"How Can Instruction be Differentiated for Diverse Learners?"

 

 Standardized schooling has provided many challenges to students who are not able to grasp the same set of knowledge given due to not being able to learn the exact way, when the idea that students can grasp the same set of knowledge and having curriculum revolve around a set amount of lessons to teach per said number of weeks can ultimately lead to ignoring a student's cry for aid in order to learn. The truth is many students learn in many different ways, and we have to set a specific boundary that shows that people do not all learn the same way, at the same pace, or even the same things because of the way others can interpret ideas as they are absorbed. 

The biggest example that comes to mind of standardized schooling is the TEKS and how we as future instructors have to follow this specific guideline when teaching our students, it tells us what students in said grade level are supposed to learn, and what skills they will gain due to TEKS, but it never gives alternatives to teaching said materials. If you have a student who has a hard time speaking English, due to it being their second language, and you go on and don't try to adapt your lesson plan so that child can gain as much knowledge as well then they're going to be left behind and it's not their fault but the system of standardized education for not thinking about those diverse learners. 

Provide lesson plans to revolve around your set of students, have multiple examples based on different ways of learning and not prohibit those who are willing to learn from learning simply because they 'lack' a specific trait the standardized lesson plan asks for. As an educator you have to keep in mind all the possible situations or background these students can come from, some of your students could be learning English as a second language, some could have a hearing disability, others could just not have the funds to create or make a project, etc. There are many ways students learn. 

Educators should be able to take liberty in adapting these lessons in order to benefit all students regardless of how they learn. It's important to have each of our lesson plans revolve around diverse learners and always assume there is going to be one student who is going to need more help understanding a lesson and if we start diversifying lessons to include all children then we will see a boost in scores due to how a lesson plan was modified to help children from all backgrounds learn. Any institutional changes can help students productively learn because of the adaptation of lesson plans due to cultural, linguistic, gender, socioeconomic, etc. ; No student should be left behind in education.