Reading for Oct. 28th: Part 2 of Differentiation in Practice

I enjoyed discovering this resource of sample differentiated units in our text book. They were interesting to look through and get a feel for actual units in a veriety of ways. I can see myself not only using them but especially using the formats and strategies and putting in a differnet content area or topic. they are definately somthing i will look back on when planning my field lessons and when I actually start teaching.
One of the lessons I enjoyed is the "We're all in it together." For one I always enjoy when Kinestetic activities are involved in any lesson or unit. I feel that it is a verybenefitial way of getting ideas across to students. I also can connect to and undetrstand the raft idea(by doing it in class last week) and that it is catering to the different learning profiles of the students. I also liked how the learning contracts were differentiated by colors based on interests and learning preferences.

Reading For Oct. 21st, pgs 120 to 162

As I am looking through this weeks reading assignment I really understand how the "When You Work With Peers..." evaluation checklist. I think it would benefit me as a group member and motivate me to contribute in my group assignments, so why couldn't it benefit students and how they work as a group. Another idea I found interesting is the learning menus. I actually understand the menu idea much more from class today than i would have by just reading the description and example. I can see very clearly that a menu can be a whole unit that can last days or weeks. I am a much more visual learner, so your in-class activities and lesson plans really help my understanding of these concepts. For our in class activities I was in the Raft group and it was clear to me the task but the help of my group members and their knowledge of it, helped a whole lot more. Thank you for these experiences!!For the Think Dots Idea.... the dots on the organizer resemble the number that comes up on the die, which i overheard in class. Is the lesson tiered? toward interest? I am a little confused on that. I understand the idea of the activities and how the activities are chosen. Overall I really enjoy learning about strategies that can be incorporated into any unit or lesson and for any students.

Reading For Oct 14th (Pgs. 136-140)

I actually read this assignment last week and included it in that post, but as I was reviewing it tonight I enjoyed looking over some of the examples. While I was reading tiered example number one, which was very clear and understandable to me, it reminded me alot of your tiered music lesson we did in class last week. The format was the same, instructions were the same and task were similar in that we had a list of things to master and then had to present. I really liked the idea of the directions coming in varied sources (the teacher, typed, tape recorded.) In class last we my favorite part was the showing of various talents in class. Even though some groups were more musically challenged, each group still had their uniqueness and task to present, in which they were successful at. Tiered Learning gives room for every students success. Each student can and will likely be challenged and achieve fulfillment in a tiered activity. I really enjoyed reading the examples given and could see how benefits of tiering could be gained in my classroom.

Fulfilling the Promise: ch. 5-6/ Tiering

Fulfilling Chap. 5-6

What I found valuable in this weeks reading assignment was the statement on page 67. The statement includes, "...we cannot affirm the learner, cannot afford the learner purpose, power, challenge, and contribution, unless we work to know the child. We cannot respond effectively to individual learners only with invitation, investment, persistence, opportunity, and reflection that are focused on the whole class." The vehicles of instruction and curriculum must be done effectively using the strategies it describes in the text including scaffolding, Importance, demanding, Engaging, and Focused.
These two chapters have been a little more blurry than the previous readings, it just didn't seem to stick and be as exciting as the other topics. I may go back and reread parts of it for some interest. I am kind of disappointed that I was able to be as interested.


Tiering
As I read a little about Tiering, It reminded me a lot about my experience in spring field experience. My cooperating teacher had her class "Tiered" into reading groups that were split up by ability or readiness level. Each group would meet daily and have a book on their level that they would be reading and completing assignments related to their book. This idea may have another term? But its what popped into my mind. I enjoyed reading about the Tiered examples in the text. The alien-body part activity sound like a fun activity to be paired up with someone of different level that you to be able to get that extra help.