For the last eight days, I’ve been caring for a neighbor’s plants and kitty. No big deal, right? Well, it’s a tiny deal when your neighbor is a practicing botanist with lots of letters stacked next to his name. I’ve got the kitty responsibilities down pat. Fresh water, crunchy food, a spoonful of wet food every other day, playtime, and an occasional brushing. The learning curve for the plant care has been steeper. No to tap water. Yes to tap water. Water every day, water every other day, or water every third day. Too much sun is bad. Too little sun is bad. I actually have three pages of notes for a total of 40 or so unique plants.
I was in the midst of describing my extensive plant-care responsibilities to a pal when it hit me: I’m differentiating! My task doesn’t stand muster to how you differentiate in the classroom; however, I am reminded of the enormity of this task. So how do you do it? How do you embrace the varying needs of your students and still have hair to comb each morning?
Please share!
Diane
I teach a K-3 class so my day is all about differentiating. I really try to stay on top of where each of my students are at by assessing their skills. Beyond the adopted curriculum, I use a variety of materials to supplement so that I can provide the necessary practice in order to reach mastery. Small group instruction help to give more personal attention to each student.
With the wide developmental range in Prek Classes I tend to put out alot of materials that can be used in different ways and help each child to gain skills.
I keep track by giving each child one on one daily and keeping notes and tracking.
I use learning centers daily. I can target skills that just need practice, some remediation and enrichment all at the same time with various activities for various students. While the students are in centers, I can pull out small groups or individuals to work with too.
I teach 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade all day long and am responsible for delivering grade level content to the students of each grade as well as differentiating in each grade level! It is a challenge, but the Daily 5 has certainly helped. Administration can talk about differentiating like it is easy and obvious, however, without something meaningful and independent to do for the children you aren’t currently meeting with, it is incredibly hard to reteach/teach mini lessons/remediate or challenge individual or small groups. I’ve discovered that building independent practice, reading and writing stamina, and creating reinforcing activities are my saving grace.