Differentiation: Synthesis blog #5

Ms. Maronpot uses differentiation when teaching in the science class. The students do not notice when she is using differentiation to teach in her class.Ms. Maronput uses differentiation when she assigns puzzles to different groups in her class. Every piece of the puzzle has a student’s name and vocabulary term based on their “cognitive level”. The puzzle pieces also have images of the vocabulary term. Ms. M’s differentiation technique with the puzzles catered to all learning styles in her classroom. Differentiation helps students, with all learning styles, to have the chance to learn and comprehend content-area literacy. Differentiation pertains to more than to just reading or skill levels, teachers can use differentiation when planning new lessons based on their students’ prior knowledge of a subject or using the hobbies and interests for student engagement. Differentiation can have a positive influence on learning in the classroom because it paves the path for detailed and diverse instruction. Some classrooms have students with a wide range of skill levels. As a teacher, I could use differentiation to alter or edit instruction according to a student’s particular skill level or learning style, like Ms. M. I think differentiation should be discrete and undetectable. Simply asking review questions in different ways is one way to discreetly use differentiation while teaching. Also, this technique may be used as a way to introduce new learning methods or key concepts in class. Students may resonate with new learning strategies used through differentiation. Lastly, students may recognize what teaching strategies works best for them and which ones do not work.

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