Critical Analysis Of Differentiated Instruction

Differentiated instruction is defined as the teaching learning of philosophy whose emphasis is students’ since students are different, differentiated instruction emphasizes that one teaching style cannot accommodate all the students particularly when the teachers’ style does not match the students’ style. The article suggests that this style allows teachers the option of varying learning activities, assessment modes, content demands and the environment in the classroom so that they can meet the needs of all students. Differentiated instruction has been in use for years with students who are gifted but is now being used in regular classrooms.

The no child left behind act and individuals with disabilities education improvement act teachers are now faced with a diversity of students within their classrooms. There was no longer mainstreaming and inclusion was the order of the day. When children who have diverse disabilities and those with ELL ruling are included in traditional classrooms, teachers are faced with the dilemma of how to teach these new inclusion students, how they are to teach these students who have different linguistic backgrounds and heritages. The answer to this is differential instruction which targets all children.

The article brings out various argument that support the fact that the fact that differential instruction is meant for all children. Universal design for learning framework (UDL) carries the idea that the instructions that teachers plan are for the success of every student. Instead of teachers waiting for students to fail or lag behind in progress or struggle instructions are planned in such a way that their needs are met on the front end of the entire process of learning.UDL is not a new concept to education as it has been used in special education for a long period of time. Teachers have realized that diversity in instruction gives the opportunity to plan for thesuccess of everyone participating. Retrofit framework is different from UDL as it involves he response to lack of the progress of students using a curriculum that exists and strategies that are considering a slight differentiation of instructions. Traditionally retrofit was used and not UDL.this is seen as the first step when it comes to meeting students needs. The articles compare the two approaches. This is because UDL embraces all learners through gathering information and coming up with instruction that are based on the interests and requirements. On the other hand retrofitting is making plans based on the content that has to be covered, measuring outcomes or products showing mastery. In this form of differentiated instructions, changes are made only when the success of a learner is not forthcoming. This comparison is necessary as it shows the exact type of differential instruction that has to be used in specific situations. The article emphasizes the two learning methods by giving an illustration of in the fifth grade. The illustration shows the usefulness of using a Retrofit approach and the power which the UDL. The articles brigs out Emily’s strengths and weaknesses; what is expected from her when it comes to assessment. There are some discrepancies between Emily’s performance in subjects and the various demands of the classroom. Emily begins to fail and her teachers decide to help. From a retrofit approach, thecontent, process and products for Emily teachers determine her strengths and weaknesses and several steps taken so as to help her. These steps mainly entail changing the strategy the teachers used before with her in the classroom. The teachers used differentiated instruction through retrofitting when they allowed her to directly write on texts. Therefore teachers can use a UDL approach when it comes to designing of how they will teach in Emily’s classroom so that all the students in that class can benefit.

The illustration is useful as it has given out an illustration of how retrofitting can be used in a classroom so as to benefit students. The illustration is also important as it has showed how UDL can be used in classrooms so that all the students in the classroom canbenefit. Teachers should agree on the best mode of teaching for students either retrofitting or UDL.

Reference

Stanford, B. &Reeves, S. (2009).Making it happen: Using Differentiated Instruction, Retrofit framework and Universal Design for learning. TEACHING Exceptional children plus,5(6)Article 4.Retrieved September 7,2013 from http://escholarship.bc.edu/education/tecplus/vol15/iss6/art4