Differentiated+Instruction

Differentiated Instruction is a “hot topic” in education. The article that we read in class today (7/11/07) was very informative. I found a few more websites that link DI directly to technology.

This website is great! The website discusses how each of the following 7 topics relate to differentiated instruction… 1)learning styles, 2)Multiple Intelligences, 3) Teaching Strategies, 4) Lesson Plans, 5) Classroom Management, 6) Authentic Assessment, 7)Rubrics http://www.frsd.k12.nj.us/rfmslibrarylab/di/differentiated_instruction.htm Under //Teaching Strategies,// WAYS TO DIFFERENTIATE INSTRUCTION, the author lists the 3 ways to differentiate instruction that we learned in class today, **differentiate through content, process, and product.** However, it includes a fourth way, **diffferentiate by manipulating the environment or through accommodating individual learning styles.** Learning styles are very important to consider when thinking about differentiated instruction. The website includes information on Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences. If we think about student’s learning styles and the varying types of “intelligences” it only makes sense to differentiate instruction. This part of the article referencing the fourth way to differentiate instruction also includes several links to websites of those who have done research in this area. I thought this was important considering the article that we read in class today stated that their isn’t much research in this field. Another area in the article that would be beneficial to take a look at is the link to **Technology and Multiple Intelligences** from the main/home page. It discusses how technology can relate and tap into student’s different learning styles and gives some sample lessons.

This website is from the U.S. Department of Education. It is power point presentation on DI. It is easy to read and concise… good overview and quick reference guide. http://www.ed.gov/teachers/how/tools/initiative/summerworkshop/walker/index.html

http://www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_diffinstruc.html Here is another great useful site on DL. It has a good learning cycle design for teachers to use. There are many additional links at the end of the pages on this site.

There are professional associations that focus on curriculum and instruciton one that I found is ASCD - Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. They can be a great resource for in formation on differentiated instruction and also UDL. http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/index.jsp/

Here is a section within SDE ( see Teacher Parent Page ) that focuses on DI: http://differentiatedinstruction.com/