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Alexandra Russell Professor Nottis EDUC 342 30 April 2013 Differentiated Center Final Reflection My definition of differentiation has changed dramatically since the start of this course. When I first came into it, I just thought that differentiation meant providing different levels of activities to accommodate all learners, but I did not really know how I could do this, or the variety of ways in which one can differentiate their classroom. Even midway through the course, my definition lacked all the detail needed to truly make it a concrete description without missing any necessary information. I used to think that all students needed to achieve the same goals within the classroom, but I now understand that I need to be more flexible than this and that it is not necessary for all students to attain the same level of knowledge or complete the same activities. For example, with the Planning Pyramid, a teacher defines what she wants all students to know, most students to know, and all students to know, which would mean that not all students would attain the same level of understanding. In my current definition of differentiation, I make sure to include the three types of differentiation according to UDL, different means of representation, process, and product in order to cater to the needs of all students. This was definitely reinforced through the development of my differentiated center. In creating this center, I really came to understand how to put into practice the Universal Design for Learning method. Putting it to use was much different than reading about it in a textbook. It is very easy to get the three modes of differentiation confused by just reading it in a book. But once you put it into action, it is much easier to understand. We differentiated by

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process and product. We therefore gave the students different choices of activity, through a tactile correction of a paragraph, through listening and reading along to a paragraph, or through correcting a cartoon. We also differentiated through product by giving two options for the activity of listening to the paragraph. To show what they knew, students could either dictate the paragraph back with the correct punctuation or they could write it out to hand in. I would definitely not have understood UDL as well had I not put it into practice. The different processes we identified best illustrate my new definition of differentiation because teachers need to differentiate for their students in multiple ways, as we did in our center. The role of a center in general is to provide children with self-sustaining activities so that the teacher can focus on working with specific students as needed, whether this is in reading or math groups, or just a group of students who need extra practice with a certain topic. But a center alone often cannot sustain an entire classroom of children who are each different from one another. For children who may have a learning disability, centers might be confusing and they are sometimes left stuck because they are unable to ask for the teachers help. For students who are gifted or who are comfortable with the topic being discussed, centers can become boring because they fly through the activity given. This is why differentiated centers are a necessity in classrooms. They provide self-sustained practice of skills and knowledge for all students, not just some students. An average center provides just one activity, while a differentiated center might provide three or more activities for students to try. This allows teachers to provide the students with a range of activities both in difficulty and in how they are presented. Offering activities in a range of difficulties caters to the needs of advancing instruction for gifted students and simplifying the activities for students who may have a disability or are behind grade level. By offering activities

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different types of activities to students and giving students different ways to be exposed to an activity or a different way to present their knowledge, teachers are catering to the multiple intelligences and the needs of the individual student. This is exactly what differentiation is, catering to the needs of each individual child while still accomplishing the necessary goals. It is important that children are exposed to activities in a variety of different modes, such as through auditory learning, visual learning, or through logic. Each child has a different style of learning and teachers need to offer activities that cater to each type of intelligence to make sure all students are accommodated for. Centers are a way of doing this while also giving students a choice of the activities they want to do (in some cases), which is another type of differentiation. In terms of how our group worked based on the 7 Core Principles of Effective Collaboration, I think our group worked pretty well together as a whole. We were definitely all willing to participate, everyone had ideas that they wanted to share. No one sat back and waited for someone else to work out the idea of the project alone. We all had ideas that we contributed in order to make this project the best we could make it, and going off of that, we also all communicated clearly and engaged in active listening. The ideas that everyone presented were taken in whole heartedly by the other members of the groups and changed or built upon. Every thought that was shared was discussed and ultimately built up the idea for our center. We all had respect for one another in this way as well. No one came in to the project doubting anothers skill level and each thought that was presented was listened to and considered. There are ideas from all three of us in this project and that was a result of us respecting each others thoughts and ideas. We all had the common goal of doing well on this center, and of making it a center where children would practice the skill of punctuation. We all cared about the grade we got and therefore put equal effort into its creation. Because of this, we made sure to spend a lot of time

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reflecting on each others ideas and ultimately what we wanted the students to get out of our center. This was one of the hardest pieces because we sometimes got so focused on the activities that we wanted to do with the students, that we lost track of the desired results. The center was complex and figuring out how to organize it was tough, but we were able to figure it out as a result of our collaboration. I know that week was crazy, but we managed to give ourselves adequate time to complete the project. We spaced out meetings so that ideas could form and eventually be brought together into the project we presented. We all took accountability for the final outcome of the project. Although I was the one who put it together, we discussed the layout together and it required input from Morgan and Sarah in order to be able to come together. We did seem to have one miscommunication during the building of the tri-fold. I thought Morgan was going to put together the felt piece but since I was building the tri-fold I think she thought that I was going to put it together and only dropped off felt, Velcro, and the paragraph. I ended up having to put that together as well as the tri-fold itself, but I think that was the only problem we ran into. Overall, this project definitely gave me hands-on insight as to what it will be like when collaborating with other teachers in the future. I know I can have difficulty being open-minded to the ideas of others when I feel my own ideas are so strong, but it definitely helped me to take in the ideas of others during this project because both Sarah and Morgan brought up ideas that I would have never thought of before which really enhanced our center. In the future, I would make sure that communications of responsibilities were more clearly and even physically laid out beforehand by the group. It did cause me some added stress to put together what I thought Morgan was doing, but I know it was not all her fault that this happened. We should have been clearer in deciding exactly who was doing what in this center.