Blog #3

There are many aspects to differentiation and all are important components to this practice. The first hallmark that I find helps me understand differentiation more is hallmark #4 which states "flexible use of time, space, and material". Before understanding differentiation, I would have thought this meant to create proper space within your classroom, provide materials to students and give students ample time to work. But this means so much more in differentiation. All those are important, but all students are individuals and they all need different types of space, materials and allotted time. So you need a variety of accommodating spaces within the class. Group spacing, independent spacing, spaces that are visual, as well as spaces that are comforting, just to name a few. Time can also vary amongst students and providing proper time for your individual students is necessary. As a teacher you cannot assume that all students will take the same amount of time for each assignment or project. The materials in your class also need to be differentiated. Meaning, some students may need a lot of visuals or they may need audibles. Or a student may learn well from computers or they may learn best from books. To provide a variety of materials for your students to learn the same material is also a very important aspect of differentiation.



Another hallmark that grabs my attention in differentiated teaching is hallmark #10. Active partnerships with specialists. I know that in schools today there are many specialists that come in a class to help with students. These include speech, reading and ESL specialists. But to be successful at differentiated teaching, a teacher also needs to be able to find other specialists that will be apart of their teaching. This may include bringing a specialist into your class that may know more about a specific topic that you may want to teach, such as astronomy. As a teacher you may want your students to understand this topic and you may not have all the resources to teach it in a way that they will understand. So you bring in a specialist on this topic for the students to learn from. Another type of guest a teacher may want to acknowledge would be someone who may know how to motivate students on a topic. Maybe an artist or musician. By being aware of your limitations as a teacher and taping into other resources is a must for a differentiated classroom.