Differentiated instruction is not a new concept for me. My professors ever since practicum have been stressing this type of instruction and it is obvious why. Not every person is the same and we emphasize this all the time. We tell children to be themselves, be unique, and take pride in being one of a kind. Yet, before recently, we expect every student to learn from a traditional lecture and worksheet classroom setting. It is ridiculous. We, as teachers, must help every single student learn the material, even if it means teaching the same thing four different ways.
The most beneficial part of this chapter, for me, was the section about characteristics that teachers exhibit who are successful with differentiated instruction. Since differentiated instruction is so beneficial, I want to make it work in my classroom. However, the very first characteristic is risk taking. I am not a huge risk taker. I love to play it safe and have everything super organized. I know it is something I need to work on. I just wish there were more hints as to how to do it. The idea about letting students teach a day was great and all, but I feel many students would find teaching a math class as super hard and boring. Though, the spontaneity that a student “teacher” could bring to the classroom would be perfect. Another hint that I loved was letting students see that mistakes are not the end of the world. This is scary to some teachers because that means admitting to their students that they make mistakes in a field that they are teaching. I find some comfort in letting students see I make mistakes too. No one is perfect, especially not me, and students should see that even the teacher messes up. That will make it a little less awful if they make a mistake themselves. Failures are not meant to be dead ends; it is the beginning to some new learning.
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