Blog #10 -- Differentiated Instruction

I have to admit that differentiating instruction is the part of education that I have the hardest time with. I know logically what it isn't...I don't have to plan an individual lesson for each student...but I have a hard time NOT doing that! One student thinks they are getting "ripped off" if they don't get the exact same worksheet, or another thinks they are getting "overworked" because another student doesn't have as difficult an assignment to do. Some are supposed to have modified assignments, but they don't WANT them modified because they think it makes them stand out, and the other students resent the "special treatment". I just have a hard time striking a balance where someone isn't feeling picked on because their work is harder or easier than someone else's! All of my students seem to want to be required to do exactly the same thing, even though they are at very different levels. This applies from special ed to gifted students. I would love to have projects for students to do based on their "style" of learning, but thinking of grading all of that gives me a headache. Even thinking of coming up with different and "fair" rubrics for all of that gives me a headache!

I recognize the importance of differentiating instruction, but I don't have any good examples of teachers who do it to follow, so I'm somewhat at a loss. Even knowing I'm supposed to incorporate it in my instruction and with every lesson, I don't know HOW. Maybe I'm making it harder than it is. I don't have to have something really different, just something slightly modified so that students at all levels can show that they are learning the same thing...easier said than done, still!  It's often not even me that has a problem with it, as I said earlier, my students feel like I'm being "unfair" if certain students have to "show what they know" in a different way. So as of now, differentiated instruction doesn't have a huge impact on my class, and though I would love to teach to various learning styles, I don't know how to! I'm hoping that's something I learn as I go...