To Differentiate--

Differentiation, to me, means to accommodate to all learners. Every classroom has a variety of learners and it is the teacher's responsibility to adhere to all of those different learners in the classroom. Differentiation in most cases applies to struggling students who require more scaffolding. This could mean that the teacher breaks students into leveled reading groups so that each student is challenged, while not being bored or overwhelmed. From my own experience in elementary school, I never noticed my teacher's practicing this very much. But now as a teacher candidate I can recognize that it is a very important aspect to keeping students motivated in school. I also think, in my opinion, that the students don't even need to be completely "aware" of what "level" they are, or that they are doing different assignments. I know that students are very intelligent about figuring this out on their own, but I don't think that it should be discouraged for a student to travel outside of their specified level. When this is allowed, I believe that is the point that growth and learning has taken place.