Winston Castillo

November 24, 2017

Katerin Duran
Education for Diversity

Initial Thoughts

1. What is differentiated instruction?

Differentiated instruction is an approach in which teachers adjust their curriculum and

instruction to maximize the learning of all students. Differentiated instruction is not a single

strategy but rather a framework that teachers can use to implement a variety of strategies,

many of which are evidence-based.

2. How do teachers differentiate instruction?

First, teachers must consider three things when planning instruction by getting to know their

students in terms of Readiness, Interest and learning profile. Second, taking into

consideration the three main instructional elements that they can adjust to meet the needs of

their learners which are knowledge, process, and Product. Finally, Evaluating and grading

student performance.

3. How do teachers prepare their students and their classrooms for differentiated

instruction?

By having Students and parents learn about differentiated instruction, communicating with

Students and Parents, organizing the Classroom, employing Effective Behavior Management.

The more the parents and learners are informed about differentiated instruction, the more

involve and engage students and parents will be.

 4. What does differentiated instruction look like in the classroom?

When differentiated instruction is implemented in the classroom, teachers will use a variety of

instructional approaches, Alter assignments to meet the needs of the students, assess students on

n ongoing basis to determine their readiness levels, use assessment results to adjust instruction as

needed, provide a variety of options for how students can learn and demonstrate their knowledge,

strive to make lessons engaging and meaningful, employ different grouping formats for

instruction (e.g., whole-class, small groups, independent instruction) and use flexible grouping.

Assessment

1. What is differentiated instruction?

Differentiated instruction is an approach in which teachers adjust their curriculum and

instruction to maximize the learning of all students.

2. Describe at least four significant ways in which differentiated instruction differs

from traditional classroom instruction.

Differentiated instruction differs from traditional classroom instruction in terms of the

approach and also the way it takes into consideration the needs of the students, the wide

variety of strategies implemented in class, the sitting arrangement, grouping and the way the

teaching-learning process is conducted.

3. How can teachers get to know their students? Make sure to include the three

characteristics of students that are important for differentiating instruction and give

at least two examples of how teachers can learn about each.

Teachers design lessons to address the needs of groups of students. Before teachers can do

this, they must first get to know their students in terms of: Readiness, Interest, and

Learning Profile.

Readiness refers to a students knowledge and skill level regarding given content. Two ways

a teacher can learn about this characteristic is examining the results of formal or informal

tests and Viewing a students academic record.

Interest refers to topics, skills, or activities that catch a students curiosity or inspire him or

her. Teachers can discover their students interests by determining what topics they enjoy and

writing a journal entry about themselves.

Learning profile refers to a students preferred method of learning new information or skills

and to environmental factors that influence a students learning. Teachers can assess a

students preferred method of learning by Administering an inventory or questionnaire and

observing the student during class

4. Ms. Hasbro has taught high-school Spanish for ten years. She would like to start

differentiating instruction and needs to make some changes.

a. Explain why each of Ms. Hasbros classroom practices listed below is not

a differentiated practice.

Lecture is a teacher centered approach in which there is little participation of the

students, in the same fashion, Grouping based on achievement test scores instead

of students strengths and weaknesses is not an effective way of grouping.

Rewarding for participation means that the class is not engaging. Teachers must

understand that giving a quiz every Friday is a partial assessment but it is not a

whole assessment.

b. Describe what Ms. Hasbro can do differently with each of them.

Delivers instruction primarily by lecturing: She should have class

discussions and more engaging activities.

Does not permit students to retake tests they have failed: Before

taking the exam, she could have them create their own exams and also

exams should be based on the questions students generated and

discussed in class. Teachers have to understand that there are poor

tester students and therefore should find a more adequate way to

evaluate those students.

Records zeros for missing assignments: Telling students a due date

for the assignments and deducting points as the due date passed will

always have them comply with assignments. Making assignments

meaningful also works.

 Groups students at the beginning of the year based on the previous

years achievement test scores: Students should be group based on

strengths and weaknesses. And also taking into consideration the skills

and competences of your students. That is why teachers must know

their students learning profiles well.

Gives bonus points for classroom participation: Teachers have to be

very careful when they implement a rewarding system that does not

take into considerations the personality traits of the students. There are

different ways of participation. A Good job guys! Sometimes is the

best way to reward the whole class. Being fare is not an easy thing to

do.

Gives a test every Friday: Assessment is an ongoing process. Testing

is not the only way to assess students learning, competences or

knowledge. Project presentation, essays, role plays, the use of

technology and interactive assessment tools can also be incorporated.

 5. Think back to a class you took in high school. Describe both the class and how the

teacher typically conducted it. Describe five elements that you would change to

make it more differentiated. (Make sure to include at least one each for content,

process, and product.)

My English class in high school. The teacher used to do all the talking and hardly ever gave us

the chance to show our prior knowledge. In the same way, if you were good at English or you

had prior knowledge, teacher would use that as an excuse to take points from you, because you

were supposed to know. He would humiliate you in front of the class. Or just ask you the most

difficult questions. Furthermore, you would never get a good grade because you knew English

already. Quizzes on Friday and monthly exams were the two ways of assessment used.

Contentthe knowledge and skills students need to master. The teacher only used one strategy

to deliver content, lecture. I would implement different teaching strategies to get to each one of

my students.

Processthe activities students use to master the content. The teacher only assigned the

workbook as class activities and the book activities. I would vary the activities students use to

master the concepts or skills.

Productthe method students use to demonstrate learning. The teacher only assessed with

weekly or monthly written papers. I would assess the same concept or skill for each student at

the end of a unit of study and offer my students a variety of ways to demonstrate their knowledge.

Questions and Answers from: https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/di/