Final Blog Response

From this class I have changed my view on catering to the needs of each student. I now know that you don't just differentiate all of your lesson plans by readiness. Through this class I have learned that there is so much more to differentiation that I had thought. I think it is so cool! I am excited to find out my students' interests and to be able to group them according to that. I want to try out as many methods of differentiation as possible. I hope my students like trying new things because I sure do! :)

I really like the idea of differentiation because when I was going through elementary school I felt like everyone was being taught the same way and I didn't like. I didn't always learn the same way everyone else did. So this bothered me, but I didn't realize it until I was in the education program. I want to be the change that students are looking for, I want them to be excited about learning!!! I want each of my students to feel like they have learned so much everyday when the school bell rings for them to go home. None of them will have the same learning experience so I want to help each of them to have the BEST school year!

Response #4 Differentiation Definition

I have learned the basic outline to what differentiation is. I say outline because I think that to fully understand the concept of differentiation you need experience in teaching it. To me differentiation means that a teacher is willing to go the extra mile by helping students gain the fullest learning experience that they possibly can. The teachers are able to do this by figuring out how each student, or a group of students, learn the best. This may happen by putting students into groups that have similar topics of interest. One group may think it would be cool to learn how electronic machines work while another group would be interested to know how manual machines work. A teacher that practices differentiation will do this for the benefit of the students. They aren't out there looking for the glory or reward, they want the students to be able to obtain information and understand how to learn independently.

As I have learned a lot about differentiation in this class, I have also learned a lot about myself and how I can adapt my learning techniques so that I am able to obtain more information. Differentiation doesn't come from teaching a lesson plan or instructional book word for word, it comes from the accommodations that are made so students can learn that content.