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I read the article, "Why Differentiation Misses the Mark for Gifted Students." I tried to follow along with the author's point as he tried to explain this, but I'm not sure I was truly able to grasp what the reasoning was/is.
The metaphor of a teacher needing to direct orchestras, not trains, made me stop and think. I think he is saying that teachers have students who are not all traveling in the same direction...we can't load them on the train and always have forward progress. More like an orchestra, there will be parts in the song where one group shines and one group rests. There will be fast moving parts and slow moving parts. Some songs will be led by one particular instrumental group, while other songs will be led by other groups. This, to me, sounds a lot like a classroom. The only problem with this is that while we can perform day-to-day as though we are conducting an orchestra...we have to ultimately fulfill the "train" portion of the metaphor by having ALL of our students reach the same "destination" at the same time...of course, alluding to state tests and benchmarks.
While this article certainly made me think, I walked away from it feeling like I had run around a problem, but achieved no answers. I would love to have seen some examples of ways that differentiation in a regular classroom DOES work. What does it look like and how can I make preparations now, in the summer, to help me be a better teacher when I return to the classroom in August???

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I was interested in reading this article to learn more about why differentiation isn't working for gifted students, but I felt like the article didn't ever really directly answer the question and sort of jumped around with discussing the topic. I understand the author was saying that even in tracking students differentiation isn't a "one size fits all" where even in a higher level class you still need to differentiate among learners, however, the article didn't go in depth with discussing how specifically educators are missing the mark with gifted differentiation.

The article also discussed how differentiation for gifted students can't just be putting them on a different technology program to "grow them" as a learner, but that the educator needs to think more about having a fluid classroom rather than a static one. However, it never gave any examples of what this could look like. I almost felt like when I was reading the article it should be an introduction to a longer piece of writing. The article was interesting, but I don't feel like I learned a lot because it didn't give me anything concrete or a clear direction of what to possibly change in my classroom.

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"Learners' needs, gifted or not, are fluid. Learning is fluid. However, our current educational system is largely static."

As teachers we look at the whole scope of our content and how our students' learning standards are connected across disciplines and grade levels. I often find myself dreaming of the what-ifs of my instruction and the types of learning opportunities for my students as I write lesson plans and then come face to face roadblocks. The true fluidity of learning should occur when the gen-ed teacher, intervention specialist, gifted teacher, parents and partner teacher are all working/planning together in order to provide quality instruction that surpasses our current schedule and "the way our students are deployed" in our classrooms.

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"The biggest reason differentiation doesn't work is the way students are deployed in most of our nation's classrooms."

I feel differentiation is a positive practice that greatly benefits learners.  The facet that makes it particularly challenging though for teachers is that there is often far too wide a range of abilities in a classroom for a single teacher to thoroughly differentiate.  As a result, teachers often work hard at differentiating, but still feel they are falling short.

Careful planning around student composition in classrooms could potentially help lessen the breadth of student abilities and needs to be addressed.  Which would allow teachers to differentiate more robustly.  The challenge would be to still maintain a level of heterogeneous grouping - which I believe research still advocates as being best for students.

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As I was reading the article, "Why Differentiation Misses the Mark for Gifted Students", I was asking myself why educators still struggle with the concept of differentiation.  I recently found an in-service document on differentiation from 2004.  Methods and research have been around for a while.  I think the key to why this is so challenging is "learning is fluid" and "not all students who are labeled gifted require the same things in order to receive an appropriate educational experience."  Expand that idea to include all students with special needs, and you get quite a challenge for the classroom teacher.  Teachers will often leave the gifted to their own devices due the needs of the under-performing student.  I believe most teachers know how to differentiate but time constraints and overwhelming numbers of students below grade level and/or with behavior issues causes a case of benign neglect of our gifted students.
As always "differentiated instruction is more effective when we consider the environment in which we try to implement it and adjust accordingly." Adjusting accordingly is the key. No two classes are alike so an effective teacher needs to tailor his or her instruction to meet the needs of the current group of students and the current learning environment. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your students in order to make decisions to best deliver the curriculum is critical. It is a constant balancing act to alternate time and effort to include learning activities with both stretch and remediation. As stated above, the fluidity and change needed to truly differentiate really can be overwhelming to a teacher. Coming up with achievable goals and working steadily, a teacher can make a difference. We just need to not try so much at one time or we could easily be discouraged by our lack of progress.

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I agree with the author and the teachers he cited that say the diverse classrooms that we create make it more difficult to differentiate. When you have a large mix of students in one room, the numbers in which you need to differentiate are increased. In addition to this, you have to choose, as the article stated, whether you are going to differentiate the curriculum or the instruction. All of these factors alone make planning a lesson difficult, not to mention all of the other factors that go into teaching. I think that this is a problem that we can solve as a building. Through thoughtful class distribution we can limit the number of ways that a single class needs differentiated. Through building conversation and leadership, we can more clearly define what it is that we want to differentiate (curriculum or instruction). As a building team, we can discuss and come up with ideas for what we want differentiation to look like in our school. With more clearly defined expectations and simpler class groups, we have the power to eliminate a lot of the guess work that we spend so much time on.

