Curriculum Differentiation One of the most urgent challenges teachers face today is creating a classroom environment where all students are simultaneously engaged in meaningful activities. Too many times students may either become lost as the teacher continues on with the lesson or the material may not be advanced enough, thus becoming boring for students. The implementation of curriculum differentiation is a sustainable solution to this prevalent dilemma. In some parts of the world, the teacher will come into the classroom, write the title of the lesson on the board, and ask one of the students to read aloud as the rest of the class listens. When the student finishes reading, the lesson is considered to be taught. As individuals, do we learn Curriculum differentiation is a way of thinking, and not a strategy. It is a philosophy of how to respond to student differences. According to Carol Ann Tomlinson, differentiated curriculum is a way of, “shaking up what goes on in the classroom so that students have multiple options for taking in information, making sense of ideas, and expressing what they learn” (Tomlinson, 2001, p. 1). Curriculum differentiation can occur in numerous ways. It begins with a pre-assessment which identifies the students learning style and prior knowledge. Respectful tasks, flexible grouping, and ongoing assessment all guide differentiation. Teachers can differentiate the content, the product, the process, and the Becky Pursley, a passionate first grade teacher at Barton Hills Elementary, uses differentiation while teaching reading in her classroom. By using differentiation, Ms. Pursley is allowing students to be taught at their appropriate level. This allows for students to build upwards and motivates them to strive to grow out of their level. Students are engaged in activities that are enriching to their individual minds. Some students may be involved in buddy reading, some may listen to a book on tape, and some may even read chapter books. All these various activities can occur in one classroom with one teacher. The teacher’s job during a differentiated reading lesson is to circulate through the classroom and tend to students needs. A teacher should take a step back and become a guide for students. During a differentiated reading lesson, the classroom may appear to be lacking control, when in fact, as long as each student is engaged in something that is enriching to them, that is the perfect
Hall, T., Strangman, N., & Meyer, A. (2003). Differentiated instruction and implications for UDL implementation. National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum. Retrieved March 22, 2012, from www.k8accesscenter.org/training_resources/udl/diffinstruction.asp
A liberal arts core or curriculum is defined as the areas of study or learning that cultivate intellectual thinking and ideas rather than technical work or skills. By providing work within this curriculum students can achieve excellence throughout their college career. Although there is this aspect, a liberal arts core is often questioned if it is really necessary for a successful college career. This paper will discuss how and why a liberal arts curriculum is important as well as how this curriculum can lead to pursuing excellence during a college career as well as having success after college.
For this lesson I still need to learn how to analyze instructional goals and differentiated instructional strategies. When I transfer to a university to further my education; in my educational classes I will learn about this. In addition to student teaching, I will be learning how to handle future situations with the appropriate grade level. Lastly, I will ask for advice from art teachers and teachers in general to find out more information on differentiated instructional strategies.
Similarly, the readings also provide relevant insights about the associated roles and responsibilities that educators have to fulfill in order to create a differentiated classroom. Specifically, it may involve addressing key issues such as communication, assessment, instruction, standards, and other related principles that influence the acquisition of information and learning (Tomlinson, 1999). These elements act altogether to create a classroom that is conducive to change and recognizes the value and potential of differentiated classroom to the needs of students today.
What exactly is curriculum? There are so many definitions, perceptions, beliefs, and historical explanations on curriculum, but how did it start? where did it come from? This paper will provide information on an array of intellectual knowledge concerning the history of curriculum, such as, what curriculum is and how it started, a few of the important education philosophers who had a great effect on the development of curriculum, the relationship history of culture and curriculum, and curriculum auditing.
and what does it intend to achieve, should it prepare a child for the future or should it help a child understand what he/she learns. When we think of curriculum there are various types of curriculum that one comes across like objective driven, content driven, process driven and many a time it is a combination of one or more curriculum that is in practice. When we talk of curriculum should it be designed to give children the confidence and ability to face the world and should it help them apply the knowledge they gained in their own daily situations. In a culturally diverse country like India it is good to include local culture and traditional skills and also no one particular curriculum will serve the purpose and hence it has to be a mix. Just as the Indian Educational philosophers envisaged, education to be an engagement of mind along with body and spirit where it should not focus on preparation for a job but rather a preparation for life and it has to help build self confidence among the children to face their fear and must also give the agency to the learner . Pedagogical practices must thereby enable students to engage with creative processes that are unique and provide the freedom of expression for their ideas through exploration and experimentation therefore freedom must be an intrinsic part of pedagogy and teachers must act as facilitators rather than controllers to help guide the creative process in a
Currently I am co teaching a fifth grade class of eleven students. The class is a general education class with four students who have disabilities. My main focus for the class is teaching the human body system and implementing writing into the class. Differentiation of instruction is something we need to show that we are implanting in our classroom. There are four levels of differentiation of instruction; content, process, product, and affect. What we teach, how we teach it; how students demonstrate what they have learned, and how students feel about what they are learning is what DI is about. Educators need to start by choosing the best content that will help all of their students. The content not only has to relate to the subject matter, but need to connect to their culture. The process is also a crucial component of DI and Santamaria feels that the best thing to do for the students is having them work in groups, but Utley took an individual approach to DI. Santamaria feels that cooperative learning stimulates learning. The last component to DI is the product. This could be as simple as allowing the students to present their final product
There is a lot of information and numerous documents that speak on the great significance of using differentiated instruction in the classroom. The concept of differentiated instruction has not been recently developed, but has become crucial and somewhat a difficult concept in our educational system (Watts-Taffe, Laster, Broach, Marinak, McDonald Connor, Walker-Dalhouse, 2012).
