Mod 13 Discussion: Aligning Curriculum

In my classroom, I give the most weight to number III, responding to student’s varied needs for instructional support. I focus on student needs because of the wide range of student abilities in my class. I have students who regularly perform at the highest level (and have achieved 4s and 5s on their state tests) students who have mastered some basic material and are approaching mastery of higher order thinking (3s on state tests), and those who are struggling. In addition, some of my students are ELLs and some have IEPs. Thus, I implement a variety of differentiated learning strategies (modeling, I do, we do; small group work, pull-out group work, having a support teacher push-in, one-on-one after school sessions, etc.) My goal is to meet my students where they are at and then push them forward. My students are encouraged by the varied approaches because they know something I facilitate or implkement will work to help them understand the material.