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Differentiated instruction is a teaching method that caters lessons to students' diverse learning styles and needs. Teachers use assessments to understand each student's strengths and weaknesses. Lessons are then tailored to ensure all students increase their knowledge and learn independently. Technology tools like videos, interactive whiteboards, and blogging can help differentiate instruction by appealing to multiple learning styles and keeping students engaged. While differentiated instruction has benefits, it also requires more time from teachers to understand each student and individualize lessons. Overall, it is an effective approach for reaching all students.

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65 views8 pages

Week 5 Template

Differentiated instruction is a teaching method that caters lessons to students' diverse learning styles and needs. Teachers use assessments to understand each student's strengths and weaknesses. Lessons are then tailored to ensure all students increase their knowledge and learn independently. Technology tools like videos, interactive whiteboards, and blogging can help differentiate instruction by appealing to multiple learning styles and keeping students engaged. While differentiated instruction has benefits, it also requires more time from teachers to understand each student and individualize lessons. Overall, it is an effective approach for reaching all students.

Uploaded by

api-307045889
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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You are on page 1/ 8

Jessica Malik

February 5, 2016
EDU225
Mr. M
Video Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C915_PoorSY

Part 1: Differentiated Instruction Definition

Differentiated instruction is a lesson that caters to all the diverse learning


styles and needs of multiple students. A teacher will plan a lesson using
differentiated instruction to ensure that all students will increase their
knowledge. In order for a teacher to be successful with this method, he or
she must gain knowledge about their students using a variety of
assessments. These assessments will reveal the learning preferences and
readiness of each student and the educator can mold the lesson to make
sure everyones strengths are catered to. The student benefits to
differentiated instruction is that they increase their knowledge and become
independent learners (Differentiated Instruction, n.d.). Another benefit is that
the lesson is tailored to meet their specific needs and the students do not
have to adjust themselves to fit the lesson. The use of technology in the
classroom can help differentiate lessons. Using videos to open a lesson
appeals the both auditory and visual learners. Hearing the lesson and seeing
the visuals on the video cater to both styles. An activity on an ipad where the
student is using their hands to manipulate the materials of the lesson can
help a kinesthetic learner. If a teacher uses both of these methods, all the
students needs are met.
References:
Differentiated Instruction - TeacherTube. (n.d.). Retrieved February 05, 2016, from
http://www.teachertube.com/video/differentiated-instruction-163153
Part 2: Differentiated Instruction Lesson Evaluation

The lesson plan I found was from a teacher who had recently been teaching
his or her students about Egypt. This lesson was a project where the
students had to choose from a variety of different assignments and complete
them. Each assignment had a different point value and the students could do
as few or as many of them as they liked, however, the project had to have a
total point value of one hundred. Each assignment catered to one or more
learning styles. They ranged from formal essays to art projects. This lesson
did very well covering all of the learning styles and providing multiple
choices for each student. If I was teaching this lesson, I would have fewer
choices of assignments for the students to choose from. I felt that this lesson
was a little bit chaotic. I appreciate the fact that the teacher made a
noticeable effort to appeal to all learning styles, but some of the assignments
seemed inappropriate and elementary for the grade level this lesson was
intended to reach. Additionally, the lesson seemed a little outdated as it did
not incorporate any technology into it. For my classroom, I would take out
the simpler tasks and replace them with tech-centered activities such as a

video presentation, a blog post, a website creation, or an interactive online


game. This would not only modernize the lesson, but it would also appeal to
students who have a strong interest and excel in the technological field.
References:
Differentiated Learning Egyptian Project. (n.d.). Retrieved February 06, 2016,
from
http://lessonplanspage.com/pmdssartlacidifferentiatedlearningegyptpro
jects68-htm/?ux=egyptian project|0|

