Appreciating the value of differentiated instruction

Stephanie Kindistin:

As teachers of the 21st century, we are all familiar with the buzzword "differentiation," but is it just "buzz" ? I regularly hear teachers ponder the effectiveness of differentiated instruction. They raise questions such as, "Are we setting them up for success in the real world?" and "Is it worth the extra time spent to create the differentiated lesson?" These are both valid questions that could open up a lengthy debate in any crowd of teachers. My answer to both of these questions is YES!

Preparing students for success in college and the real world is a consistent focus in our field. When we think about other accomplishments in our lives that we prepared for, there was always a learning curve or ramp-up, if you will. For example, when we learned to ride a bicycle, we started with a tricycle, then went to a bike with training wheels, then a bike with an adult holding the back steady ... then, voila, we were riding a bicycle.

A similar learning path should be considered when acquiring knowledge in the classroom. We all need "training wheels" to some degree when learning a new skill or idea. These training wheels can translate in the classroom to something that makes the information more accessible to us. This can be through entry points, modified tasks, mini-lessons or scaffolding.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at May 26, 2012 3:44 AM
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