Come One, Come All – Engagement for All

This comic illustrates the importance of differentiated instruction.  It is unfair to expect a classroom full of students to learn the exact same way.   Students must be accepted and appreciated as individual learners, with their own interests, abilities, and background knowledge.   Differentiated instruction is important to me as it allows me to engage all of my students, ensuring they are successful in their learning.  A couple of ways that I differentiate to support comprehension and understanding for my students are:

• Think-pair-share:  After I have explained something, but notice that some of my students may not fully get it, I have the students turn to the person next to them to explain what they understand.  After about 30 seconds of sharing, I have the students share with the class what they were discussing.  This process generally helps the students fill in the gaps that they are unsure of.
• Diagnostic questions and/or assignments:  Prior to teaching, I pose probing warm up questions (or provide little assignments) to determine what my students know already, what misconceptions they may have and what their learning needs may be.
• Flexible groupings:  I use flexible groupings to provide mini-lessons.  This allows me to provide extra support to students as they require it.