dancing is like dreaming with your feet

The Bennington Banner, produced in Bennington Vermont, recently published an article written by Wesley Knapp about how NCLB has affected DI, due mainly to the standardized testing requirement.

 Wesley Knapp is the Superintendent for a school district in Southern Vermont and in the article he states:

 ”The future is bright for students in the SVSU because our schools recognize that while we have to meet the requirements of NCLB, we are not about to avoid the needs of students by pushing the same material at all students at the same rate.”

The main point that he argues within the article is that it is obvious that are different learning styles and levels within every classroom.  By using differentiated instruction the teacher ensure that the main concept is learned by every student.  However, accellerated learners are not held back and those who may need remediation are allowed that too.

Ultimately, Wesley Knapp wants the answer to the following concern:

“What law ever dictated that everyone had to learn the same amount in the same period of time?”

I am curious about this to an extent.  It may be that there are people who want to do away with the “level” system.  By eliminting the labels of “grade,” it may be more socially acceptable to repeat a class.  Currently there is a stigma set when students get “held back.” *gasp*

Finally, in order to ensure that Knapp’s teachers are highly qualified to continue using the DI method they participate in various professionaly development classes that aid them in the process.

“DI doesn’t mean drill instruction”

Wesley Knapp

Could the newest advancement in differentiated instruction be the the answer educators everywhere have been looking for?  Probably not, but it’s a start!

In the article “New Web-based Learning Program Launched; Rapid Resources(R) Makes Differentiated Instruction a Simple Task for Accelerated Learning or Remediation” the newly launched program is said to make Individualized Learning Plans (ILP) simplified for both educators and the students who use them.

The program focuses on four main areas of academics; mathematics, language arts, reading and science.  Depending on the needs of the individual student Rapid Resource can create instruction to remediate or accelerate the information.

 At first it sounds like an absolutely fabulous idea.  Having been a teacher I know how long it takes to create an effective lesson plan for every day of the week per subject being taught.  On top of that, as a teacher of students with learning differences, creating a lesson catered to the individual needs of each and every student. 

Despite having to answer a few questions on each students ability this article makes it seem as though the web-based program does the rest.

 I must say I am more than slightly skeptical.  One aspect, not confirmed in the article is whether or not the students carry out the lessons and tutorials online.  If the LD is ADD or ADHD related, the students may have difficulty completing the task without constant redirection.  This may also eliminate the interaction students require to succeed.

I must also admit that I have my doubts about many web-based instructional programs.  Experiences I have had in the past is the direct cause of this.  One such program is the “FastForWord” program which claims to raise student reading by multiple grade levels.  The program does improve the ability to read, however, it does not improve reading comprehension and in many cases lowers it.

Well, I suppose I either need concrete proof or severe convincing to trust in the abilities of Rapid Rescource.

Hello all!  I have decided to use this blog in order to explore the many facets of differentiated instruction.

I spent the past two years teaching at an international boarding school for childrem with learning disabilities.  Despite taking a few professional development classes dedicated to help my colleagues and I understand differentiated instruction; I still have a plethora of questions regarding its execution and effectiveness.

 Having taught in a classroom with less than 14 students at any given time I am most curious to know its effects in a larger classroom.

 I currently subscribe to the following feeds on GoogleReader:

CNN

Creating Ideal Lives (a blog on differentiated instruction)

NY Times

MSNBC

U.S. Department of Education

GoogleNews – differentiated instruction

 I chose MSNBC, CNN and NY Times because they are reliable news sources and cover a variety of topics.  I read through a few blogs and “Creating Ideal Lives” seemed to be the one that will be the most helpful in this endeavor.  I did a search on Google.com for articles about differentiated instruction and set up a direct feed to my GoogleReader account.  Both the search query and the feed to the Department of Education are obvious choices to compliment my blog.

 Of course, I am open to any feed suggestions!

Morgan