I don't think I'm familiar enough with different teaching methods to really be able to picture what a classroom would look like with "differentiated instruction." I'm curious, not because I don't think it would work, but because I really don't know much about practical issues.
I'm remembering my first grade GT class, which met once a week. In regular class, our math consisted of counting and ordering whole numbers, counting by numbers, and talking about math in real words. In my GT class, we used small pill bottles to learn multiplication and division (extension of counting by numbers, with the added concept of new vocabulary and notation). We even got into equations a little (if you multiply one side of an equal sign by three, you have to do the other side, too, etc). It was definitely just an extension of what we were already learning, but the physical pill bottles were the key to my understanding at that age. How would a teacher work with kids who aren't ready for that extension, and would be easily distracted by others playing with pill bottles?
I guess it sort of boils down to the question of how differentiated is "differentiated instruction"? Would all the kids use pill bottles, no matter what they're working on? How general is the learning concept for the day (counting by numbers? finding patterns? stuff with whole numbers?) Does the teacher teach each kid individually, walking around the room? Is there any time where the teacher is at the front of the room, with all the kids listening, and if so, what would he/she say? How do the kids know which "level" they are supposed to be working with?
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Date: 2010-07-08 09:46 pm (UTC)I'm remembering my first grade GT class, which met once a week. In regular class, our math consisted of counting and ordering whole numbers, counting by numbers, and talking about math in real words. In my GT class, we used small pill bottles to learn multiplication and division (extension of counting by numbers, with the added concept of new vocabulary and notation). We even got into equations a little (if you multiply one side of an equal sign by three, you have to do the other side, too, etc). It was definitely just an extension of what we were already learning, but the physical pill bottles were the key to my understanding at that age. How would a teacher work with kids who aren't ready for that extension, and would be easily distracted by others playing with pill bottles?
I guess it sort of boils down to the question of how differentiated is "differentiated instruction"? Would all the kids use pill bottles, no matter what they're working on? How general is the learning concept for the day (counting by numbers? finding patterns? stuff with whole numbers?) Does the teacher teach each kid individually, walking around the room? Is there any time where the teacher is at the front of the room, with all the kids listening, and if so, what would he/she say? How do the kids know which "level" they are supposed to be working with?