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"Differentiation might have a chance to work if we are willing, as a nation, to return to the days when students of similar abilities were placed in classes with other students whose learning needs paralleled their own" This quote resonated the most for me because I find having so many students with multiple learning challenges in one room to be problematic. The continuous bouncing around juggling act that happens in the classroom is my and many teachers daily existence. It's hard to know if the differentiation we think we're supply for our students is actually working. If students with similar challenges were all placed in the same classrooms I think it would minimize a lot of the confusion. Although the school system has had the best of intentions with making classrooms inclusive I don't know if their execution of this lofty endeavor is translating in the most constructive manner.

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Differentiation: Carrying water in a straw basket.

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Differentiation: Carrying water in a straw basket.

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Carrying water in a straw basket was a comment that was made to me by one of my colleagues. I was initially offended by this comment. Later i sat  down, pondered, and reviewed several IEPs. "A second reason that differentiation has been a failure is that we're not exactly sure what it is we are differentiating: Is it the curriculum or the instructional methods used to deliver it?"(Delisle). This quote spoke volumes becuase because one of the major challeges with teaching a curriculum is deciphering which material to present in a manner that is to their level of comprehension. Even more frustrating at times is understanding that students have beem "passed along" and I must now succeed where past differentiation attempts have failed in the students' prior grades. Now even though the reality is that majority of teachers are working from behind the eight ball I do not agree with dismissing the idea that differentiation does not work. An attempt must be made as well as repetition to ultimately determine what works for which student and best way to fcailiate that information. "The teachers in those schools typically teach up planning first for advanced learners, then scaffolding instruction to enable less advanced students to access those rich learning experiences" (Tomlin pg 3) ultimately is what teaching  is especially special education. Not all students learn the same. Learning on a very simplistic level is trial and error. Within a classroom differentiation is supposed to provide the easiest route to understand and ab

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"Differentiation is a failure, a farce, and the ultimate educational joke played on countless educators and students" (Delisle). I don't believe there will ever be a time where everyone agrees one thing, especially when it comes to the education of youth. Everyone will always have their own opinion. In each article there were things that I agreed with and things that I did not agree with. In Delisle's article he states that one of the main reason differentiation doesn't work is because the way the students are placed into the classrooms. "Toss together several students who struggle to learn, along with a smattering of gifted kids, while adding a few English-language learners and a bunch of academically average students and expect a single teacher to differentiate for each of them. That is a recipe for academic disaster if ever I saw one".  I do agree the grouping takes i difficult, but not impossible. It just means more time should be dedicated to planning. I personally do not think differentiation work. My biggest problem with differentiation is giving the students different task and assignments when they are still expected to reach the same benchmark as their counterparts, especially when those students are taking the same state examinations as their peers. This exams are not differentiated for them. I'm more inclined to provide my students with scaffolds to achieve the same objects rather than altering things.   Tomlinson states "...that differentiating instruction well is not easy. But then, I've never felt that teaching should be". I completely agree with this statement. However; I do disagree with another statement her made.  Hid thought that students in lower-track classes don't achieve as well as they do inheterogeneous settings because they are taught by "newer or less engagedteachers". I feel like being a new teacher does not mean that you aren't capable of performing your job and doing more to ensure that your students are achieving. I still do not like the idea of differentiated instruction especially when having to meet the CCLS, but to each it's own and Tomlinson made some good points in his article.  