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"Teachers want and need clear guidance on what it is they are supposed to do to reach differentiated Nirvana, yet the messages they receive from the "experts" are far from consistent.  No wonder confusion reigns and teachers feel defeated in trying to implement the grand goals of differentiation."

I agree that districts and individual schools need to come to a common understanding of what differentiation is/means. It is not individualization for every student yet that is what it sometimes feels like. I think engagement and differentiation go hand in hand. I think differentiation does work and is needed but I see how teachers are overwhelmed by unclear expectations and just "give up". What can I do in my classroom to reach each learner and keep them engaged in the content I am covering? This article was a commentary with "anti differentiation views but it is was thought provoking as all educators struggle with the demands of our profession.

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I agree that the word "differentiation" is quite polarizing. When I first heard it I thought, "Great! this will really benefit the kids." Then, as I tried to figure out ways to incorporate it in the classroom I felt stuck and overwhelmed. I was under the mistaken impression that it meant every single student had to have individual lessons for each subject. I ran away from the idea like Road Runner fleeing from the Coyote. I became resistant to the possibility that it was something attainable.

But as I have slowly incorporated it into my Math class I can see the benefits-I know my kids better and see their potential a lot more clearly. I have also come to realize data isn't just numbers-but teacher's observations.  What we see is just as valid as a test...maybe more.

When I first started teaching I subbed for a teacher who had differentiated everything and I thought she must be:
1-the most organized person in the world
2-had found a time machine to allow her all that extra time to plan 3-would burn out at any moment.  But the kids knew what to do and were on task most of the time.

I'm currently running groups in Math class and although it's not not always pretty, it has allowed me to know my students better, and for that, I'm grateful.  As to getting to the place where every kid has a differentiated lesson, I'm still looking for that time machine.

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I found a couple of points very interesting in this article.  This article states that data refers to the the different types of evidence used to differentiate instruction for students and that tests are often the least effective ways to see where students are and what they need.
They suggest using multiple sources to collect data on students. I agree with this point, we need to look at more than just one test score or data point, especially when identifying our gifted students and differentiating instruction for all of our students. We need to look at a variety of data points.

The article refers to keeping and using a Data Dashboard on every student. This dashboard is similar to a person's medical chart which a doctor would use to help diagnose a patient. This Data Dashboard would make differentiating instruction for students more attainable.

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“The way we assess and the assessments we use give us the data we need to inform how to appropriately differentiate instruction for students.

Therefore, if we are not using a variety of reliable assessments, our attempts to differentiate instruction often fall flat because the data we try to use doesn’t give us the information we need.”

I think this can be applied to how we identify our gifted students. For third grade, it is my understanding that gifted students are identified based on Terra Nova scores from past years. Is this data still accurate? I'm not saying I have a solution, but I do believe certain students are being missed.

“Therefore, in order to form a diagnosis, pediatricians look at a variety of evidence, some which comes from a lab or machine (weight, temperature, blood count) and some which comes from other assessments (conversations, questionnaires, observing the patient perform a task.”

I agree with the author's above statement. I think looking at the whole picture of a student will give us much better, reliable and accurate data to determine gifted services and areas needed for differentiation.

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"By having dismantled many of the provisions we used to offer to kids on the edges of learning (classes for gifted kids, classes for kids who struggle to learn, and classes for those whose behaviors are disruptive to the learning process of others), we have sacrificed the learning of virtually every student."

With the vast array of unique students in our classrooms, hard as we all may try, we inevitably struggle to meet the needs of each student and discover their gifts. Every child deserves to shine but many are overshadowed by the needs of others in the same classroom. Differentiation is seen as a way to meet the needs of all. In theory, it seems the perfect solution, however, in practice, no. Teachers need to be provided with examples of what works and a simple way to implement strategies. We need a clear definition of what is expected and how that looks. Teachers are frustrated because how they and others implement differentiation may look different and are asking themselves, " Who is right?

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"Differentiation might have a chance to work if we, as a nation, to return to the days when students were placed in classes with other students whose learning needs paralleled their own"

I am conflicted by this statement. Right now we do have pull out classes for both Reading and Math classes in which those students are grouped by their similar learning needs. Data shows that this type of program does work. The negative side to this is that the Reading program is designed for lower level students and while it helps those students to improve in reading, they are never exposed to their actually grade level material. This hinders them on State Tests, including the Ohio Graduation Test.

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'Not all students who are labeled gifted require the same things in order to receive an appropriate experience.  Just as not all gifted students require the same services, a given individual (gifted or not) does not automatically need the same services year after year."

I feel every student deserves their own unique experience.  I also feel that every person is gifted in some way and we as teachers need to find that one thing that our students excel in and make sure they are challenged in that area.

Students and teachers can teach each other through their strengths.

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"The needs of gifted students are not being met in the ‘regular’ classroom through differentiation."

I couldn't agree more with this quote. I really this as an issue when schools are not intentional about how gifted students are placed in classrooms. Not all gifted students are the same and neither are their needs and necessary supports to be successful.

My question: Do you feel that gifted students are intentionally placed in your classrooms?