You have “visited” classrooms through several scenarios, and with the help of June Maker are beginning to see the components of differentiated curriculum and how it is integrated seamlessly with your required curriculum.
This week you are going to do a bit of self-reflection on how you currently develop your lesson plans and how you can improve upon them in the future. You will then look at your classrooms to see how to differentiate curriculum based on content, process, product, and the learning environment. You will develop an understanding of how to make sure you are meeting the standards as required by the State of Florida, yet adapting and developing rigorous curriculum to challenge and meet the individual needs of your gifted students.
Many models have been developed over the years. As you continue to read through this week’s content, you will be introduced to a few more models and revisit June Maker’s Model from week two. Your job as a teacher of the gifted is to find a model that works with your teaching style so you are comfortable in building an environment conducive to positive productivity and authentic learning. As you develop your differentiated lessons for your unit, you must always take into consideration how you will adapt the four elements of differentiated instruction—the content, the process, the product, and the environment—to meet the needs of your learners. The My Lesson Plan Strategy Chartpresents questions that will help you focus on your students in order to develop a solid lesson. You will need to complete the chart BEFORE reading this week's lesson.