Differentiated Learning

In your blog, please provide your reflection on three key areas within differentiated instruction that you envision that you will need to focus upon initially? In class we discussed that effective differentiating instruction is not developed 'overnight'. As such, what are the three key areas that will be a focus for you as you start teaching.

Organization
Environment
Evaluation/Assessment

I am a big believer that good organization is the key to a successful differentiated classroom. As differentiated learning requires a lot of movement throughout the classroom students need to know where everything is, where to go and how to get there efficiently. When this is available to the students less time is wasted in class. It also frees the teacher to spend more time teaching and less time explaining. Organization also helps with classroom management which is also a big time stealer and as time is always a deterrent to using differentiated learning it is an important to be efficient.

Having a positive classroom environment is essential to a differentiated classroom. In order to have your students working together, sharing and exploring learning they must be comfortable with each other. As a teacher I would foster a positive atmosphere for the beginning by encouraging students to get to know each other, learn each others names and by show casing student’s talents and skills to each other. If the students feel that they are in a fail proof environment then they are more likely to blossom in a differentiated classroom.

I feel that assessment, pre-testing, mid-testing and so on are an important aspect of differentiated learning. Before I can differentiate to my students needs I have to know their capabilities, strengths and weaknesses. It is pivotal that I know where my students are at all times so that I can challenge them and ensure that they can and will succeed. I will also work to build rubrics etc with my students so that they have a full understanding of the expectations in my classroom. It is my role as a teacher that I ensure that my assessments are fair, consistent and valuable.