Chpt. 12- Differentiating Process

I really enjoyed reading Chapter 12 about differentiating process because it was just yesterday in my placement when I saw that the process or 'sense making activity' for the students should have been differentiated a lot more across the classroom. The students were working on addition worksheets. The teacher was requiring the students to do each problem as a class because most of the students in the class needed guidance. I watched as one student had to hold back when she knew she could complete the whole page correctly. It really frustrated me to not see differentiation going on. Even though the majority of the class needed that step by step guidance to complete the handout, this child was just sitting there in boredom. I noticed what was happening and asked the teacher if the students who were understanding could go on ahead and after she saw what was happening, she reluctantly let the students go on ahead. However, all the other students saw that the more advanced students were rushing through the hand out and I noticed looks of concern because they could not do that. When I look at how differentiation was attempted here, it kind of worries me about how to do it correctly. I know that the attempt at differentiation that I witnessed in the classrooom is not how it should really look. I like how the book describes the difference between a good activity and a good differentiated activity with differentation using 'a range of modes at varied degrees of sophistication in varying time spans.' Differentiation should never be looked at as 'Ok you go on and complete this page quicker than the other students and then just read.' This is what I see happening and this is not what it should look like.