Differentation Chapter 1-7 Lindi

These chapters talked about differentiation within the classroom. It was interesting to me to read this because it made so much sense yet I never see it in the classroom. The idea of giving choice, to my teachers, means mass chaos and difficulty with grading and keeping track of common student assessment. It’s as if in order to keep all the students on track, they should stay with the same work. They do timed math facts tests which I guess would be differentiation, but it happens in a high stress type of environment. It’s frustrating many times when I see the same things done week after week in the same subjects and the same grouping of students. When I tried once to differentiate in math with activities, it got a little loud and the teacher wasn’t too thrilled. Yet, the reason it doesn’t work is because she never gives them the opportunity to talk and work in groups doing independent work. Then, when given the chance to do these activities, initially it’s going to be hard for the students to understand their expectations. Then, after one bad experience, the teacher takes away their ability to work in groups because she is unhappy with the initial result. Yet, the final product could be excellent because the students are learning. The students simply need time to adjust but they will never get that opportunity.