Thoughts about Differentating Lessons Reflection

This past week I have been working on the study guide for our middle school class. Even though it is not for Literacy across the Curriculum, I thought that it would be appropriate for me to talk about on here to let others who are not in the class to think about the idea of differentiating instruction. So many teachers think that they are teaching in a way that will reach all their students just by changing up the way that they are saying something in the front of their classroom. It made me think about the way that I teach each day to my fourth graders. It is so easy to fall into the old teaching idea of changing a few things in the lesson to reach all the students. But, in all reality this is not how one can achieve good differentiating instruction. It was a relief to read that no one has ever mastered this concept. It is something that even seasoned teachers have to struggle to do. I can remember teachers in my past that drove me crazy. They did the same things everyday. They did not change up the way they taught. It was fine for the people that could learn through only lecture, but for me it was another story. I am so not an auditory learner. I need to go over it over and over again to be able to learn something. When thinking about those old teachers of mine, it makes me want to be the opposite. I want to make an effort to try to reach each one of my students. I need to work in a variety of lessons each week that will help reach each learner in my classroom. This is for sure an on going process, but I am going to try to do my best to achieve it.