Differentiated Instruction

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Home : 2002 : July : 1

Differentiated Instruction
By Amanda K

I'm not sure what grade level you were interviewing for. At the primary level, we have reading groups in which the students are broken down into reading levels and we teach each group the skills that they are ready for.
I do a similar thing in math, in which I teach most new concepts in a center situation wherein I only have 5 students at my table (the rest are doing other activities). This way, I am able to teach each student almost one-on-one. Some students really need that extra support.
Once I was asked this question in an interview, and one of the responses I gave was that I would have a folder

for each student that contained work that that student could do at his or her own independent level. The student could get that folder and work on something out of it during any free time. I got that job, and my principal seemed to like that idea. This way, the higher student are occupied with something relevant to them while I can give the lower students more individual attention on an assignment.

I have since modifed it so that I have a stack of "challenge" worksheets on my desk that are relevant to today's assignment (my math and language arts series have separate books containing these worksheets). The students know that when they complete that assignment, they may get the challenge assignment from my desk. The key is that they have something meaningful to do and don't distract me while I give extra support to the ones who need it.

I hope that this helps.