my first grader has recently been determined eligibile for special ed pullout in reading. the school has also told me, based on his wisc scores, that he is highly gifted especially in math where he tested in the superior range.
personally, i just want him to learn to read(!)
however the school did mention that will provide “differentialed” instruction in the classroom. i assume they mean in math only, but i am not sure. we are still meeting on what his iep and services will entail.
i am a parent, who knows a lot about dyslexia, but very little else in the “eduation” world. what does this mean, differentiated instruction? and what kinds of things are they likely to do/provide him? is this a good thing?
what state are you in? and do they have gifted ed. in eleme
I’d ask specifically how your son’s math instruction will be handled. From my experience with my 4th grader(in a school with no gifted program), advanced math does not exist because the teachers are too busy still trying to teach kids times tables. It seems easier for teachers to do higher level language arts activities than teach advanced math.Don’t settle for extra worksheets to be done at home.
Differentiated Instruction
Differentiated Instruction works well in math. It can work well in reading, too, depending on the training of the teacher…if he/she only knows one way to teach reading, it is hard to differentiate the instruction being provided (if you get my drift). I differentiate in reading using several methods and programs designed to suit individual groups of learners who are very carefully grouped in order to help them best learn.
Diff Inst requires pre-testing to know what students have previously mastered. Then, students are grouped for instruction (sometimes 4 groups, sometimes less). The topic may be the same (addition, for example) but one group may be doing one digit sums while others are doing two digit, and still others with regrouping. Post-testing is also done in order to know when it is time to move forward. Novel, eh?
Diff Inst is not difficult. The lesson planning can be time consuming and teaching works best with two teachers in the full-classroom (so two groups can receive modeling and guided practice simultaneously). Many teachers don’t wish to do Diff Inst because they cannot drag out the same old tired units year-after-year. One cannot just pull out any old ditto sheet in Diff Inst…They’ll never tell you that, however.
It is a very good model (rather than a buzz word) for teaching core skills. The model was developed and published by Carol Tomlinson through the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, VA. She has several excellent books on the subject.
As far as helping you know if it is a “good thing”: You’ll know if he is learning to reading, write, and calculate. That’s the student outcome for which the teacher should strive…every student, not just 1/2 or 1/3.
It’s a lovely little buzzword that is pretty difficult to implement, though it can be done. Essentially it’s getting away from the group mindset and having different students doing different things based on their needs. IT really requires a totally different way of looking at the teaching and learning experience to pull it off (for one thing, you have to have an atmosphere where students aren’t constantly comparing because they *will* be doing different things). What it boils down to in many cases is tracking — high, medium and low skill level groups — but tracking has been politically incorrect for a long time so they had to come up with a different term.
www.powerof2.org has some neat information about it in content area courses.
I would tell these people that differentiated instruction is just peachy and you think it’s a great idea (hey, it is, if it’s done right). Then say, “okay, how is my child’s instruction going to be differentiated so that he learns to read?” *IF* they really know what they are doing, they will be able to tell you specific options and methods. Every time they toss educationese at me I would keep focusing back on “okay, but how are you going to teach him to read, and how are you going to measure his progress along the way ‘caues I don’t want to find out at teh end of the year or the end of three years from now that he’s been “making good progress” but still can’t read the words he has to read.”