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"Differentiation is a failure, a farce, and the ultimate educational joke played on countless educators and students" (Delisle). I don't believe there will ever be a time where everyone agrees one thing, especially when it comes to the education of youth. Everyone will always have their own opinion. In each article there were things that I agreed with and things that I did not agree with. In Delisle's article he states that one of the main reason differentiation doesn't work is because the way the students are placed into the classrooms. "Toss together several students who struggle to learn, along with a smattering of gifted kids, while adding a few English-language learners and a bunch of academically average students and expect a single teacher to differentiate for each of them. That is a recipe for academic disaster if ever I saw one".  I do agree the grouping takes i difficult, but not impossible. It just means more time should be dedicated to planning. I personally do not think differentiation work. My biggest problem with differentiation is giving the students different task and assignments when they are still expected to reach the same benchmark as their counterparts, especially when those students are taking the same state examinations as their peers. This exams are not differentiated for them. I'm more inclined to provide my students with scaffolds to achieve the same objects rather than altering things.   Tomlinson states "...that differentiating instruction well is not easy. But then, I've never felt that teaching should be". I completely agree with this statement. However; I do disagree with another statement her made.  Hid thought that students in lower-track classes don't achieve as well as they do inheterogeneous settings because they are taught by "newer or less engagedteachers". I feel like being a new teacher does not mean that you aren't capable of performing your job and doing more to ensure that your students are achieving. I still do not like the idea of differentiated instruction especially when having to meet the CCLS, but to each it's own and Tomlinson made some good points in his article.  

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Reading both articles it is difficult not to say that both make good, and valid points; I tend to agree with Carol Ann Tomlinson for a couple of reasons. First of all, in life I have learned to avoid absolutes; in other words, a statement like “this will never work” does not work for me. Second, C.A. Tomlinson has very good arguments in her response, and her work overall, unlike James R. Delisle, who I can’t say much about his arguments, but I can say that he appears to have an elitist and separatist attitude towards education.

In his article Differentiation Doesn’t Work, Delisle says that “Although fine in theory, differentiation in practice is harder to implement in a heterogeneous classroom than it is to juggle with one arm tied behind your back.”, and then he goes on to give examples of when it did not work. It appears on his article that the author has never actually tried to differentiate for his students, and he bases his claims on findings of other researchers, without putting any real effort to analyze their findings. When he quotes Michael Petrilli,

"Teachers were provided with extensive professional development and ongoing coaching. Three years later the researchers wanted to know if the program had an impact on student learning. But they were stumped. 'We couldn't answer the question ... because no one was actually differentiating,' ",

I can only ask what type of professional development are we talking about, who were these teachers, what type of coaching did they receive? It is only fair for the reader to assume, that just because it failed in a particular setting, that does not mean it will never work. If that was our attitude in life, we would still live in the middle ages. He goes on to say that “Differentiation might have a chance to work if we are willing, as a nation, to return to the days when students of similar abilities were placed in classes with other students whose learning needs paralleled their own.”, I don’t see the point in differentiation in this statement; what I see is segregation and a continuation of an unjust system that caters to the elit. Let’s not forget, a child might appear to be smarter than another based on the fact that it has both parents with college degrees that have high expectations of their child, while the other “not so smart” student comes from a broken home with a struggling parent that really has no time to spent on that student’s education.

C.A. Tomlinson has taught in differentiated classes with great success, in her article Differentiation Does, In Fact, Work, she tells us . “I absolutely understand that differentiating instruction well is not easy. But then, I've never felt that teaching should be easy.“ I love this statement because it exposes the lazy approach Mr. Delisle is taking with teaching, “Let me teach my smart kids, the rest of you can kick rocks”. Ms. Tomlinson is on point and I will use two personal anecdotes to back her up. First, I have a student called Angelica, she is wonderful and very eager to learn but the results were not there. I went back to her IEP and realised MY mistake, she is not a visual learner unlike the rest of her classmates, she is a tactile learner; I started adjusting my lessons to fit that need, I did not exclude the other students from the new activities, I presented tactile activities as just another type of things we do in the classroom. Success, all students love the new activities--youtube was getting boring--and Angelica’s progress has accelerated. All it took was an extra 30 minutes on my part to come up with another activity. The second is more personal, my oldest son is a second grader, this year he was randomly selected to be in an ICT classroom, he is part of the gen-ed population of the class. Within three months I have seen his performance improve--he is the best student in the class, #proud_dad--but most important for me, I saw something I have never seen from him. Being that he is gen-ed he is the leader of his group, as a result I saw leadership skills that I never thought he had, and I also saw understanding in his eyes, I saw empathy; these are qualities that a student in a sterile “all smart” classroom would never develope.

In conclusion, I believe it is fairly obvious that differentiation works, and that any attempt to portray it as a futile exercise or a fad shows a hidden agenda of people that really should not be educators.

