Differentiated Instruction, Chpts 1-7

As I read through the chapters, I found myself thinking, "This is great for reading and math, but how am I supposed to differentiate for every subject that an elementary school teacher is responsible for?" I mean, I read how the middle school and high school teachers were differentiating, but I felt like that would be easy--they're only responsible for one or two subjects. Then it hit me--"Duh, Stephanie, that's why you integrate." I was so excited that I had made that connection, it was like the light had been turned on. I don't have to worry about how I'm going to differentiate my instruction for science, social studies, reading, phonics, math, writing, etc individually. All I have to do is integrate and then differentiate!! I can teach writing and reading through science or social studies (or vice-versa) and differentiate for that time block and then change gears and work on math and science or social studies. Again, I was relieved to realize that I don't have to differentiate eight times a day. Instead, I can integrate!

The other big question I had while reading was, "How does this work with kindergarten?" since I am placed in, and hope to eventually teach, kindergarten. As I continued to read through the suggestions of how to create a differentiated classroom and how to communicate what I was doing to the students and the parents, the light began to come on (again). I am beginning to see that, if differentiation is something that I work toward from the beginning, even while I am still learning about the students, I can be successful. I may have to start off differentiating in one area (or one unit of study) and expand from there, but I can be successful at differentiating instruction.