Differentiation
“The first step in making differentiation work is the hardest. In fact,the same first step is required to make all teaching and learning effective: We have to know where we want to end up before we start out—and plan to get there.”
Carol Ann Tomlinson
This quote follows the path of our previous discussions around critical thinking, active learning and content vs. learning.
I believe we have agreed that students must actively find meaning in what is being taught.
In one of our article reviews, “How to Promote Critical Thinking”, Daithí Ó Murchú and Brent Muirhead asserted the premise that a, “wise teacher seeks to guide his/her students toward greater maturity which translates into new skills and knowledge.” Therefore, a “wise teacher” utilizes meaningful learning strategies. Meaningful learning requires learners to actively process their experiences and assign meaning according to thieir previous experience. As a result, learners must actively engage in new experiences beyond information aquisition. Learners must utilize critical thinking at all times through careful examination, astute perception, skillful interpretation, and practice.
Therefore differentiation requires teachers to be facilitators of critical thinking. They must identify the place they want the students to be at the end of instruction in order to guide them there. This is true for any level of learner.
http://www.learner.org/channel/workshops/socialstudies/pdf/session5/5.MappingARoute.pdf
