Integrating DifferentiatedInstruction-Chapter 4

Integrating Differentiated Instruction
Chapter 4


Abstract:
This chapter emphasizes the need to focus on the students learning from the curriculum, not just the design of the curriculum; a strong and effective curriculum is one that focuses on students' understanding and the ability knowledge, not the "retention of data." The authors provide detailed explanations of nine essential attitudes of successful differentiating instruction: the establishment of clear essentials, acceptance of responsibility for students' learning process, development of respect, awareness of strengths and weaknesses of each student, development of classroom management techniques aimed at success, development of student involvement in his/her own educational progress, ability to be flexible with classroom routines so as to bend to the students' needs and a continual growth of individual progress and teaching techniques.
The authors continue to expound on these nine points and provide examples for each in a classroom scenario. It soon becomes clear that a differentiated curriculum and classroom setting provides opportunities for all learners and is crucial for the success of those students.

Reflection
The concept of differentiation became clear with this chapter; the nine essential attitudes/skills allowed us to actually picture how a differentiated classroom would be run while keeping with the curriculum. The scenarios were helpful because they put the nine points into a real-life context.
Awareness is the first step; now that we've been given the knowledge of how to run a differentiated classroom, the next step is to implement that knowledge. Many teachers have the desire to attend to each student's needs to help him/her grow as a student, but research shows that few can/do act on it; we hope that now that we're armed with the knowledge of how to differentiate, we can be successful when implementing that knowledge.