Term V: Inquiry Portfolio
My Inquiry Question
How can I differentiate instruction in order to provide the balance of challenge and support that each of my students needs?
Many of us have had the dreadful experience of being stuck in a classroom with a teacher or professor who sees him/herself as nothing more than a vehicle for disseminating information. As such, this teacher or professor simply outlines the content that needs to be covered and delivers it verbally with little to no regard for differences in learning styles or individual needs. Such a teaching strategy brings to mind an image from the film Waiting for Superman of children’s heads being “opened” and information being poured in from the teacher’s mouth. While obviously oversimplified, this image nonetheless represents an idea that I believe is all too common in American society of what a teacher’s job really is. What this characterization suggests to me is that many people think of teaching as being about understanding content well enough to repeat and explain it, and nothing more.
As the cartoon at right alludes to, it would be unfair for a teacher to expect that an ELL student who speaks no English, for example, immediately perform at the same level on a written essay as the student who was born and raised in the U.S. A truly effective teacher recognizes that every child learns differently and acts accordingly by adjusting his/her approach depending on specific needs. Throughout my time as a graduate student I have worked toward understanding how to most effectively differentiate instruction. What follows in this portfolio demonstrates what I have learned so far, and the questions that I still have.
As the cartoon at right alludes to, it would be unfair for a teacher to expect that an ELL student who speaks no English, for example, immediately perform at the same level on a written essay as the student who was born and raised in the U.S. A truly effective teacher recognizes that every child learns differently and acts accordingly by adjusting his/her approach depending on specific needs. Throughout my time as a graduate student I have worked toward understanding how to most effectively differentiate instruction. What follows in this portfolio demonstrates what I have learned so far, and the questions that I still have.