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"When we teach as though students are smart, they become smarter" (Tomlinson, p.2). I agree Tomlinson that differentiation does work. I agree with many of my peers that it is difficult to accomplish every single day in every single class, but I also think it's how you approach it. In my ICT 9th grade ELA class, we have reading levels between 1st grade and 10th grade. If differentiation didn't work than these students would never be able to be in a class together.  Absolutely planning the extra scaffolds can be a challenge, and sometimes I feel like I'm stuck, but I also know I am new at this and that eventually it will be second nature.  It takes time not only to plan, but to learn who each of my students are and how they learn, because I should be planning based on that.  Sometimes differentiation can be as simple as getting a simpler version of the text for students, other times we'll provide guiding questions that build up to a DOK level 3 or 4 rather than going right in.  Additionally, we need to plan these higher level students as well.  Often times we will plan a lesson focused on the middle to lower level students, and prepare an enrichment activity for the higher level students should they finish earlier.
"In every case, differentiated instruction seemed to complicate teachers' work" (Delilse, p.2) DUH!  If differentiation were easy than there would be no debate about it!  Yes, of course it takes more time because you're planning for more possibilities.  But say you have a child allergic to nuts while another loves them, are you going to pack 2 lunches, you would pack 2 lunches to ensure that your child didn't have a reaction to the lunch. So make an extra worksheet, find an extra text, do some extra work to ensure that ALL students are able to learn TOGETHER. Delisle argues that we have "sacrificed the learning of every student" by planning for the learning of all students. However, in this argument he is referencing teachers who did not do the differentiation because, I assume, they didn't have the time or didn't feel like taking it. The purpose of having multiple teachers with different skills is to address different learners, so why aren't people prioritizing that? Maybe it falls to the schools to provide teachers with more time to plan for differentiation, because quite frankly I think Delisle's stats about teachers wanting homogenous groupings comes down to whats easiest for them.

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Differentiation is a task that is very difficult in a lot of teachers opinions. Differentiation is the efforts teachers put in place to support the needs of different learners in their classroom. Some believe differentiation doesn’t work, while some praise differentiation. As a special educator I often find myself trying to differentiate and often feel like I am putting in so much work that seems to “not work”, especially when there is a class with so many different learners in the classroom.  However, it was definitely interesting to see the disagreeing sides or perspectives behind differentiation.

After reviewing the Differentiation doesn’t work article I must say that I might agree with some of the ideas presented. In theory differentiation sounds great and easily obtainable, however in a “heterogeneous classroom” it is extremely difficult (Delisle, pg.2). In a classroom with students with different abilities it is very had to adhere to each individual student. This is very true in one of my ict classes. I have students who are very high levels, students with IEP’s on very low levels, English language learners, and a student has an orthopedic impairment (cerebral palsy). My co-teacher and I often struggle when deciding which differentiations will reach all of our students but somehow it seems some students are still overlooked. I often feel as a teacher specifically a special education teacher, that my responsibilities are far reached and in some cases impossible but for many it is doable. Delisle explains “It seems to me that the only educators who assert that differentiation is doable are those who have never tried to implement it themselves: university professors, curriculum coordinators, and school principals.” In many cases people who aren’t actually those who are differentiating in your classroom have many answers or solutions to what you can do and yet still I do not always feel like these things work. However, I do believe that one differentiation method can work for so many different types of learners. Additionally, the method used may not be successful that day but after it is repeated for a while it can benefit students more than you imagine. For example, I found that graphic organizers help all my students as many of them even on higher levels benefit from tools that help them stay organized.

On the other hand, Tomlinson disagrees with the idea that differentiation doesn’t work and that it is in fact a hard job to implement but it can be done. Tomlinson knows that when implementing differentiation you may not see “quick success” as the pursuit of expertise in teaching is a career-long endeavor” (Tomlinson, pg. 1). I was especially happy to read this as this idea was exactly how I was feeling for some of the point Delisle was making. Tomlinson also talks about the idea that teachers can use many different resources to help them with differentiation as she did. She consulted “school-based academic coaches and principals who share colleagues the practices of differentiation they used successfully in their own classroom” (Tomlinson, pg. 1). While Tomilson has man resources she went to help her and it was successful, not all teachers have that luxury and may be surrounded by people who leave it up to the teacher to “figure it out”. I have heard stories of people who are expected to just do certain things correctly as they are the special educator and especially with differentiation it is not always that simple.

