I believe continuous, revolving, flexible grouping is a stroke of genius. It breaks down social clicks and barriers in the classroom. It forces students to take risks with all the other students in the class and learn to trust and get to know them. Perhaps this camaraderie will not continue out in the hallways and after school, but perhaps it will. Or, at very least, the particular class will come to be a place that is a healthy and vibrant learning community and students will remember a time and place where everyone wanted everyone to succeed. I’m encouraged by the prospect of grouping students by topic interest, ability, common strengths or weaknesses and the mixing of the two with peer teaching, student heights, the geographic proximity of their houses and other random criteria.

Assessment does not require much explanation. One thing that stands out for me is continuous assessment and the according modifications to groups, lesson plans and strategies. I think this will be easy for me to do but difficult to document as it could happen subtly and frequently.

I am glad to see that a balance of student input and student-selected tasks has become an encouraged and endorsed practice. Before learning about DI I had my own ideas about creating a ‘classroom union’ where students could learn the importance of collective action. In my model, students could have significant input on their learning providing that their position (whatever it may be) fulfilled the following 3 criteria: respectful, intelligent (thoughtful), and creative. I believe that I can strike (no pun intended) a balance between my classroom union, student ownership over their learning and teacher directed learning.