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    Differentiating Instruction with Primary Sources
    117 Members Created Sep 25, 2022
    #Pre K - 2, #3 - 5, #6 - 8, #9 - 12, #Special Education, #differentiated instruction, #Individualized Instruction, #preservice, #Teacher Education, #TPS Goal 10, #TPS Goal 2, #TPS Goal 3, #TPS Goal 5,
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    Dear TPS Network Members,

    We would like to welcome you to our discussion and place where we will share resources.

    In this group, each week, members of the TPS Network from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Hunter College will provide a blog showcasing differentiated instruction with primary sources found at http://www.loc.gov.

    We invite P-12 teachers from all subject areas to discuss the opportunities, challenges, and practical tips of teaching with primary sources as a vehicle to meet diverse learner strengths and needs.

    Let's hear from you. Please reply to this message by telling us a little about your context and share challenges or questions that you hope we address in this group.

    For fun, when you think of differentiated instruction what might you compare it to? Can you share a simile for differentiated instruction? For example, differentiated instruction is like an orchestra because individuals are playing to their interests and strengths, yet everyone is playing one song. Or Differentiated Instruction is like a garden because every student, like, plants, requires different amounts of water and sunlight to be nurtured.

    Rhonda Bondie  Pre K - 2    3 - 5    6 - 8    9 - 12    13+    Differentiated Instruction  

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    I'd like to introduce myself, I am Rhonda Bondie and will be facilitating this group along with my colleague Jonny Adler  Pre K - 2    Pre K - 2    3 - 5    6 - 8    9 - 12    13+    differentiated instruction    differentiated instruction  . I am currently teach special education at Hunter College in New York City where I am the Director of the Hunter College Learning Lab and an associate professor. I began teaching as an artist-in-residence and then spent over 20 years in urban public schools as both a special and general educator. Throughout my teaching career, I have focused on ensuring all learners are valued, engaged, and stretched in inclusive classrooms. Together with my research partner, Akane Zusho, we wrote a guide for daily teaching called, Differentiated Instruction Made Practical. Our book is used by teachers in more than 30 countries to support their work of ensuring all learners are thriving every day and will be released in Portuguese in January 2023. My teaching and research examines how teachers develop inclusive teaching practices and differentiated instruction expertise throughout their career using new technologies.

    Here is my simile - Differentiated instruction is like an environmentally sound land environment - the teacher works to recognize and value the resources that are present and build new learning rooted in the rich foundation that is always there.

    Rhonda Bondie

    Before becoming a school librarian, I taught French for twenty years, and one story of truly student-driven differentiated instruction popped into my mind when I read the welcome post for this new group. I once had a first-year group of three high school boys who weren't really very interested in learning French, but they were exceedingly interested in playing golf! One day they showed up to class speaking French with great gusto, and I learned that they had played golf together that weekend while keeping score and talking about the weather in French! Even though they continued to butcher the pronunciation, their transformation into strong language learners was quite remarkable. All that from a little white ball! It's still one of my favorite teacher memories. If I had only known then what I know now about primary sources, I would surely have integrated some great golf-related primary sources into my instruction. 

    Dear Mary,

    Many thanks for sharing that special teacher memory. Your post reminds us of the importance of being interested in our learning. This is for sure a key to differentiated instruction and you are correct, primary sources make catering to student interests much easier!

    Rhonda

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