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While it was interesting reading the two articles from this week, I think they have further solidified my thoughts about differentiated instruction. My thoughts have always been that I understand the need of differentiated instruction in the classroom but I find it difficult and at times unrealistic to make it happen everyday. In the Delisle article this sentiment is summed up when it states, " 2008 report by the Fordham Institute, 83 percent of teachers nationwide stated that differentiation was "somewhat" or "very" difficult to implement."  This article also makes me question if there is a useful  training that can better provide teachers with the necessary skills to effectively differentiating in the classroom. In conclusion, I think it is safe to say that there is still a lot of work to be done in regards to proper differentiation. I just question and am a bit reluctant to believe that the proper training will be available anytime soon.

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It was interesting reading both Tomlinson and Delisle’s articles on differentiation, as both provided very differing viewpoints. However, after reading both arguments I am still on the fence with whether or not differentiation works.

After having many conversations with fellow teachers, I agree with Delisle about oftentimes beating ourselves up for not providing adequate differentiation—something I personally struggle with everyday. (Delisle, p.2) Differentiation can be difficult at times and yes there are classrooms like Delisle describes that have students, “Toss together several students who struggle to learn, along with a smattering of gifted kids, while adding a few English-language learners and a bunch of academically average students and expect a single teacher to differentiate for each of them.” (Delisle, p.2) Even with an ENL teacher working alongside myself and the general education teacher, differentiation is still tricky at times. We find ourselves scrabbling to support quite a few students in a limited amount of time, which is not always easy.

What Tomlinson describes as a reasonable counterclaim known as “teaching up” (Tomlinson, p.3) where teachers just plan for the gifted students and scaffold for the less advanced, is easier said than done. In the classes that I co-teach, we have been implementing this most often than not and what I noticed that has been happening is our less advanced students are clueless during most of the lesson and then all three teachers have to assist the various students with the independent work. The part that we may be missing is the effective scaffolding strategies, even though we do try.

Then, on the flipside in another class I have been co-teaching in I have been pulling students out that have been struggling and working with them in a small group recently foe a specific lesson. The content is the same as what they would have in class but I move at a slower pace, explain more, relate the content more to them, and involve more activities that help them comprehend the material. So far, this has worked very well for my students for this particular assignment. So, in this case differentiation is working very well but not in the manner Tomlinson advocates.

Perhaps the struggle for me personally is because I am a new teacher and I still need more training in how to differentiate within an inclusive classroom. Or maybe it’s just that some students work better with slowed down lessons and one-on-one attention? Either way I think it’s a great argument to have so that we all can perfect our teaching to reach all of our students.

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I enjoyed reading the article written by James R. Delisle. I have been struggling with differentiating fro my own Special Ed classes. I often beat myself up because I feel as if I'm not doing enough for my students. while i try to provide multiple variations for my lesson, it is very easy to get lost in my own lesson. While i have a small class, its very difficult to reach all the students needs. while I feel that differentiation almost seems like a challenge you cant win, I also understand the importance of having students with various abilities in the classroom. The Bart Simpson quote was very powerful in which it addresses many of the issues students face in non-homogeneous classroom environments.  Many of my students in the self -contained setting i teach in often feel as if they are not smart and don't push themselves because they feel as if they are not smart. at least once i week, i remind my students how smart they are and that they must push themselves to be the best they can be. while
I can see the negative affects of having homogeneous classrooms this quote from Delisle also addressed the issues students may face who are placed with students who are more advanced learners, "In the same Fordham Institute report cited earlier, 71 percent of teachers reported that they would like to see our nation rely more heavily on homogeneous grouping of advanced students, while a resounding 77 percent of teachers said that, when advanced students are paired with lower-achieving students for group assignments, it's the smart kids who do the bulk of the work." while students can benefit from working with learners who have a grasp of the lesson, more advanced learners having to help students
who are struggling might stunt their own education.

