Meet Me in the Middle - Chapter 7: Differentiated Instruction - Fitting the Lesson to the Learner

This chapter goes on to explain just how difficult it is to get across to every student in a classroom because students abilities are going to widely range. The beginning of knowing how to alter a curriculum to make every students needs is to get to know them and how they learn. You have to constantly assess and reassess them and observe how they work. Keeping an eye on every student is a difficult task but is very important. Instead of varying the the amount of work for certain students, our lessons should vary in the ways students can find and express their knowledge. Each students needs do not have to be met for every single student during every single lesson, but you can meet different students needs throughout the span of a week or unit. They list the characteristics of successful teachers of differentiated instruction and these characteristics work for what a successful teacher looks like in general.

I know that meeting the needs of every single student in my classroom is going to be a very complex task. First I will need to get to know my students in order to understand how I should tailor specific lessons and assignments for them. Grouping students together based on how they learn could be a good method as long as students do not catch on to this and get offended because they could see it as tracking. I think it is important to meet all students needs and will be willing to tackle this task. I just really think it is a matter of knowing your students well and being able to be versatile. Knowing my students will involve not only knowing and observing what goes on with them at school but even with what goes on with them outside of school.