ch. 13 - differentiating products

Chapter 13 discusses differentiating products. I feel differentiating products would be a great, beneficial way to assess your students after completing a unit. Product assignments allow students to show their knowledge in a way that makes sense to them. One thing that stuck out to me about product assignments is that the students and teacher work together and communicate about the student’s readiness and interest. This is something I do not feel I see often enough. I think it is important for the teacher and students to discuss their progress in the classroom.

Chapter 13 also discussed giving students’ detailed instructions, but allowing them some choice in the assignment. The choice would allow them to choice the mode of expressing the knowledge. I feel creativity is too often taken out of classroom allowing students a choice in how they represent the knowledge they learned allows them to use their imagination and creativity. Students are going to feel like they have more of an ownership with an assignment when they have choice in it. I feel product assignments may be a more affective way of assessing student’s knowledge than tests because the products are differentiated for the student’s readiness.