Differentiated Instruction: A Teaching Theory

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Differentiated instruction is a teaching theory based on the premise that instructional approaches should vary and be adapted in relation to individual and diverse students in classrooms (Tomlinson, 2001). All though, “every teacher who has entered into a classroom has differentiated their instruction in one way or another.” (Levy, 2008) Teacher can use differentiated instruction in four elements, including content, process, products and the learning environment.

Content is what the students needs to know to learn the material. One way, that a teacher can differentiate the instruction is though properly used reading groups. A well formed reading group should be really close to the same reading level. This allows the teacher to provide a book that is easy enough to comprehend, but hard enough to challenge the reader. For example, if a third grade teacher, has a few students that read at a fifth grade level, the teacher can provide books at their level. Meanwhile, if that same teacher had a few students that read at a first grade level, the teacher can provide first grade books. If the teacher provides the correct book, the students can learn how to spell and more vocabulary. Also a proper reading group does allow for students to have conversations with students at their own comprehension level allowing for a more beneficial knowledge assessment.

The way that a teacher teaches is the process. There are many things that a teacher can do to help all students get the most out of the classroom. One of the things that a teacher can do is encourage class discussion. The reason is because it moves students farther up Bloom’s taxonomy. Another way that a teacher can do is value independent reading time. This will help a student because...

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...o provide read alouds that talk about that country’s culture, or have a guided reading book that does the same thing.

A third reason for differentiated instruction is the gender differences. Boys and girls in the classroom have different likes. When a teacher has to pick read alouds, the student should consider having books that are very neutral based of the gender that likes to read the book. Although the teacher, should also have books that boys seem to really like, as well as girls really like.

A fourth reason that a teacher has to use differentiated instruction in the classroom is the different religions that may be in a classroom. This affects some of the bigger schools in the United States. A teacher should have books that provide character building and talk about many different religions in the classroom.

Works Cited

scholastic.com

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