Sept. 9 Reading

I miss read the sylabus and didn't realize that I needed to post about yesterdays reading. I know understand that every reading needs to be posted about, so it wont happen again. I also realize that I will probably recieve no points for this post, but because I really enjoyed the reading I would like to reflect on it anyway.

What stood out to me the most in these two chapters was how the students perspective was so plainly explained. I feel that so many times I get overwhelmed with what is expected of me and what I am feeling that I don't take the time to think about what the students are feeling. I had a real "ah ha" moment when it said that to the studnets the teacher is asking them to "come play. come learn what I have designated as important" and that we expect the students so comply willingly with out any hesitation. I love how when we differetiate we try to understand students and learn from them. Just like in the little prince metaphore we are there working together to learn. It was interesting to me that the fox kind of teaches the prince how to tame him. The fox is not just some dumb animal with no understanding of its world. It is the fox's idea to be tamed and he defines how he needs to be tamed. This is the same with our studnets. They may come in with an attitude that is completely complyiant or they may not. We as teacjers need to work with them to ensure that everyone knows why certian things are being taught and that teachers are learning from the students how they can be best "tamed".

I also really liked the table on page 16 that explains the seperate aspects of the cog metephore through simple statements. I feel that to really understand and practive differentiation a teacher should look at this model offten through out the year. I belivce that reviewing this(and similar models that are found later in the book)offten, differentiation can become integrated into how I teach each student.