Think back to a class you took in high school. Describe both the class and how the teacher typically conducted it. Describe five elements that you would change to make it more differentiated. (Make sure to include at least one each for content, process, and product.)

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

I remember that in one of my math classes my teacher would sit up by the projector in the beginning of the class and go over a couple problems in our textbooks to show us how to do the new standards. After 3-5 problems my teacher would ask us if we understood the new concepts. If the class agreed in unison that we understood, she would put up the rest of the textbook problems that we had to complete by next class and let us loose. If we had any questions, we had the option to go up to her desk and ask her for help though we were strongly encouraged to ask others around us first.
The first element I could implement in order to make the classroom more differentiated would be to break people up into groups and have the group work on a couple problems together before letting us loose. The second could be to create little saying or papers that would help the class remember the rules instead of simply having to memorize the process. The third would be to assess us students before simply showing us what we are supposed to do and then split us into different groups (those who are struggling, average, and advanced). The fourth way to differentiate instruction would be to let students find videos on how to solve it. These can be other people explaining it or little videos that have cartoons in it with rhymes that would help. Lastly, a teacher can differentiate instruction by allowing small exit quizzes throughout the weeks leading up to the test instead of a single, big unit test on the curriculum taught over the last couple weeks.