Myra, I agree with you 100%. I can;t understand why Administrator's think Differentiated Instruction and homogeneous grouping should go hand in hand.
Our district has been following the 4Block format for several years. The school I work in was privileged to have Pat Cunningham, one of the creators of the Four Blocks framework, come to visit our school. Pat wrote about our school in her book,Schools That Work, that she co-wrote with Dick Allington. Our Self-Selected Reading Block and the Writing Block are completely differentiated during the individual conferences we have with each child. Notes are taken each week when we meet with individual students so that instruction can be tailored to the individual needs . Of course the SSR block has each student reading books on their own levels. How much more differentiated can you get? The Guided Reading Block allows teachers to choose from various formats while practicing comprehension strategies. Our district was one of the lowest performing schools in the state, but we have made steady gains over the years and are certainly moving in the right direction. I believe that Four Blocks was a big part of our turn around. But here is the kick...just today I was notified that I will have to attend a meeting on differentiated instruction and then set up a grade level unit specifically detailing how I am going to differentiate in the classroom. I wanted to scream, " Have you been around to the classrooms lately?" Hmm, I wonder what supervisor went to a presentation on Differentiated Instruction and decided to make this requirement. Thanks for letting me get this all out. Jean/NJ _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
