Week 8 - Final Blog

For my field experience I am assigned to a Kindergarten classroom. For this assignment, I read chapter 1 (All About the ABC's). I was glad that you asked us to read the chapter that coordinated with the grade that we will be teaching (another form of differentiation that you are using in our classroom).

I was amazed at the extensive information presented in the lesson plans to demonstrate and show us what kinds of differentiation can be done in a kindergarten classroom. I was also comforted when Tomlinson said "It is very difficult to differentiate in a primary classroom without using learning centers like the ones featured in this unit".

This whole semester I've been trying to figure out how to use differentiation in a kindergarten classroom when all of the "whole class" instructions are already difficult enough to teach without including differentiation in them. I realize that centers is the perfect time to incorporate differentiation into the lessons and provide meaningful experiences for all of the students.

It was good to have eight different lesson plans outlined on how to include differentiation using centers. I imagine that the groups would need to be pretty fluid depending on what you are working on with the students.

I worry that being in field, that I'll need to just go with what the teacher has outlined as far as groups go. Not knowing how she has outlined the groups, I may need to be adaptable to what she has established and use these groups when I try to incorporate differentiation into my lessons.

I look forward to having my own class and finding valuable ways to include differentiation in the classroom so that I can reach all of my students. As I get to know each of my students individually I'll be able to assess where they are and what they need to be taught. Differentiation is just good teaching and I know that as I use it in my classroom, I can become a great teacher and my students will receive the education they all deserve!