Week IV Post

Hello everyone! It's spring break for me, which means extra time to read this week's articles! The theme of this week's reads was differentiated instruction. Simply put, differentiated instruction is an educational philosophy that allows for more flexibility for student learning based on different types of lessons and learning and student interest. Differentiated instruction is not to be confused as attempting to create an individual lesson plan for every single student. In today's educational landscape, that would be near impossible just because of the sheer number of students each teacher has. I feel that as time goes on, differentiated instruction is starting to take front stage in the classrooms of the future. It definitely is being taught more to new teachers. I can say this from personal experience because this is not the first time I have learned about this interesting concept.

UPDATE: I just finished watching one of our assigned movies for the week. The movie I chose was "Knights of the South Bronx". In that movie it could be argued that their differentiated instruction was the game of Chess. Using the game, the teacher taught them math until the principal put an end to it. There are also studies that show that logic is based off of mathematics, in which case would make Chess the perfect case of differentiated instruction since the children were so interested in it.

Comments

  1. Steven Schaaf's Education BlogMarch 30, 2018 at 4:54 PM

    Jay,

    Happy spring break my friend! I think you are right in saying differentiated instruction is going to become and more popular. Technology is allowing teachers to use various resources and methods in the classroom, different to the classroom of old. No longer do teachers stand in front of a class and lecture. Material can now be more interactive and creative in getting students to learn.

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    Replies
    1. KZMarch 31, 2018 at 7:25 AM

      Hi Jay,

      I also watched "Knights of the South Bronx" and agree that the game of chess was used as a method of differentiated instruction. I enjoyed that movie. If the teacher didn't have the game of chess to hook the kids, he wold have received a very different reaction to learning math and learning as a whole. He knew that his students were resilient and fighters similar to the mindset one needs to have while playing chess.

      I also agree that technology is helpful when creating a differentiated instruction approach, but I also believe too much technology can be ineffective when it comes to learning and teaching.

      Thanks,
      Kirsten

      Delete
    2. lisa_pesaventoMarch 31, 2018 at 8:43 PM

      Hi Jay,

      I really like the article from Edutopia that broke down the three areas of DI: content, processing, and breakdown. I think it is important to ensure we are incorporating DI into all three areas in order to see our student achieve! Also, I agree that it seems teachers are more and more moving towards incorporating DI into their classrooms. It's exciting to think of the results in a few years if teachers continue to utilize it throughout the country!

      Delete

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