EDU-551-O500 Differentiated Instruction

     Teachers divide their time, resources, and efforts to effectively instruct students of diverse backgrounds and interests. They ensure that every student has the opportunity to develop his or her individual talents. Teachers create lessons that will be effective for students with different academic skills and readiness levels. And in order to address the range of skills and needs of students in today’s diverse classroom, teachers need to develop and use varied teaching and assessment strategies. Differentiated instruction is one such technique that provides students with different avenues for acquiring and processing content. Differentiation entails identifying both the appropriate entry points for learning as well as the appropriate exit points for students to express their learning (Tomlinson, 2000). And there are many techniques to reach every type of learner. Such as, the gifted and talented students, the students with disabilities, the students who lack motivation, and the st

  Learning Styles Analysis      The analysis and interpretation of data should support the fundamental purpose of assessment. And establishing and understanding where learners are in an aspect of their learning at the time of assessment is important. Data analysis can also help conclude what students know, what they should know, and what can be done to meet their academic needs. With appropriate investigation and understanding of data, teachers can make educated decisions that positively affect student growth (Lewis, Madison, Muoneke, Times, n.d.). Data Collected from the Learning Style Inventory         Student A Student B Student C Student D Receiving Speech Services Is preforming at grade level Receiving Speech Services and Resource for ELL Is preforming below grade level   Receiving Speech Services   Is preforming at grade level Has trouble focusing Works hard but struggles academically Is

  Assessing Technology-Based Resources for Differentiation      There are many challenges for teachers today. But, one of the most difficult challenges is reaching the needs of an increasingly diverse student population. In order for teachers to reach ALL students, teachers must first begin where students are academically, which means recognizing individual differences. Therefore, differentiated instruction with the use of technology offers the opportunity for teachers to engage students in different modalities, while also varying the rate of instruction, complexity levels, and teaching strategies to engage and challenge students (Stanford, Crowe, & Flice, 2010). Differentiated instruction also allows teachers to begin to think and work “smarter” and more efficiently rather than trying to work harder to meet the needs of such a diverse student population.  And t here are many technologies that can be used to appropriately support differentiated instruction and enrich student learn