After reading the first chapter in Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design, I feel like I have a better understanding of, not only the separate models, but also how and why they work together.
It becomes obvious in the first few paragraphs how much work and thought has been put into combining these two models to help benefit educators and students. There is a thorough understanding of the difficulties that many educators face when trying to teach required curriculum and work with the individual and varied needs of each student. This chapter really seems to indicate that no matter how elaborate the lesson plan, it isn’t as helpful as teaching the big ideas in a variety of ways. I found this surprising and relatable at the same time. Looking back on school I feel like most of my lessons were pretty generic, and I still managed to excel. But when I continue to reflect, I realize that in subjects I was less interested in, a variety of techniques that focused on the same big ideas really did improve my understanding because I was then able to understand them in more than one way.
Keeping in mind the mentioned four elements of effective teaching and the various examples used, I now have a better understanding of how easy it can be to use the two models together to create an ideal classroom. I also understand how this fits in with the understanding of each students learning styles or individual intelligences, and how using these models can help expand my own intelligences to help support my students.
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