Exceptional Mama

Differentiated Instruction is going to be the framework that Bridgewater will be built upon. Education should not be “one size fits all” because children are not made out of cookie cutters. It is not uncommon for a single-grade classroom to have up to a five year span in ability and mental age across subjects and social development. The reasons for these differences are vast, and many are completely out of our control as teachers. Genetics, family life, home environment and in-school bullying are all things that the child may have to deal with that would have an effect on their abilities in various areas. So, each student is different… what are we supposed to do about it?

Differentiated Instruction has been around for ages; it was, after all, how the old one-room school houses operated. The term itself was coined by Carol Ann Tomlinson in the 1990s and has been growing in educational circles across the country since then. Alright, Erica, get to the point! What is it? How do I do it? How will this positively affect my students and what do I do about those pesky standards that the county/state/country wants me to keep up with year after year?

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We were driving home from my mom’s house a couple weeks ago and the sun was setting. The sky was beautiful with clouds of orange, purple and pink. I point out the window and say to Ryan, “Look at the orange clouds! Aren’t they pretty?”

Ryan: “The clouds are white, mama.”
Me: “No, look up here. See the orange and pink and purple?”
Ryan: “The clouds are just white.”
Me: “Ryan Anthony. Look at that cloud right there. Does that look white to you?”
Ryan: Sigh of frustration. “The clouds are always white, Mom. It’s just the sun that makes them light up.”

So, after laughing for a minute internally, I could say nothing else except, “Well, actually… you’re right.”

His response? “I told you so.”

I am currently a junior at the University of TN at Chattanooga. I am set to do my student teaching in the spring of 2013 and to graduate that May. As I’ve been sitting here going over my schedule for the next two semesters and making sure that all of my graduation requirements are taken care of, the realization hit me that I took SO many classes that I didn’t need while I was at Chattanooga State.

You see, here in Tennessee, we have this great little program called Articulation. It allows students to go to the smaller community colleges to do all of their general education classes at a cheaper rate and then transfer over to a university to finish the bachelor’s. Ideally, the Chattanooga State classes would have just nicely transferred over to UTC and it would have subtracted 60 hours of requirements from my UTC courses.

No. It didn’t. [...]

Hello, world. I’m Erica. I’ve finally matured enough to find a voice that others may want to hear. I’ve found passion. I’ve found knowledge. I’ve found a desire to educate others.

I have big plans for this blog. First and foremost, I will write about my educational philosophies which are typically directed toward the exceptional learner, particularly the twice exceptional. I am currently attending the University of TN at Chattanooga and my major is in Exceptional Learning K-12. My goal/dream after graduation is to open an independent, non-profit school for twice exceptional kids. If you aren’t sure what all of that is, I’ll explain it in a later post.

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Tags: intro