CH 1-7 Differentiated Instruction

Throughout reading the chapters I concluded that “Differentiated Instruction” is pretty much everything we have learned over the past year tied all together. The classroom is to be student centered, and a warm welcoming environment where the kids feel safe and confident. The activities and learning experiences being taught should get the students actively involved in their learning. They also should build on students’ prior knowledge to make comprehension easier. Teachers need to be sure to observe and include students’ interests in the lessons to make connections more valuable and meaningful. Teachers need to identify how students learn and their needs prior to planning. We must remember that students are on all levels of learning, and best achieve learning in many different ways (multiple intelligences). All of these different learning styles should be incorporated in the learning experiences. This helps both students, advanced and struggling, learn easier. The activities need to challenging for the students, and able to push them a little beyond their level. This is when I began to tie in the Zone of Proximal development and scaffolding. Each one of these points is connecting with all of the Educational Theorists. It was really neat to be reading and making connections to my prior knowledge of what we learned last year, but now it makes a lot more sense. I enjoyed feeling that sense of a better understanding when it comes to the components of a good classroom and good strategies of teaching.