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To start with Differentiation doesn’t work by Delisle I found that I could relate to a lot of what he was saying. I teach in a very diverse class even though it is special education. I find it still to be extremely challenging to differentiate properly for every student. I am in support of what Delisle says, “Although fine in theory, differentiation in practice is harder to implement in a heterogeneous classroom than it is to juggle with one arm tied behind your back”. I always feel that I am trying to find the balance between differentiating yet following the curriculum. I have to disagree with him when he starts talking about teachers not differentiating at all because in my school I find that many of my teachers are differentiating and it seems to be successful. Delisle goes on to say, “Either way, the verdict is clear: Differentiation is a promise unfulfilled, a boondoggle of massive proportions”. In my opinion I find there to be a gray area with differentiating and Delisle makes it very black and white. On the other hand with Tomlinson’s article about how differentiating can be successful and it can work is what I am in favor of because I want and need differentiating to work. Tomlinson states that, "I absolutely understand that differentiating instruction well is not easy. But then, I've never felt that teaching should be easy”. As teachers I think it’s important to cut yourself some slack once in awhile especially new teachers. Teaching to me is all about trial and error. Tomlinson says that teaching is not easy and she’s right. It is an extremely difficult job but we have to keep working at our craft and finding strategies that work for us. One topic that I have a conflicting opinion on is when she speaks about remedial classes being difficult to track students’ progress. I find that using the proper assessment and keeping a running record in my classroom can easily help me keep track of which student is on which level.

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In the articles “Differentiation Doesn’t Work” and “Differentiation Does In Fact Work” the authors James R. Delisle and Carol Ann Tomlinson each present their case for both the drawbacks and positives of differentiated instruction. In “Differentiation Doesn’t Work”, Delisle states “although fine in theory, differentiation in practice is harder to implement in a heterogeneous classroom than it is to juggle with one arm tied behind your back” (Delisle, pg. 2) as curating an individualized lesson to each student’s particular learning needs is a tedious and impossible task for teachers. He goes on to state that in thinking that students with different skill sets and levels of ability benefit from being in the same classroom, we are shortchanging both advanced and remedial learners. This is because teachers do not have the bandwidth to reach both sets of students in the same setting, as “in every case, differentiated instruction seemed to complicate teachers work requiring them to procure and assemble multiple sets of materials” (Delisle, pg. 2) which lead to less rigorous instruction. While, he states, this is not beneficial to students it also presents drawbacks for teachers as well, aside from the increase in work. It also “seems that, when it comes to differentiation, teachers are either not doing it at all, or beating themselves up for not doing it as well as they’re supposed to” (Delisle, pg. 2) which leads teachers to feel less confident in their work.

In “Differentiation Does In Fact Work” Carol Ann Tomlinson directly responds to James R. Delisle assertion that differentiation doesn’t work as teachers “ do understand that the pursuit of expertise in teaching is a career long endeavour. They aren’t sprinters expecting quick success, so much as marathoners in the race for the long haul” (Tomlinson, pg. 1) and that implementing it is part of a process and skill set that does not develop instantaneously overnight. She goes on to state that the reason why differentiation is beneficial is because when students are separated based on their ability, students in the remedial classes do not have access to the same educational opportunities as their peers in more advanced classes. This then creates an unequal access to both material but also future success. One reason for this is  “students in lower-track classes don't achieve as well as they do in heterogeneous settings. Those classes tend to be taught by newer or less engaged teachers. The quality of curriculum and instruction is less robust than in most heterogeneous settings” (Tomlinson, pg. 2) further allowing those students to fall behind their peers. Another drawback to separating students is that, unfortunately, when students are isolated based on their capabilities, those classes that have have “not only heavily populated by students whose lives were marked by "plenty," but that continual engagement with the kind of learning opportunities in those classes predicted a continuing life of plenty for students in them” (Tomlinson, pg. 2) further increasing the achievement gap.

