Essay About Fourth Grade Teacher And School Failure

Differentiated Instruction
Essay Preview: Differentiated Instruction
Report this essay
Anderson. K., Differentiating Instruction to Include All Students. Preventing School Failure 51 no.3
49-54
Differentiated Instruction
The article I chose sounds, oh so familiar. Its about a fourth grade teacher who is preparing
himself for another school year with a new group of students. Mr. Wright, the teacher, has been teaching
at the same school, cares greatly about hid students, and expects ” their best work at all times.” Well,
because of the increasing accountability demands, he puts on hold many of the creative teaching
practices he once envisioned implementing in his classroom. He has lost track of the number of times he
heard his principal say, “Fourth grade is a testing grade, so everything you teach must be aligned to the
test.” Due to the pressure of administration, he uses a lot of workbooks and others material specifically
designed to increase students achievement on statewide assessments. The students basically work in
fixed groups on ability level, which were determined on their cumulative files before school started.
Wow! This is so identical to my school that I feel, Im Mr. Wright! Each year we have a faculty
meeting the first day of school. We always discuss the plans and objectives for the year, then always end
with us fourth grade teachers being told EXACTLY what Mr. Wright was told. To top it off, when you
go to your room to work on it, theres always that pile of new workbook materials that you must
incorporate into your lessons for THE TEST!
Teachers have yearned for many years more responsive and effective methods in addressing
students differences. Many children perform daily on the “margins” of their classroom, never fully
engage and rarely ever catch a glimpse of their brightest potential.
Differentiated instruction is not at all a new concept in teaching. A prime example is that of the
one-room school house where teachers taught to meet each students needs. Differentiated instruction
stems from beliefs about differences among learners, how students learn, differences in learning
preferences, and individual interests. It implies that the purpose of schools should be to maximize the
capabilities of all students.
Differentiated instruction has some critical elements such as choice, flexibility, on-going
assessment, and creativity. Teachers determine when planning what their students should know and what
each child should be able to do at the conclusion of the lesson. Instead of varying the learner objectives
and lowering performance expectations for some students, teachers differentiate the content by using
texts, novels, or short stories at varying reading levels. They use flexible grouping