Daniela Moya

ELED 300
SPRING 2016
Dr. Isbell

Differentiated Instruction
The principles four of differentiation are being proactive, having studentcentered instructional strategies, assessment based on students need, and a blend
instruction. Proactive means to aware of student diversity in your classroom.
Planning accordingly ahead of time. Instruction should be student centered. This
means the teacher includes the students interest and needs. Effective teachers take
the time to listen to their students to get to know them better and thus applying
what they know about the students to change the instruction accordingly.
Assessment indicates crucial information to the teacher about the needs of the
students now and in the future. A blended instruction can be implementing wholegroup, small group, and partner work to meet different student needs.
Differentiation isnt individualizing instruction for every student. This would
be very time consuming and tedious for the instructor. Differentiation should be
beneficial for both teachers and students. Teachers can differentiate by using
different materials, learning activities, resources, and objectives. The idea is to cater
to the students individual needs without having to give all your attention to one
student. The use of different forms of differentiation should be well thought of to
maximize learning for your students.
My mentor teacher honestly used every form of differentiated instruction
mentioned above. The used the group-time to review topics that were taught at
small-groups. She prefers to introduce a new concept during teacher table or small
groups. She says understanding is better assessed in small groups, since the
teacher works with a smaller group allows more time for one on one instruction. She

Daniela Moya
ELED 300
SPRING 2016
Dr. Isbell

Differentiated Instruction
split the class into three groups, these groups are based on the academic level the
students are at. The groups for Math centers varied from the groups of the ELA
centers. She used a variety of games and activities. The activity for centers was
different every time. She also implemented peer tutoring disguised as small
groups.