Differentiated Instruction

Anderson. K., Differentiating Instruction to Include All Students. Preventing School Failure 51 no.3

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Differentiated Instruction

The article I chose sounds, oh so familiar. It's about a fourth grade teacher who is preparing

himself for another school year with a new group of students. Mr. Wright, the teacher, has been teaching

at the same school, cares greatly about hid students, and expects " their best work at all times." Well,

because of the increasing accountability demands, he puts on hold many of the creative teaching

practices he once envisioned implementing in his classroom. He has lost track of the number of times he

heard his principal say, "Fourth grade is a testing grade, so everything you teach must be aligned to the

test." Due to the pressure of administration, he uses a lot of workbooks and others material specifically

designed to increase students achievement on statewide assessments. The students basically work in

fixed groups on ability level, which were determined on their cumulative files before school started.

Wow! This is so identical to my school that I feel, I'm Mr. Wright! Each year we have a faculty

meeting the first day of school. We always discuss the plans and objectives for the year, then always end

with us fourth grade teachers being told EXACTLY what Mr. Wright was told. To top it off, when you

go to your room to work on it, there's always that pile of new workbook materials that you must

incorporate into your lessons for THE TEST!

Teachers have yearned for many years more responsive and effective methods in addressing

students differences. Many children perform daily on the "margins" of their classroom, never fully

engage and rarely ever catch a glimpse of their brightest potential.

Differentiated instruction is not at all a new concept in teaching. A prime example is that of the

one-room school house where teachers taught to meet each students needs. Differentiated instruction

stems from beliefs about differences among learners, how students learn, differences in learning

preferences, and individual interests. It implies that the purpose of schools should be to maximize the

capabilities of all students.

Differentiated instruction has some critical elements such as choice, flexibility, on-going

assessment, and creativity. Teachers determine when planning what their students should know and what

each child should be able to do at the conclusion of the lesson. Instead of varying the learner objectives

and lowering performance expectations for some students, teachers differentiate the content by using

texts, novels, or short stories at varying reading levels. They use flexible grouping