Taking A Look At Differentiated Instruction

“Instruction does much, but encouragement does everything,” states Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. This means that being a successful teacher needs to go beyond telling a child how to do something. By adding praise and positive reinforcement a more encouraging outcome is achieved and an eager student is created. By knowing students as individuals and teaching to their preferred learning style, limits frustration and keeps a upbeat learning situation. Students with learning disabilities are at a disadvantage in the classroom when a teacher does not teach to their strengths or does not offer reassurance.

Students with different learning needs require differentiated instruction. Just as each teacher has their own style of teaching,

Not only knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each student is helpful, but also knowing their learning style will help maximize each students learning potential. Currently there are seven learning styles that teachers need to identify in their students: visual, aural, verbal, physical, logical, social, and solitary. Teachers usually teach their preferred style all of the time and if a student does not have the same style, learning can be difficult and frustrating. Knowing and understanding how a child learns is one of the most important responsibilities of a teacher. Another is creating opportunities for learning with one of the listed learning preferences. When an instructor recognizes the different needs of each student and teaches to those needs with differentiated instruction, success is

Individuals that have learning disabilities often are viewed with a negative attitude and seen inferior than those without disabilities. It is the role of the teacher to build a positive relationship. One way to build this relationship is to use positive reinforcement or praise. People of all ages are motivated by praise in order to be accepted or to gain approval. Praise can also be a motivator for students in the classroom. Students have a tendency of thinking that they are either smart or not smart when it comes to their intelligence. This mindset can be very dangerous for any student, but especially for one that struggles in the classroom with a learning disability. Thankfully, a teacher has the power to intervene and change that negative stigmatism by offering a few words of praise to show each student how their own intelligence is being developed. Giving praise to a student for effort and accomplishment helps them to see the progress they are making on a task, which motivates them academically and helps them to feel accepted. Praise should be given to for the students’ accomplishment and effort, not ability. Using praise as a motivator allows teachers to individualize their praise of different aspects of each student. ”You are a good math student”, relates to ability. Saying, “ I can see that