Differentiating Instruction through Technology


At the beginning of education, towns and cities were smaller and
classrooms were often filled with students of all different grade,
comprehension, and age levels. However, educators in those days had the
ability to teach a lesson that catered to all of the children. In todays schools

children are separated by age group but the necessity of old school teaching
is still present. Differentiated instruction is a lesson that is taught that caters
to the learning styles, comprehension levels, and readiness of every student.
This practice gives the students an individualized learning experience
without the hassle of separate lesson plans for every student. Educators are
able to use a multitude of different methodologies to ensure that all students
increase their knowledge and become individual learners (Differentiated
Instruction-TeacherTube, n.d.). Different technology can help a teacher
differentiate instruction by catering to multiple learning styles, stimulating
and engaging the student, and individualizing learning.
Technology to Differentiate Instruction
Technology tools can help differentiate instruction by catering to
multiple learning styles at once. The tool that has this ability is an online
video or narrated power point presentation. This tool is specifically useful for
students who are auditory and visual learners. The narrated voice-over in
both videos and power points give the auditory learner a dictation they can
listen to while the effects can stimulate and engage a visual learner. Even
though this type of tech tool seems to exclude those students who are
kinesthetic learners, teachers can modify the lesson to include an interactive
element or include a hands-on activity during the presentation. This tool also
engages the students and individualizes the learning with the entertainment
value of a visual show and by catering to the specific needs of the students.
Videos and power point presentations are flexible, allowing for the teacher

to modify how they are used to differentiate the lesson plan. Another tool
that can help differentiate the learning is blogging. Blogging caters to
students with strong writing skills while simultaneously improving the skills
of those who do not excel. It also can improve a students reading
comprehension and teaches them how to respond to another students point
of view (Beatty, n.d.). Children are experienced in posting things online in
their personal lives, so blogging and responding to peers in school is
beneficial to any students at any level. Blogging can add a component to the
lesson plan that will improve the students critical thinking, writing, and
reading. Blogging and responding to peers appeals to the students as it is
something they do on their free time. It is also beneficial to the students
because they receive peer feedback and learn collaboratively. Another tech
tool that helps differentiate learning is the interactive whiteboard. Students
need their interest to be peeked in order to stay engaged (Morgan, 2014).
This tool reaches students in every learning style category. The whiteboard is
visually engaging, with bright colors, moving parts, and explanation of
information that can be seen. For auditory, the information is being dictated,
and the interactive qualities appeal to the kinesthetic learners. No matter
what lesson is being taught, the interactive whiteboard instantly
differentiates the lesson and keeps the students engaged. .
Pros and Cons of Differentiated Instruction.
Differentiated instruction has many benefits. According to Morgan
(2014), differentiated instruction can alleviate or eliminate [this]

disengagement (pg. 34). By tempering lessons to meet individual needs,


students are less likely to get lost or fall behind. Differentiated instruction
also benefits the students by allowing diversification. In the working world,
people are not separated by level of intelligence or age. By having
classrooms that aer mixed, children learn to work with others who are not
necessarily on the same level as they are. Differentiated instruction removes
competitiveness from the students and teach them to work collaboratively.
Despite the many benefits of differentiated instruction, there are some
drawbacks. This type of instruction is a newer practice. Teachers need to be
trained and developed into this type of teaching strategy (Edwards, 2006).
Also, this type of teaching takes more time and effort coming from the
educator. They have to take the time to know their students and then
individualize their lesson plans. This takes time that some teachers do not
have. Also, some schools only allow a set amount of time for instruction,
leaving less time to incorporate strategies that cater to all the needs of the
every child.
Conclusion
Differentiated instruction provides many benefits to the students and
allows the teacher to reach multiple students in one lesson. Integrating tech
tools into this method enhances the lessons and provides multiple options to
teachers. Centering the instruction on the individual needs of every student
can seem daunting, but is worth the extra work. With differentiated
instruction, students are engaged longer, become individual learners, and

better collaborators. Every incoming teacher should be required to study this


methodology and all existing teachers should attend developmental classes
to learn this new way of teaching.

References

Beatty, M. (n.d.). ScholarSpace at University of Hawaii at Manoa: Integrating Google Blogs


into the K-6 Language Arts Classroom To Promote Interactive Learning Communities.

Retrieved from ScholarSpace at University of Hawaii at Manoa: Integrating Google


Blogs into the K-6 Language Arts Classroom To Promote Interactive Learning
Communities: http://hdl.handle.net/10125/27119
Differentiated Instruction-TeacherTube. (n.d.). Retrieved from Teachertube:
http://www.teachertube.com/video/differentiated-instruction-163153
Edwards, C. J. (2006). Influences of experiences and training on effective teaching practices to
meet the needs of diverse learners in schools. Education, 126(3), 126.
Morgan, H. (2014). Maximizing student success with differentiated learning. Clearing House,
87(1), 34-38.

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