REFLECTIVE THOUGHTS

Differentiation:
There is still so much for myself to learn and experience with applying differentiated
instruction with students. I can only speak from an experiential perspective as an
educational assistant who has witnessed and assisted with various teachers ascertaining
differentiated instruction with ambitious attempts and others who struggle with the
overwhelming planning that is required. I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with
some teaching staff that are willing to challenge their approach and provide a differentiated
instruction within their classroom. I have learned so much from our course classes with the
differentiation theory and am still learning how to recognize what this practice really looks
like. It makes me so proud to know with all of our overwhelming circumstances (socioeconomic/multicultural) within our school environment that our teachers are so adamant in
wanting to make a profound change in differentiation instruction with our students
learning as it is a daunting task. As Carol Ann Tomlinson states, Differentiation means
tailoring instruction to meet individual needs. Whether teachers differentiate content,
process, products, or the learning environment, the use of ongoing assessment and flexible
grouping makes this a successful approach to instruction.
It should always be a student-centered approach. As a parent, if this was your own child
in the classroom, how would you proceed? I will always believe that we treat our students
as the unique and precious individuals they are! In differentiated instruction, I have
learned that it is always assessing early and often the students learning styles, strengths
and creativity with flexibilitynot their abilities! We already know they are ablednot
disabled! From there it is orchestrating the lessons to the learners needs, creating
pathways and knowing where and with whom they may be most successful! It appears to
be a exhausting task but when I get to see students engaging with each other in groups
discussing and working on a project together, it is so exciting to witness the enthusiasm
they create and the knowledge they gather from each other!
Mainstreaming is defined as the practice of teaching students with special needs in regular
classrooms during specific time periods based on their skills meaning regular education
classes are combined with special education classes. As a practitioner in the education
system over the past two decades, I have never heard experienced anything other than
inclusion with all students sharing the classroom learning experience together with
educational assistants like myself to provide supports when needed.
As a learner, I am more cognizant of what differentiated instruction looks like and as a
practitioner, I have also become more aware of how much differentiation has already been
actively taking place in the classrooms I have worked in over the past several years.

Individualized Learning:
This instructional component of teaching is not difficult for me to see this is where I have
spent the better part of the last two decades of practicing as an educational assistant. I have
numerous positive and wonderful experiences with the educational knowledge I have
gained working with the students I have had the privilege of working with as they have all
taught me what I know today and these students have greatly contributed to the individual
I am becoming as well! The educational perspective of Individualized Learning views this
teaching approach as an extra that is not affordable or conducive to the efficiency of the
21st century of teaching. It is a method of teaching in which content, instructional
technology and pace of learning are based upon the abilities of each learner. To say the
least, it has become my comfort zone as it has been the most familiar format of teaching
within my day as it involves following a students Individualized Education Plan (IEP).
With respect to differentiation and all of our class shared learnings, I feel the IEP deserves
to be recognized and respected with the student in the education system but also needs to
be revisited and re-examined. It could potentially become a formidable means of
universality assessment for all students in the near future, ideally renamed as the
Education Plan (EA) as we already have enacted the Student Learning Plan (SLP) for
students needing a broad spectrum of supports.

Personalized Learning:
This component of teaching involves the one-to-one instruction focused towards the
strengths and challenges of a student with an Educational Assistant and assistive
technology. I feel the overall goal should be to empower the student to take responsibilities
for their own learning with the student making autonomous choices. There are similarities
with Individualized and Personalized instruction but this instruction ideally enables the
student to eventually become independent without any other supports.
The most successful example is with our classmates work with a university student and
how much of an impact she had made in assisting with the accomplishments this individual
student had achieved because of this personalized instruction.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL):

UDL is the what, how and why of learning. It emphasizes how we gather facts and
categorize what they see, hear and read in order to present information and content in

different ways to provide multiple means of representation. It also strategizes how we

organize and express ideas in differentiating the ways that students can express what they
know to provide multiple means of action and expression. UDL stimulates interest and
motivation for learning concentrating on how learners get engaged and stay motivated in
order to stay challenged.
This framework for inclusion is the active direction our education system is presently
focused on and should provide sustainability as it supports the social model.

Inclusion: