Chapter 1: The Differentiated Intruction Mind-set: Rationale and Definition

Differentiated instruction happens, and has happened, in classrooms all over the country for many decades, but now we need to expand our approaches. It’s not enough to simply give a few students extra examples to help complete their homework, we need to also give the best examples we have, or the one-on-one help they need. We need to combine all of our best techniques to ensure that every child has the best possible education acquired while in school. It doesn’t mean giving them a free pass, we still need to challenge them, but we need to pull in more ideas and strategies that will enable us to impact the largest group possible. I have seen DI in my mentor’s classrooms and know it will be a huge part of my own because it is really the only way to teach one curriculum to every unique student we have.