Chapter 1: What is a Differentiated Classroom?

I agree that students become frustrated when they don't understand and that really affects their overall attitude and feelings towards school in general.

1. The basic premise is that ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL. The next question for me is what defines a sub-group, i.e visual learner vs. aurel learners, well behaveed v. poor behavior model, or roups that require a lot of repetion v. ones the require little repetion. I would assign people to a minimum of 3 subgroups (expand to 5 or contract to 2 as required).

1. My interest in sub-grouping has a lot to do how to the intial anaylysis with no "make work" sub grouping where it is not indicated.

2. If prior knowledge reflects a highly homogenious group, keeping them in a group for much of the time might be what is required. An example of this is the music rehearsal setting where most of the music class is taught in one large group. People with specific problems might best be served by one on one lesson or smallgroupt lessons.

You mentioned that differentiated instruction "addressed the needs of both struggling and advanced learners" while "other classrooms are ignoring student differences."  Honestly, I'd suggest that it's the philosophy that does the addressing and/or ignoring, not the teacher.  I have no idea how said teacher actually addresses a struggling student.

I do agree that our current "whole classroom" philosophy makes it difficult to address student needs and that new strategies are needed.

On pages 5-12 the author presents samples of classes at various grade levels that feature teachers that use whole-class instruction and teachers that follow her differentiated model. Specific grades covered include Grades 1, 5, 8, and 9-12. The author presents the teachers in the whole-class instruction group as set in their ways, nonconforming, inflexible, single assessors, not driven toward excellence, whole-class instruction domination, not meeting students needs, etc., etc. I think this is a very poor assessment of the teachers in this group. In her samples the author only provides one to two paragraphs about the things each one does in their classrooms. This is just not characteristic of the teachers I have observed. It leads you to believe that each one of them is a poor teacher. Chapter 1 is very biased toward this group of instructors. The author then presents her glowing reviews on the so called "differentiated" teachers. This group is presented as ambitious, working toward excellence, on going assessments, multiple materials, meeting all students needs, grading that reflects performance and growth, etc., etc. The follow up on each one is four to five paragraphs in length. Again, very one sided and it leads you to believe they a the best teachers in the school. My personal assessment of Chapter 1 is a "thumbs down" C.A.T. My reasons for this is a follows: 1. I am concerned as to how this information was gathered about each group. The following quote from her book explains this: "some of the following samples from classrooms in which teacher differentiated instruction are lifted from my own observation". "Some are composites of several classrooms or extensions of conversations with teachers". The only direct observation she has in my opinion is that with student teachers who are using her model. She may have some experience observing the cooperating teachers but I am guessing it is mainly conversation based. She has never been an elementary, middle school, or high school principal. She has very little experience at the high school level as evidenced by the few paragraphs on pages 5-12. I feel that information is important to me in justifying my opinion about the things written in the samples in Chapter 1. In my opinion strong teachers build a foundation of techniques that have proven to be successful in their classrooms over the years. They continuously evaluate and add new ideas in technology and curriculum as time and money allow in a school district.

2. The key principles of differentiated learning that the author mentions in Chapter 1 are having a strong content, meeting the needs of all learners by using a variety of approaches to learning, using varied rates of instruction along with varied degrees of complexity, and allowing them to compete against themselves.

1. There were a couple of statements that stood out when I was reading and that was that teachers who differentiate provide specific alternatives for individuals without assuming one student's road maps for learning is identical to anyone else's. Teachers in differentiated classes use time flexibly, call upon a range of instructional strategies, and become partners with their students so that both what is learned and the learning environment are shaped to support the learner and the learning. Teachers do not cling to standardized, mass-[produced lessons because they recognize that students are individuals and require a personal fit. Taking into consideration the students who learn in different ways, at different rates, and who bring to school different talents and interests will ensure students' success in the classroom.

2. I think some of the key principles would be to ensure that learning is going on for every individual in the classroom whether it be grouping students according to ability, interest, etc. or reaching the individual learners through multiple learning resources. Challenge the students who need to be challenged and develop classrooms that meet the needs of students' needs and differences.