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- Read chapter 5 of the textbook.
Read “Granted: Three wishes to improve access to the general curriculum.” by Childs, P. L. from Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the American Council on Rural Special Education (ACRES) 23rd, Salt Lake City, Utah, March 20–22, (2003). located in the GCU e-Library
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READINGS · Read chapter 5 of the textbook. · Read “Granted: Three wishes to improve access to the general curriculum.” by Childs, P. L. from Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the American Council on Rural Special Education (ACRES) 23rd, Salt Lake City, Utah, March 20–22, (2003). located in the GCU e-Library at · Read “Including culturally and linguistically diversestudents in standards-based reform: A report on McREL’s diversity roundtable I.” by Gaddy, B. (Ed.).from : Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning. Aurora, CO (1999) located in the GCU e-Library at · Access the Connections Web site and read “Working with a diverse student population: The mission is not to save, but to reflectively teach.” by Kirylo, J.(2006) located at · Access the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory and read “Critical issue: Meeting the diverse needs of young children.” by Rodriguez, G., & Caplan, J. (1998) located at · Access the Education Place Web site and read “Meeting the diverse needs of all students.” by Scott, J. (2001) located at INTRODUCTION It is necessary to understand that no two students are alike. Students begin life differently and each year is lived different from one another. These children walk through the doors of the classroom requiring different things in order to accomplish the goal of learning. Each student has different learning styles, thinking styles, attitudes, and biases; therefore they have different needs during their time in a classroom. Teachers will need to adapt to the needs of these unique and important students by implementing many different ways of instructing. Defining Diversity Diversity is defined in many ways. The Encarta online dictionary defines diversityas “ethnic variety, as well as socioeconomic and gender variety, in a group, society, or institution” (Encarta, 2009). Many people, business leaders and educators, have defined diversity as differences in ethnicity; however, today’s definition of diversity is much more than that. It includes differences in academic levels, language fluency, biases, socioeconomic levels, religion, previous experiences, and so much more (Rodriguez, 2000). Needs of Diverse Student Populations/Differentiated Instruction One of the best ways to insure that the needs are being met for every student is through differentiated instruction. Differentiation meets the needs of diverse students with a variety of learning styles. It also accommodates students with different language levels, academic levels, thinking styles, and learning disabilities. It also increases learning because it stimulates creativity and increases comprehension and high level thinking. It is more challenging than other programs or models because one size does not fit all. In order to differentiate, teachers must practice modifying and adapting the instruction and materials in order to meet the needs of all students. In a differentiated classroom, teachers recognize that all students are different and require varied teaching methods to be successful in school. A classroom of differentiated instruction differs from a traditional instruction classroom in many ways (Logsdon, n.d.). According to Logsdon, a traditional classroom has a teacher that is lecturing or instructing to the whole group of students. They are using the same curriculum, a common type of individual practice and the same assessment for everyone in the class. There is no flexibility to the plans which is very different than a classroom of differentiated instruction. According to Hall (2002), differentiated instruction applies an approach to teaching and learning so that students have multiple options for taking in information and making sense of ideas, whereas a traditional classroom would offer one option. The intent of differentiating instruction is to maximize each student’s growth and individual success by meeting students where they are, and taking them farther in their learning process (Hall, 2002). Differentiated Instruction Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player. Teachers who want their classroom to be a classroom of differentiated instruction must make sure that all tasks assigned are aligned to the standards which are aligned to the objectives of the lesson. If the standard and the objective are to identify the major battles of the American Revolution, the task must be about identifying. The learning goal is clear to the student and clear to the teacher. Differentiation also includes a classroom that is managed in a beneficial way for both students and teachers. The classroom is organized and managed to meet the needs of the students. According to Hall (2002), initial and ongoing assessment of student readiness and growth are essential, otherwise a teacher cannot have current knowledge about where the learners are. These learners are active and responsible during learning because the tasks are at their levels, achievable, and meaningful. Each task put before the learner must be interesting, engaging, and accessible. Each child should feel challenged most of the time. Motivation and challenge are directly correlated to increased student achievement (Hall, 2002). CONCLUSION REFERENCES RESOURCES Click Here |
