“Dreams are today’s answers to tomorrow’s questions. ” Edgar Cayce
Many educators, who have attended my workshops concerned with simplifying small-group, differentiated instruction in mathematics using the Tabor Rotation Framework, have submitted questions. Before the year is over, my goal is to respond to as many of these questions as possible.…
“I can’t ever go back to teaching difficult concepts to the whole group. Quite frankly, by the time I finished passing out manipulatives to the class and monitored their use, I just wanted to collect them and end the lesson. Small groups are a gift to my students.”…
Have you heard this saying, “If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail?” Or this one, “Bad planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” Maybe Winnie-the-Pooh (as written by A. A. Milne) said it best, “Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.”…
One of the challenges teachers face when differentiating instruction is how to answer the questions that will arise when you begin to do what is best for all students. Because every student is unique in their understanding of concepts, their level of independence, their interests, and their learning style, what you do for each one must be different.…
“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding, find out what you already know, and you’ll see the way to fly.” -from the poem, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach
“What we call differentiated is not a recipe for teaching.…
“Creative thinking may mean simply the realization that there’s no particular virtue in doing things the way they always have been done.” -Rudolf Flesch
Today’s Inspiration Blog is also an Activity Blog. If you continue reading you’ll understand why…
Friday was an early release day for all three of my children, so I decided to make Glenna Tabor, educational consultant, take the day off.…
“Once you have experienced excellence, you will never again be content with mediocrity.” – Thomas S. Monson
Are you ready to challenge yourself by trying another strategy for differentiating instruction? One that has been successfully used by many educators is tiering instruction. Tiering an assignment is using varied levels of the activity to make sure that all students explore ideas at a readiness level that builds on their prior knowledge and deepens understanding of the identified concepts.…
“Researchers from the University of South Carolina discovered that average students routinely learn in large group settings that don’t allow them to stand out or contribute in unique ways. Teachers tend to lecture or supervise ‘seat work.’ As a result, students passively receive new information and have few opportunities to apply skills, conduct experiments, or solve complex problems.…
“The largest group of students in most schools consists of adolescents whose test scores hover between the upper and lower extremes. Without the academic labels that focus special attention on the most advanced and disabled students, average students–the so-called “woodwork children” who tend to fade into the background–get whatever is left over in many schools.”…