I personally agree with both sides of this argument, and see both the positives and negatives of both differentiation and heterogeneous classroom settings. This year, I’m teaching in a self contained setting where all my students have IEP’s and thus require the lessons to be tailored to their needs, with multiple points of access to the content. While I think this is wonderful because it creates opportunity for students to learn and understand material that they may not be able to without the proper supports and scaffolds, I also think that it places an unfair burden on the teacher. In a perfect system where there’s time to collaborate with content teachers or where content teachers provide the curriculum or lesson plans to be modified for students with learning needs by the special educator, differentiation is possible and a wonderful tool for both student learning and a teacher’s toolbelt. But, in a reality such as mine where the content teachers do not provide curriculums or lesson plans to be modified it presents the situation where the teacher is both creating the content and differentiating said instruction, which is two jobs. In my particular case, this extends to all four major content areas leaving me unable to differentiate instruction to all my students needs. Not often enough am I able to differentiate lessons as I’m also creating the content. To create both educational and engaging lessons and then differentiate the lesson to the eight learning styles in my classroom is an impossible task. I could see how this could work better in an ICT setting, where both the content teacher and the special educator work in tandem to address all their students needs. But as it stands in the reality I’m living in, differentiation is not tenable.

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The not working, workings of Differentiation

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The not working, workings of Differentiation

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I had to come up with a title that expressed exactly how I feel after reading both articles. Suffice it to say that I'm sure all my fellow new teachers can agree that we can relate to both perspectives but depending on which school we chose (or chose us) I feel that will ultimately determine how our individual experience with differentiating effects us. I am one who works at a school that believes and supports differentiation in the melting pot classroom where diverse learning is supported. First reading Differentiation Doesn't Work by James R. Delisle. Like most, I found myself agreeing with  a lot of Delisle's points,  so much so that I was preparing to write in favor of his article. Then I came across one of his stats stating that " 71 percent of teachers reported that they would like to see our nation rely more heavily on homogeneous grouping of advanced students"(Delisle, pg.3) and I was suddenly in my mind taken to 1868 where it was believed that separate was equal. Many that believed this was on the end that was receiving more and had the better end of the deal, but it was crystal clear that it was not true for those on the other side of the coin. I almost forgot that one of the main reasons why we have ICT/Differentiation is because separate was and is not equal. Our nation has not learned from the past experience or have not put in the time and effort to assure that if students were grouped according to their learning ability were actually equal therefore we can not continue to feel as if Differentiation is a dumbing down or unfair treatment for high level learning students as if they are the being victimized. There are court cases that prove that the real victims are students with learning disabilities and low achieving students in impoverished neighborhoods. In the article Differentiation Does, in Fact, Work by Carol Ann Tomlinson, she makes a very poignant statement that has support from neuroscience and psychology that I will base my establishing teaching practice on. It stated "teachers who believe firmly in the untapped capacity of each learner, and thus set out to demonstrate to students that by working hard and working smart they can achieve impressive goals, get far better results than teachers who believe some students are smart, others are not and little can be done to change that" (Tomlinson, pg. 2). This principal alone is one that affirms my reasoning for being a teacher. I thought about my childhood when me and my friends would race. Some were faster than others. After establishing who was the fastest runners we would give the runners a "head start" which meant that based off of their ability, they would be allowed a few inches or feet a head of the better runners. This was done so that 1. everyone could race regardless of ability and 2. Making winning achievable for all. Essentially that is what Differentiation represents to me. Those who perform well do not complain because they understand it's about giving everyone a fair chance. As long as teachers plan additional work for the advanced students (which is a part of differentiating) they will not complain that they are being held back because other students are not grasping the lesson.

