Week 7: What do you still need to understand?

What do you, individually, still need to know and understand in order to tier (differentiate) a lesson of your own choosing?

What a great class it was last week! It was so fun to see differentiation in action. In addition to you feeling that "love" for teaching again, it sparked an excitement in me to become a teacher and find ways to use differentiation in my own classroom.

I understand the importance of creating a differentiated classroom. I feel the value that it provides to a class as a whole and each student individually. I guess the thing that I worry about the most is how to put it into action.

As you are aware, I'd love to teach Kindergarten. I realize that I need to group my students by ability and these groups need to be fluid depending on what we are teaching. I also realize that when I work with the groups, I need to teach them at their level and provide training specifically for them and that each group may be working on something different. However, how do you maintain control of the whole classroom when they are all working at different levels?

I also worry about my students feeling they are in the "dumb" group or being prideful because they are in the "smart" group. Students realize where they are in comparison to other students. They also realize who the smart kids and not-so-smart kids are. I worry about these stereotypes being increased by grouping my students together by ability. I understand that by creating a classroom community and using Morning Meetings to help increase a feeling of community, that my students will be more understanding and accepting of each other. However, I guess I've worked with young women for so many years in situations where we feel trust and understanding for each other and yet, these girls still let their competitive and insecure feelings come out.

I also worry about knowing when to differentiate and when it's okay to teach for the whole class. Ideally, it would be best to differentiate all of our lessons, however in reality, no teacher has enough time in their day to plan each lesson for every student in the classroom individually. I imagine that much of this may happen spontaneously as you walk around the classroom and see how the students are handling the lessons, while at other times it needs to be planned for in advance.

I'm excited to become a teacher and put into action all of the wonderful things that I've been learning in this class and help my students achieve their own personal best.