When teaching literacy instruction is inevitable to teach in different ways, one because according the grade level children learn different things and two because as they go through the grades they need new knowledge. In kindergarten children are starting to learn in a different way than preschool, meaning that there is more instruction and they are learning the convections of reading and writing. During this year students will have to understand several concepts such as how a book goes from top to bottom, or left to right, writing words and even compared letters. They will have to recognize the alphabet letters know the letter sounds and even write their first and last names correctly. In order for all of these to happen instruction will be based on interactive read-a-louds in order to teach listening strategies, the teacher will read books aloud to children and ask question, as well as make students think critically. Another way of
When teachers differentiate their lesson, the students are more engaged to learn. Students have some choice in their learning activities, which motivates students to want to learn and also puts more learning responsibility on the students. Some students may prefer to work alone or in groups and some students like to be hands-on. By differentiating the lesson, all students’ needs are being met. “Differentiated Instruction gives students a range of ways to access curriculum, instruction and assessment. DI engages students to interact and participate in the classroom in a richer way. It is based on the assumption that all students differ in their learning styles, strengths, needs and abilities and that classroom activities should be adapted to meet these differences
When it comes to implementing a curriculum everyone has an opinion. Whether it is the organization of the curriculum or the evaluation of the curriculum, everyone from administers, teachers, and parents will have their opinions on the new curriculum. The curriculum development group has many difficult decisions to make. They have to decide when and how to implement, who will be in charge, what data will be collected, and how will the curriculum be evaluated.
In his book, Steppingstones to Curriculum, Van Brummelen discusses four popular perspectives on curriculum through curriculum orientations. “A curriculum orientation sets out basic worldview assumptions and how these suggest an overall vision for education, a view of knowledge and of the person, and how these affect classroom learning and teaching, and how we go about planning, and the general aims of curriculum” (pg.25). Curriculum orientations provide the teacher with a clear and distinct sense of direction for an educational program. A curriculum orientation is what a teacher teaches to. Each orientation has a different view on what’s important and gives the teacher clear focus. The four orientations are traditional, process/mastery, experimental, and Christian. When planning out curriculum, the traditionalist approach views curriculum as a conveyor of information and ideas. Their focus is on transmission. They focus on building basic skills and reasoning through gaining knowledge in key disciplines. Process/mastery supporters focus on the process. They view curriculum as a controlled and efficient process. Their knowledge and learning emphasis are on investigating, mastering, and applying data in small, defined, manageable steps. Experimentalist view curriculum as a quest for personal meaning. They focus on constructing knowledge. They’re all about learning through experience. They put emphasis on autonomous creation and negotiation of knowledge and meaning. Christians view curriculum as a reflection/ interpretation of God’s truth. They focus on responsibility. Their curriculum answers questions such as how do we foster students’ positive responses toward God, their fellow creatures, society, and themselves. They put emphasis on understanding and unfolding God’s revelation through experience, observation, conceptualization, and
I believe that the curriculum should be flexible. While teaching a certain subject, if the students wish to learn about something else or move into a different idea, I want to be able to do that. I do not want to say that we aren't going to have enough time to cover something.
Contrary to popular belief, curriculum integration entails more than simply linking lessons together along a common theme. It is more than just "rearranging existing lesson plans", it is an attempt to organize "curriculum around significant problems and issues…without regard for subject-area boundaries" (Beane, 1997). The goal of curriculum integration is to have students gain a deeper level of understanding across subject areas through interrelated thematic study. Themes are drawn from life "as it is being lived and experienced" with knowledge based around problem solving rather than rote skill acquisition (Beane, 1997).
Curriculum development is the first step used by a teacher to help them develop engaging lessons. One of the most useful tools to help develop curriculum is backwards design. Backward design helps to maintain a clear focus as to where the lesson leads (Marzano, 2010). Developing a clear and concise lesson not only helps the teacher; it helps the students as well.