Differentiation

      When I think about the field of education one thing that comes to mind is our immense amount of acronyms and buzz words.  One of the buzz words that has been around that last few years is differentiation.  I believe that most teachers, the good ones anyway, differentiate all the time wether they realize it or not.  One thing that the emphasis on differentitation has brought for me is being more intentional in my differentiation of lessons.
     For those of you who may not be familiar with differentitaition, it is the process of ensuring that all students are able to learn on their level, or in the way that they best learn.  You can differentiate the process or the product.  I try very hard to make sure that the majority of my lessons and activities are differentiated.  The reading series that my school has, Story Town, makes differentiating reading very easy.  Because we don't have math books and we teach hands-on it is also easy to differentiate math. 
      One of the things I struggle with when it comes to differentiation is determining appropriate activities for my on level group.  Creating activities for the remediation group and the acceleration group is like second nature to me.  To me there is a dine line between maintaining and accelerating.  I guess that is why I have a hard time determining appropriate tasks for those maintenance students.  Luckily, there are a ton of resources available for those of us who are still working hard to differentiate appropriately.
      If you have any ideas or suggestions on how to differentiate I would love to hear them!  You can reply to this post, or email me at georgiapeachteacher@gmail.com


I would also like to say He is risen!  I am greatful for this gorgeous Easter morning full of hope and love.