Reflection on Reading (Synthesized)

Name: Team 2 (Carrie, Abbie, Matt, Andrew, and Laura) Date: 9/13/07

Book Title: Integrating DI and UbD Chapter: Two

Abstract:

This chapter focuses on a teacher’s ability to be flexible and differentiate according to the needs of his or her students. It points out that even the most beautifully constructed curriculum and the best planned lessons will be ineffective if they are not carried out by means of differentiated instruction. Through several real life examples, the chapter points out that a students performance in the classroom can be affected by all kinds of outside factors, whether it be a divorce, an undiagnosed learning disorder, or being of an untraditional intelligence that gets ignored by most teachers. It stresses a teacher’s need to be prepared to accommodate all kinds of students and their unique needs in order to allow them each an equal chance at learning the key points of the curriculum. The main things a teacher must “attend to” are student/teacher relationships, the classroom environment, understanding the students’ strengths, needs and backgrounds, and the students’ readiness to learn, interests, and motivation. The chapter does however end with a note that balancing all of these tasks at all times is impossible for any teacher to do, so the best approach is to attempt to find patterns of instructions within a unit that will hopefully cycle through most, if not all, of the learning styles present in the classroom.

Reflection:

Our team found this chapter to be very interesting and helpful in explaining the different techniques in accommodating student’s individual needs. The real life examples were well received and seen as an effective way to create meaning in how we would use these methods in our own classrooms. As a group, we appreciated the value of creating patterns throughout a unit in order to ease the challenge of reaching every student while still actively attempting to do so. Finally, we mostly valued the idea of teaching responsively and in the moment rather than tailoring our lives around a meaningless set of unreachable standards and tests. We all feel that we will make every attempt to set up a classroom where our students can feel comfortable in their own styles and intelligences and get the most out of our lessons.

Posted by Carrie