Diffrentiated Classrooms

I read a article on the importance of the differentiated classroom today. The article covered all the levels of education from Early Childhood to High School. Naturally I focused my reading on the high school area of the article. The article didn't focus at all on any business type classes but the message was not lost. The message was that teachers have always had to manage different types of students in their classrooms. In the one room school house it was grade 1's and grade 12's in the same room, now it is different learning styles, different cultures, ect. (Although I find there is an error in this statement. This statement says that students didn't have different learning styles before and that this is a new phenomenon. This simply isn't true and to me shows that the statement is a general one.).


While reading the article I started to think about how I could have a differentiated classroom within a business course. At first it is difficult because I immediately think about how you are going to test the students to the degree the Department of Learning wants you to while individualizing the students work.

Then I realized I don't have to concentrate on the work only to differentiate the classroom. I could add things to my classroom and my teaching styles. When teaching a lesson incorporate as many different mediums as possible. Some students are visual learners (PowerPoint, White Board, Posters, Video), some are auditory learners (Lecture, radio, music, discussion). The point is that you could simply try and hit home to all these senses within your lesson to allow different types of learners the opportunity to learn within a medium that they understand and feel comfortable with.

Other options could be to give different students different work. However if I were to do that I would want to have 1 on 1 meetings with the students and talk to them and gain an understanding of what they expect themselves to do. I wouldn't want to give different students different work yet allow this practice to have no value if students are not setting goals to go past what they initially think is a practical goal for themselves. By meeting with the students 1 on 1 I would get the chance to understand the students concerns and the student would get the chance to understand my expectations. My concern is that some students would see this as an opportunity to be "lazy" do something that isn't challenging to them and get a better grade.

Maybe the problem for me is that I too am hung up on the importance of grades. After all grades dictate everything in this day and age. Scholarships, jobs, money, your future, the parts of peoples lives that are affected by grades are endless. In my opinion for a true Differentiated classroom to work the students, parents, teachers, administration, and the community would need to be understanding of how the classroom is working to better each individual student and how the class is not competing against each other but them selves for grades.