overview
Differentiated Instruction
Mark Walker
Course Description:
Not all children are alike. Not all students are alike. Kids come in all shapes and sizes and interests, and they come to the learning environment with different needs, learning profiles, and educational readiness. Differentiated instruction recognizes this, and applies an approach to teaching and learning that allows for multiple learning styles and learning options for taking in information and making sense of different ideas. This session focuses on making the appropriate accommodations/ modifications to a curriculum in order to enable students with disabilities to access the materials in the way they best learn. The model of differentiated instruction requires teachers to be flexible in their approach to teaching, and to adjust the curriculum and presentation of information to the learners rather than expecting students to modify themselves to the curriculum. It means creating multiple paths so that students of different abilities can equally experience the learning process.
Mark Walker
Mark Walker is currently an Associate Professor of Special Education at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. He has an Ed.S. in special education and two master's degrees in history and philosophy. His primary subjects include behavioral management, child development, family support and guidance, legal issues and public policies, and methods and materials for children with disabilities, including curriculum modification and differentiated instruction. Prior to coming to GWU, Mr. Walker taught for 2 years at the high school level in 2 of the lowest performing public schools in the District of Columbia, serving over 120 students with a wide variety of disabilities-nearly 75 of those students with reading levels of pre-K to grade 2. Having to make the appropriate modifications to the curriculum in order to enable these students to learn gave Mr. Walker the impetus for striving to meet the curricular needs of all students with learning disabilities.
