Chapters 8-10 D.I.

The three characteristics of students that guide differentiation in the classroom are all things that we have been previously talking about, just summarized into three short words. For instance, readiness in other words is pulling from the students’ prior knowledge and building on it so that they are ready to learn more and add to their previous knowledge. Children are going to need to go at different paces and will achieve that new knowledge in different ways, so it’s important to be prepared as a teacher for these differences. We talked today in class about the importance of pre-assessments. These I feel are a good way to see if a child is ready, and they show where a child is before starting the unit. Then throughout the lesson teachers use formative assessments to make sure the students are progressing and ready to move on. The summative assessment at the end shows the progression of the student throughout the entire unit from beginning to end. This assessment helps you know what the students have gained from the unit. The next characteristic in the book was interest. We had a lot of experience with it this past week when putting together our “Getting to Know Your Students and Curriculum” assignment. Students’ interests must be incorporated in the lessons being taught so that it is fun, interesting, and meaningful to them. When they are learning about something they already know and like the learning that takes place is much stronger and much more beneficial for the students. The last characteristic, learning profile, simply refers to Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences. All students learn differently. As teachers we need to be aware of each child’s learning style, so that we can be sure to include all of the learning styles throughout the unit to make the learning easier for them. I enjoyed being able to pin point these characteristics as things we have already been focusing on in our classrooms. I now have an even better understanding of the characteristics and differentiation, and can continue to find ways to use it when planning for my unit.