FIAE: Chapter 1

This chapter is just an introduction to what differentiated instruction is, but it is a really great introduction. I wish we would have read this before jumping into UbD and DI, because it really explained differentiated instruction very well. It begins by explaining how the brain is always evolving and changing, so therefore teaching methods need to be updated around the advances in the world. Teaching methods need to be based around each and every students different brain and how they learn. A child wearing glasses was a simple example of what differentiated instruction is. It is not cheating to let a child to read the board without his glasses on, if the child needs to wear glasses to see just as everyone else then his glasses are a tool used to differentiate his learning. I never really thought of something as simple as that, but it is so true. Also the book states, "yes, the real world is differentiated" (7). Mechanics, the military, and doctors need to use differentiated techniques and procedures to get each individual job done, just as teachers need to teach in individualistic ways depending on the students needs and capabilities.