Justification of a Scheme of Work Essay

Differentiation of instruction is the process of teaching in a way to meet the needs of students with differing abilities in the same class, including those with special learning needs. One way to do this is by providing several different avenues by which all students can learn the same material. In differentiating instruction, teachers plan out and implement a variety of approaches to content, process, product, and environment. Differentiated instruction is used to meet the needs of student differences in readiness, interests, and learning needs. Many people in the education field believe differentiation has the potential to transform teaching and learning in a way that raises expectations for all students.

The day I decided that I wanted to be a teacher I pictured myself choosing my favorite books and having thoughtful discussions. I imagined my students would enjoy the many activities we completed and at the end of the unit they would take a test and we would move on to the next topic. I was unaware of what the field of education would actually entail. I soon learned that teaching was nothing like what I imagined. I didn’t realize that my teachers made teaching a classroom full of student look easy because they used several techniques. They realized that they “must take into account not only what they are teaching (content), but also whom they are teaching (individual students)” (Corley, 2007). As I’ve learned more about my field I have realized that teaching involves providing the best education to students based on their ability to learn. When you understand that this is what teaching is about, you try practices that will make your instruction stronger. Differentiation is one way to make sure that all learners gain the education they deserve.

The subject of implementing differentiated instruction in a classroom full of diverse individuals, whether at the primary level or secondary level is often two-sided. Some teachers may embrace the practice with opposition while others promote its use. Often, many teachers are not properly trained or are new to the profession and are not quite sure how to integrate multiple styles of learning into their lessons.

Teachers hoping to help visual learners might give hand outs of the information needed or use an overhead projector to show the lesson for

Differentiation believes that students have different needs and learn at different levels. In the 'regular classroom, they differences tend to be glossed over and those at the very end of either

When we started this eight week course about differentiation I already had a lot of background information on this subject. I did learn a few things about how to help my colleagues jump on the bandwagon of differentiation. By helping my fellow teachers change their mindset towards planning with differentiation in mind I am making a positive difference in my students’ educational experience. When differentiation is used properly students are taught lessons in ways that are both meaningful and specific to the students’ educational needs. Differentiation is a great tool that teachers can use to help decrease the educational gap between students skills and the grade-level standards that they should be meeting.

Differentiation means tailoring instructions to meet individual needs and requirements. The teacher’s differentiates contents, processes of learning thus, making it a useful methodology.

Such activities are embedded into the theory sessions and portfolios (unit 2002 in the bricklaying Diploma), but emphasis and reinforcement in the workshop will help learners’ improve their mental skills. Such activities in the classroom would include working with measurements, calculating areas and adding and subtracting measurements. In the workshop, basic calculating of materials would be required and using trigonometry and Pythagoras’ theorem to find angles and lengths. Correct terminology will be emphasised so that learners will understand terminology and start to use it in their specialist subject which would help learners if they need to communicate with building suppliers or work colleagues. This is beyond the curriculum requirements and moves into the hidden curriculum as the learners are learning through their experiences rather than the educational objectives.

One major drawback that Blatchford (2015) has with the idea of differentiation is ‘the fact that teachers have to do this for 30 students at once’ making ‘it even more difficult’. He further continues to express how you can have great experience in this field which reflects ‘purposeful practice’ but you still would not be able to ‘quite crack’ differentiation. In some ways, I agree with Blatchford as from my first placement, I too have felt the pressure of differentiating for the whole class. I always found myself altering my plans as just when I think I have the best plan for that teaching, another need will crop up, thus starting back at stage one. Additionally, I feel it gives the teachers the impression of feeling intimidated by the number of needs that they would need to measure for when planning.

Differentiation is a way of teaching; it asks teachers to know their students well enough that they are able to provide each one of them with experiences that will improve their learning development. As Carol Ann Tomlinson has said, differentiation means giving students multiple options for taking in information (1999). At its most rudimentary level, differentiating instruction means that you, as a teacher, observe and understand the differences and similarities amongst students and use this evidence to plan tuition that will allow for individual student needs to be met. Whenever a teacher extends out to an individual or selected group of students, through using the methods of differentiation in order to create the most effective learning experience possible, that teacher is differentiating instruction. Differentiated instruction is based upon the principle that students learn best when they make connections between the learning curriculum and their own personal interests and experiences. This point fluctuates for students who are working below grade level and for those who are gifted in a given area, to meet these particular student needs, teachers can openly differentiate at least four classroom elements based on student readiness, interest, or learning outline. This can be done through by modifying or differentiating the content; which covers what the student is required to learn or

As a result, finding out what way students learn best is an insignificant element to their teaching practice. Teacher A views the use of different classroom materials as “creativity”:

When using visual aids, students can conceptualize what they are learning. Visual aids can be use in the forms of clouds, graphic organizers, or webs. Notes and texts can be turned into visual aids, as well.

Visual aids add variety to your presentation by giving the audience a break from listening and letting them see something

Visual aids such as maps, graph, pictures and colorful outline are the effective tools that can be used by teacher to accommodate students that are visual learners. Often, these students will find that confusing information makes more sense when it is explained with the aid of a chart or picture. These types of learners learn best with visual aid when studying, like a colorful outline of test materials, he or she may retain more information. For this type of learner, visual tools improve the ability to recall information more completely; these tools have a big impact to a visual learner. (G Fleming, 2013)

Periods per Scheme of exam week L T 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 3 3 3 2 1 19 6 15 640 120 P ESE CT 80 80 80 80 80 80 40 40 40 40 20 20 20 20 20 20