Week # 8

The unit that I chose that seems appropriate for the grade level of my field class was ALL About the ABC'S.

1. What impresses me most about this unit is what content it covers and the amount of resources it uses. Also I loved the center activities that can be used for low and high acheivers, even though they are the same ones. You just change what they do with the materials.

2. I learned that differentiation can work in centers as well as how you teach the content for the students. High achieving students don't necessarily need more work but it just needs to be challenging enough for them.

3. I don't understand how you know how to assess each lesson plan and how long it should span over the days. Also how do you know when to make studnets tasks equal or unequal for the product you expect.

4. I would have to modify assessments possibly and how I approach instruction, based on the backgrounds of the students. I'll have to use the groups that the teacher already has set. I would have to have procedures changed and have more writing included instead of center games as the core of understanding concepts.

5.I would modify it because every class is different and has differnet types of students. My class is a grade older and needs more activities that would help them achieve their standards. Some of the lessons or activities might not be relevant for the students based on the pre-assessments and such.

6. I would modify it by giving the students my own pre-assessment on letters and there sounds, then I would see what parts I could keep of the lessons or center activities that relate. I wouldn't dictate for the studnets unless they had extreme needs. Adding parts of my voice and ideas for splitting up groups based on readiness, interest, and learning profile will help me modify it to my students, but I would need to teachers help and go off of her pre-set groups. Incorporating new lessons or ideas that tie in with the letter theme such as making up a song or acting out the story you write could also help modify the unit.

Week # 7

What do you, individually, still need to know and understand in order to tier (differentiate) a lesson of your own choosing? I really liked the lesson last week and it made me see how differentiating works in a lesson format. I understand how you go about getting to know students strengths, backgrounds, and interests, but I don't know how you determine how the grouping would be done? Also I wonder how you would tier groups without making the students feel that they are in the lower group and if put in another one they are the smart group ? Students can figure out which group is which easily. I'm still confused about how this type of lesson is set up and what you need to do to prepare for it? I also worry about knowing when to differentiate and when it's okay to teach for the whole class? I know that it will take practice and think it will become clearer once I actually teach a real lesson. I just need more confidence in myself and what I'm doing, as well as, a better understanding of how I can be successful in differentiating for so many students.

Week # 6 Chapter 7

1. Choose 4 bullets from the list on pages 88 & 89 of chapter 7 (repeat them in your posting), and explain why you believe these 4 traits, or beliefs, or mantras are true for you?

• Caring teachers intentionally develop awareness of their students' cultures outside of school. I think this bullet is true for me because unless we see the life our students live and what makes them who they are, we won't be able to connect with them or through material.
• Teacher's enthusiasm for learning and for their subject matter in an important factor in student motivation that, in turn, is closely linked with student achievement. This bullet really speaks to me saying that unless we love the material and show the students that we to are learning they won't find it enjoyable or necessary to learn.
• Effective teachers are more concerned with student understanding of meaning than memorization of facts. This bullet is important to me because students need to make sense of the lesson and concepts and how they relate to what they need to know, instead of memorizing and not knowing the process of how to get to the solution.
• Effective teachers match instruction to learners' achievement needs. This bullet is true for me because in order for your students to progress you need to start teaching where they're at. That is why assessment and doing activities that make connections with students who then share are important to your classroom.

2. Comment on one of the metaphors in this chapter. Explain why it makes sense to you, or why you don’t agree with it.

The metaphor that made sense to me was the man who baked bread and how when he started off he did it just because, but eventually it changed him. He learned to love it and found meaning in it and it shaped who he was until it became his passion. Bread and it being played with in your hands really makes shaping stand out in my mind. I think as a teacher or in anything we do that we aren't sure of, is that we just have to jump in and let ourselves be shaped into a new person per se. This will happen if we're willing to let our guards down and learn from what comes our way.

Week#5 Ch.5 & 6

1. In chapter 5, Tomlinson discusses 5 (five) bullet points about the differences between teaching curriculum that is important, and “covering” what she calls “scaling Everests of information [that is] not effective for our students." Choose two of the bullets to explain what they mean to you, and how they help you envision the kind of teacher you want to be.

