Differentiating Instruction

This week in our helping students with special needs learn class we talked about exactly what the title said, differentiating instruction. This is very important to study as a teacher because there are so many ways that you can make this possible but it is important to remember to still be fair. There are a variety of ways to make instruction best fit a specific need that a child may have. There are many different types of assignments that you can give and I feel that as we studied all this there are many good ones. I think you really have to pick the one that will best fit your teaching style, subject and the individual student. In this case, what works for one student more than likely will not work for another so you have to be very adaptable. I also think you have to be willing to try new things and experiment with what will work the best.
Differentiating instruction is important so that the student can get the knowledge and skills that they need, however, they may need it in a different way than you are giving to the majority of your students. One big theme that stuck out to me during this reading is the idea of communication. The parents should have an open line of communication with the teacher and vice versa. The student and teacher should also be communicating a lot about progress or problems that are arising.
This week as we met for a group to do our case study work it was very interesting to see that there are a variety of accommodations or adaptations that can be made for students but as teachers it is up to us to decide which of these are seen as fair and which of these are seen as unfair. In our assignment we were told specific class work that the child would be doing and then asked to identify which adaptations would be fair and why. We were also asked to identify which adaptations weren't fair and why. This was tricky because we realized that differentiating instruction affects more than just the child you are making the adaptations for, it also affects the other children as they see that some children may not be doing the same work as them. This is where conflicts can arise and so it is very important to make sure your adaptations are fair. I can see how teachers are put in very tricky situations while they are makings things fair for their students but still helping them succeed.

I also completed a simulation project this week. I choose to do the language impairment section. I order dinner at food and stuttered while I did so. I also asked the waitress if my meal that I just order would be very spicy and what type of beans it came with. The waitress was really nice but I felt so silly doing this simulation. I can see how people with this impairment would be really embarrassed to talk to others in public settings. The other project I did was stutter as I checked out at Walmart. I bought some Christmas lights and I asked the cashier if he thought my lights would be really bright. He gave me the weirdest look but pretended to be nice and answer my question. The person behind me was totally listening into my conversation so that made things a little awkward. So that was my simulation activity report for this week!