Friday, November 21, 2014

Reflective Teacher at Teach Thought November Blog Challenge- Day 21

One of the books that really helped me become a better teacher came into my teaching after I chose to re-submit my portfolio for the National Boards. The positive side of me not passing the first time was that I had to go back and dig deeper and search for the reasons as to why I did not pass the first time around.

One of the reasons that came to me was that I was not simply giving my students enough choice and differentiation in the classroom. My boss at the time (thank you Lisa) suggested Carol Tomlinson and her ideas about differentation and instruction. Said that I would really enjoy reading her. It was just the thing I needed to spark my teaching.

 
I started out small, taking baby steps and now am happy to say that I am a confident, differentiating queen. If you have not had to check out her books and ideas please do. In the book she really has great ideas and it is very easy to understand and put into practice. I still go back to it for inspiration and re-direction in my teaching. There are definitely one or two gems in there that you can put into play for this coming Monday!

3 comments:

  1. I love her work - reminds me to read again. :-)

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  2. Tomlinson's stuff is great. As a Teacher of the Gifted, I do a lot of differentiation because of high abilities that are often off the charts. I also teach one section of lower kids. Thanks for the reminder to go back and look at her graphic organizers!

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  3. Thanks for the reference; it's going on my reading wishlist. The way you described it and the table piques my interest.

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