Assess Chapter 1

Abstract:
This chapter gave a basic overview of what differentiation is and why it is so important in the classroom. This chapter stresses that differentiation is not a crutch and it doesn't make things easier, but it is an essential tool that gives each and every student the proper amount of challenge based on each child's individual needs. An example used that truly drives this concept home was one about a student who needed glasses. Such a child would be allowed to wear those glasses to help them achieve, yet no one would ever say that letting the child wear his glasses would be allowing them the easy way out.

Reflection:
The glasses analogy really helped our group grasp how differentiation isn't unfair, it is evening out the playing field. We also all agreed that when we were in school we enjoyed differentiated classrooms much more than undifferentiated ones, and we learned more when we were set up against challenges that matched our own abilities.