My sister often tells me about how she is displeased with her children's teachers. Usually it is because she does not believe her kids are being challenged enough. Undoubtedly, she will bring up differentiated instruction in these conversations. Although individualizing instruction is not a new idea, it has become a more common battle cry among many parents (not just my sister). Certainly there is no argument against differentiation. All would agree that it is needed, whether it is to challenge a GATE student or to try and raise the achievement of English Language Learning students. You can not use a "cookie cutter" for all kids.
Now think of all the different instructional theories there are (behaviorism, constructivism, information processing theory, situated learning, cognitive load theory, etc.), and all the different learning modalities and styles there are (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, multiple intelligences, etc.). How on earth can you figure out what is best for each and every student? But that is what we are striving for isn't it? We want each student to have their own individual plan that takes into account what type of learner they are and what kind of instruction they will best respond to. That is why Differentiationism will be the learning theory of the future.
Having read a bit about different instructional strategies, I have come to these two conclusions: 1) They are all reasonable theories. 2) No one can prove which one works best. So, seemingly it is a matter of taking three things into consideration when designing instruction. What is it that you're teaching? What is the learning style of your learner? What instructional theory best fits these two factors? And there you have it: differentiationism.
1 comment:
TJ's Notes: You've made a nice set of arguements here, and have a clear focus on your main point. Nice pic, too. Some things that would round it out -- 1. Links. Link to information about what individualized instruction can do and some folks who are and are not proponents. 2. As part of 1 above, summarize some of those points -- why individualize? What can it do? What can't it do? 3. THe post ends rather abruptly...I'd put a few more sentences in explaning the leap between knowing the content and the learning style, and then selecting the theory. I love the idea, just want a little mroe about that part. If you did a quick search on the net, it would be great ot see if anyone else is talking/blogigng about this and link to them. 4. More about what this means for ID -- the good, the bad, AND the ugly. Great first blog, though, looking forward to reading more.
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