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As I read Differentiation Doesn't Work by James R. Delisle and I found myself agreeing with most of his views on differentiation. Then I read Differentiation Does, in Fact, Work by Carol Ann Tomlinson and began to question myself, am I a bad or lazy teacher? I pondered on this question for a while before understanding that Delisle is not actually saying differentiation doesn't work. he is saying that it is almost impossible for educators to meet the needs of every single student in a lesson when classes are so heterogeneously set. I agreed when he said "Toss together several students who struggle to learn, along with a smattering of gifted kids, while adding a few English-language learners and a bunch of academically average students and expect a single teacher to differentiate for each of them. That is a recipe for academic disaster if ever I saw one. Such an admixture of students with varying abilities in one classroom causes even the most experienced and conscientious teachers to flinch, as they know the task of reaching each child is an impossible one". (pg.2-3) The one thing I've learned about educational theories since I've started this journey is that they're just theories. People opinions that has been supported by science. There's no one way to think or teach. I'm not going to say that I totally disagree with Tomlinson. She does hit a few points like "Follow a remedial class throughout several school days, and it becomes very difficult to
assert that students in all tracks have any degree of equitable access to excellent
educational opportunity". (pg. 2) However, when a teacher is expected to differentiate a lesson for ELL students, students with learning disabilities and those who are gifted in the same lesson, I'm sorry but one of those groups are at a disadvantage. It is a struggle. My co-teacher and I differentiate for every lesson we plan. It's a growing process and of course we are not experts, yet. Nevertheless, I find it that my gifted students don't feel like they are being challenged when prompted with scaffolding questions or exit tickets. They notice that their peers around them need more support than them and climate it sets in the classroom is sort of segregated. When placing students in heterogenous groups it's a struggle and my students who are able do feel like they are going to be the ones to do all of the work. I'm a new teacher and I learn new strategies to implement in my classroom every day. I do differentiating, modifying, tier lesson, grouping and still I must say I agree with James R. Delisle on this topic. I probably would have worded it differently because I do think differentiating work WHEN it's done right.

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Both articles had me agreeing throughout so I guess it was important to read them in a particular order.  In his article“Differentiation Doesn’t Work”, James R. Delisle stated all my frustration as I try to differentiate for all the different types of learners in my classroom. I felt as he does saying it’s impossible for many of the reasons he states but after reading Tomlinson’s response article I began to see the possible in addressing the needs of all the students in the classroom. Although challenging, if you accept that teaching is difficult then as Tomlinson states in “Differentiation, Does in Fact Work” you also accept that “the pursuit of expertise in teaching is a career long endeavor.”(Tomlinson, pg 1)  This helps me to see that while it may just be easier to throw up our hands and agree with James R. Delisle the reality is that such an endeavor takes time.

In inclusive classrooms access to the content for all learners is the objective for all teachers.  In the Theoharis article “The Golden Rule of Providing Support in Inclusive Classrooms she states  “Inclusive classrooms are places where all students are ‘integral members of classrooms, feel a connection to to their peers, have access to rigorous and meaningful general education curricula and receive the collaborative support to succeed’(Theoharis pg 37)  All students need differentiated access to the material at a rigorous level. “For students with disabilities, inclusive school should promote intellectual growth, independence and interaction with peers(Theoharis, pg 37) This cannot be accomplished in isolation.  Students with disabilities must be able to work non disabled peers in the same setting as way to teach how to interact and engage with the same peers in life.

In Tomlinson's article “Teach me, Teach my Brain A Call for Differentiated Classrooms, she talks about  “What does a differentiated classroom look like”.  One great example is  “Teachers are hunter and gatherers who energetically continue to find out all they can students’ current readiness, interests and learning profiles.”(Tomlinson, pg 55)  Everyday teachers are faced with assessing student ability, in the moment, seeing where each student is at and adjusting the lesson to meet the varied needs in response the assessment.  Another point that stood out from the same article was “Teachers often present several learning options at different degrees of difficulty to ensure appropriate challenge for students at various readiness levels.”(Tomlinson, pg 55)  Meeting students needs at their appropriate level of access always proves to be challenging.  And lastly, “Teachers often give students choices about topics of study, ways of learning, modes of expression, and working conditions.”(Tomlinson, pg 55)  I have found that my students respond better and are more actively engaged when they are offered different methods of access to the content.

For me, reality lies somewhere in between.  Believing, in theory, that differentiation can work effectively versus the reality that makes it difficult to implement.

