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[ProfessionalDevelopment 2622] Re: ProfessionalDevelopment Digest, Vol 37, Issue 11Dina Schwam dschwam1 at student.gsu.eduFri Oct 24 23:44:28 EDT 2008
Duren, Thank you for your explanation. I am new to this listserv and have seen the term "differentiated instruction" pop up several times. I am not in the field of professional development but I had an idea what DI was. I did not have the full understanding as to its current role in adult education. Thanks, Dina ________________________________________ From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov [professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Thompson, Duren J [duren.thompson at utk.edu] Sent: Friday, October 17, 2008 12:31 PM To: professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2612] Re: ProfessionalDevelopment Digest, Vol 37, Issue 11 Katrina, The theory of differentiated instruction comes from K-12 where, supposedly, all students are supposed to come into a grade operating on a similar level. Differentiated instruction, in general, focuses on determining where students *actually* are, and what are their strengths, interests, etc. and working to create lessons that appeal to all. Rather than teaching to a metaphorical "middle." Differentiated instruction as a term, comes up very little in literacy/GED/ESOL type Adult education, because that is the preferred MODEL for AE - find out where the student is, determine their strengths and weaknesses, and then work to assist him/her to address these. In addition, non-differentiated instruction assumes a significant amount of "whole group instruction." While many AE instructors conduct group learning activities, they are much more likely to use small group work and related independent work - as is recommended in differentiated instruction. When whole group instruction is used, AE instructors are often teaching students on widely varying levels and make instructional plans accordingly. These are usually called "mulit-level" instruction rather than differentiated instruction. All that said, I think you can find *some* research on multi-level instruction for AE (especially in ESOL). But like those living in the forest who only see trees, I believe you will fine little research in the area of differentiated instruction - as that is essentially what all effective AE instructors proactice - without knowin it by name. Duren Thompson Center for Literacy Studies - Celebrating 20 years of support for Life-long learning! University of Tennessee www.cls.utk.edu -----Original Message----- From: "Katrina Hinson" <khinson at almanid.com> Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2605] Question for the List To: <professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov> Message-ID: <48F8AAA4020000A00000591C at aiqwul01a.qwu.de.almanid.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Good morning everyone. I have an interesting question that has come up for me in recent days. I'm first year PhD student in a Technical and Professional Discourse. My classes come from a variety of disciplines which is one of the reasons I picked this field to advance my studies. I have worked in adult education for twelve years and continue to do so. I had to deveop an 'issue' to explore in one of my classes this semester and opted to explore differentiated instruction as it applies to the adult learner, but I can't find a lot of research related specifically to this. Does anyone on the list know of a good place to look? End of ProfessionalDevelopment Digest, Vol 37, Issue 11 ******************************************************* ---------------------------------------------------- National Institute for Literacy Adult Literacy Professional Development mailing list professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/professionaldevelopment Professional Development section of the Adult Literacy Education Wiki http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Adult_Literacy_Professional_Development
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