• To that end, it is the role of educators to "uncover" what is essential to know, understand, and be able to do in the disciplines. Experts of field value such knowledge, understanding, and skill as essential to productivity in their discipline. Teachers must struggle against "coverage" and strive for "uncoverage" of meaning- distinguishing between what is essential to the discipline, what is important, and what would be nice to know if there were more time to do so. This bullet means to me that you need to be searching for what in the curriculum is essential for the students to know and be able to do well, instead of trying to fit in everything even if it's not relevant or of worth to the students. This helps me envision that it's alright for me to pick what's critical for my students to know and then forget about the other objectives unless time requires it. All of it would be the best possible way but with all that each standard requires it's not possible with the time alloted.
• The brain is inefficient at rote memorization and seeks instead to make meaning of information. If we don't make meaning of what we study, we are likely not to remember it, be able to retrieve it, or be able to use it. This bullet means to me that unless we are engaged and feel a connection to material we are being taught and how it fits into the big picture we'll forget a majority of it. This helps me envision the kind of teacher I want to be by making each lesson engaging and motivating toward each students learning level. A teacher that helps them absorb the material, find it of worth, and inspires them to keep learning.

2. From chapter 6, share 2 (two) exact quotes that are meaningful to you and explain why they matter to you.

"It is likely that we underestimate what any student can accomplish, often establishing as performance ceiling goals that ought to be planks in the floor." This quote matters to me because it saying that our goals that we set for our students should be stepping stones to reach their potential as well as stretch them to realize they are capable of doing hard things.

"The most successful students understand that their success results from their own effort. Although they will not succeed 100 percent of the time, they know that their continued effort is likely to lead to success." This matters to me because it's what I have to remind myself of each day and something we need to establish in our classrooms. Many students need to learn that success comes from them and how it is achieved. We can help in this process if we really know our students needs in more then one area. Taking risks and being able to make mistakes needs to be valued in your classroom atmosphere for students to continue to believe in themselves.

Week #4 Ch.3 & Ch. 4

2. Share 3 (three) exact quotes that are meaningful to you (from across these two chapters), and explain why they matter to you.

#1 "The very least we ought to expect of ourselves is that we figure out what we hope for in this life. The most we can do is to make sure we live inside our hopes,rather than admiring them from a distance." This quote matters to me because it's telling you to remember why you wanted to teach in the first place and what your hopes are to accomplish with it. When you live inside your hopes, which is for me to help the children, who will gradually make bonds with them by your attitude. This will make there experience in your classroom one to remember and one where they learned so much.

#2 "To establish ties with a student, we must come to see how each student is unlike every other-and to see that, we must form ties with that student." This quote speaks to me because it saying that we need to see each student for who they really are and that they will each bring a different piece to our classroom. We need to search and find out their individual skills and learn about their worlds outside of class, so we can be a help to them and together learn more than we did when we arrived the first day.

#3 "Invested teachers are often the ones whose room contains students before school, during lunch, and after school. Invested teachers make links with students lives outside the classroom as well. Invested teachers act as mentors for students, as advocates, and as partners." This quote encompasses the type of teacher I want to be and be seen as. I think a big part of being a teacher is reaching out to them in things they do or go through outside the classroom. This make you become a mentor and someone they can learn from in more then one way. It needs to be under control and done professionally not stepping on parents toes or under-minding their parenting techniques.

Week #3 Inventories

How might you use the information this would produce, in differentiating? What would you, personally, want to add to or remove from this inventory? Explain.

I would use the information this produces by starting to form where my students are at and what ways I can better reach their needs. It serves as a type of assessment to see into their learning process and how they think they learn best. It gives you a glimpse of their world and when and how they feel they have accomplished a skill. Also what I think is really important from this information is that you see the different learning styles each students has and how your to incorporate them in instruction to reach different learners. I don't think any of the questions I would remove from the inventory, but maybe asking questions about their home life and family to get a idea of what their environment and culture is outside of class.

What are some relationships you see between this variety of inventory types, and what we are beginning to learn about differentiating content, or process, or product for readiness, or learning profile, or interest?

The relationships I see between these inventories and what we are learning in differentiating is that we need a handful of tools and ways to see what students interests and personalities are before we can teach them in a way that they'll learn the content. With having the surveys on writing and reading and seeing how they respond to certain questions I think can be really powerful in what materials and strategies you provide to spark interests more.

What is Differentiation? Blog #2

#1 Carol Tomlinson mentions "definitions" or partial definitions of differentiation in chapter one. What makes sense to you, in attempting to define differentiation?

Differentiation makes sense to me in that we have to take into consideration that what students bring with them to the school is useful and will help in the way they'll learn. Also the chapter said who they are and what your going to teach them is a big part of differentiation. This is what made sense to me in forming my definition.

#2b. On page 12 there are definitely things that speak to me. First of all the way the book is written speaks to me and pulls me in. Getting back to what quotes or information stood out to me were that by using the three cog metaphor it gives us a compass for decision making as we plan to adapt instruction to student needs. Also the email about differentiation being like a cookbook really made it make sense, by saying that if we as teachers don't understand the working behind differentiation and how to incorporate that we are never going to have a good product or "cake" for say come from what we've taught. I think that is really important to know how to incorporate it in every class or learning won't be happening as well as it could.