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I'm struggling with finding the words to say I agree that differentiation doesn't work without sounding cynical. Reading Delisle's article sounded like it was coming straight from my own thoughts. Although I agree, I know I only agree because I am a first year teacher and still unsure about how to implement differentiation. "...differentiated instruction seemed to complicate teachers' work, requiring them to procure and assemble multiple sets of materials" (Delisle, pg. 2). Creating the lesson and then creating several different access points to it feels so complicated that I feel like I must be doing something wrong. Other times, I feel like I am just throwing together some varied worksheets just to be able to say I am differentiating. "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," (Delisle, pg 3). The one thing I do agree with Tomlinson on is that "they aren't sprinters expecting quick success, so much as marathoners in the race for the long haul." It is important for me to keep reminding myself that I will never be a perfect teacher and there is no finish line but I need to keep myself evolving and learning and reflecting so that my pedagogical skills remain up to par for the entire marathon. Tomlinson could have written a more convincing article if she wanted to sway the masses into believing in differentiation. She fell short and I still side with Delisle.

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There are varying opinions on differentiation and whether it's effective or it just doesn't work. In Delisle's article, Differentiation Doesn't Work, Delisle argues several points for why it does not work. Some of his arguments were that differentiation is difficult to implement, complicates a teacher's workload, the vast diversity of students and the amount of time it takes for a teacher to differentiate individually for students, smart kids do all the work, and that differentiation requires a teacher to have a lot of background knowledge. Delisle made some valid points, they would have been great points if I was not already differentiating in my own classroom. I oppose Delisle's article because there are a plethora of ways to differentiate for a classroom. Delisle made it seem as if each and every student was on a unique level and that the lesson had to cater to them. That can be remedied by strategically grouping students and teaching them based on their groups. Delisle's points are only valid if a teacher was not willing to put in the time and work it takes to differentiate properly. Tomlinson's article was a response to Delisle, but I felt that Tomlinson did not properly address all of Delisle's points. I support Tomlinson's points about grouping students in the heterogenous classes and about differentiation not being about dumbing down content for students. Tomlinson mentions that a teacher can plan for the advance students and THEN scaffold for the students that need the guidance in order to get them to that level. That's what differentiation is, getting a student to the desired destination via an alternative path. Not all students learn the same way, so we cannot teach every student the same way. I've attempted to teach my special education class the way I learned things and it doesn't work for them, in that case I have to put in the time to find a method that works for them. If one method does not work for a student, there any many different ways to engage student in learning using UDLs. Differentiation only works for teachers that take the time to research different methods of reaching different students. Once you find something that works, you don't have to work very hard.

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Reading Differentiation Doesn't work by Delisle was, how can I put this, surprisingly interested. I found myself supporting his ideas, I caught my self agreeing with almost everything I was reading. Especially when I read on page 2 "The biggest reason differentiation doesn't work, and never will, is the way students are deployed in most of our nation's classrooms. Toss together several students who struggle to learn, along with a smattering of gifted kids, while adding a few English-language learners and a bunch of academically average students and expect a single teacher to differentiate for each of them" I started to agree with his point of view, all my fears and frustration I have experience in the past months was staring right back at me through his article, and some how I was supporting Mr. Delisle opinion. I knew the war was not over and my senses were going to revive once I finish reading Ms. Tomlinson come back "Differentiation Does, in fact work" article. The introduction of the article was not convincing me back to oppose Delisle article, as I hope it would but once I read the following lines "The pursuit of expertise in teaching is a career-long endeavor" I realize I was only agreeing with Delisle because I am a new teacher who  forgets  is a long journey in becoming a great teacher. As I continue reading I started to agree with Tomlinson points, for example "Putting remedial courses on low tracker students and expecting them to catch up with the rest of the class".   The example she used from "The Simpson" express exactly how I have been feeling about helping my students who are lost and falling behind in class. Tomlinson also discussed how the low income communities are the ones being affected by differentiation, at the end of the day is always the same outcome low income=low track. Base on Tomlinson article I was not quite sure and still didn't fully understand how Differentiation does in fact work.

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Create a response based on what you’ve read. Support/Oppose each article in your response. Cite evidence from the article and our four modules on differentiation to form your own opinion regarding differentiation and its use in our classrooms, with an emphasis on inclusive classrooms.