netTrekker Blog

Love to Differentiate

Join me this week while I am in Las Vegas for the SDE Differentiation Conference.  I know the saying goes, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”, but I just cannot let that happen! I am actually attending the conference to learn more about how differentiation is being used in the classroom in order to add more power to the professional development we offer.   I have signed up for a variety of great sessions, and am excited to share what I learn from them with you!

Before the first session, I sat down with a teacher from Texas. She was flipping through her program book and said, “you sure do have to love teaching in order to want to even try differentiating.” She’s exactly right! So, let’s spread the love of differentiation and teaching this week.

A question that came up in one session was “what is differentiation, and what isn’t it?” The answer for “what D.I. is and isn’t” is a great discussion, but let’s look at what it’s not.  It’s not a single program, it’s not hard vs. easy, or even a single answer for all students.

In another session, we looked at how to share what we know with others in PLCs (Personal Learning Communities). This is why I cannot let what I learn in Vegas stay in Vegas!  The presenter, Joni Turville, reminds us that if you are here as a representative from your school or district, you need to make sure that you go back and share that knowledge with your peers. I plan on sharing with my peers through our team lunch and learn sessions and with my fellow netTrekker users and Village members thru the blog, discussions on the Village, and in the professional development I conduct.

Another great question that was discussed was “what do you want out of your PLC and what can you contribute to your PLC?” I want to learn new ideas, tricks, and tips from my PLC. I want to have a core group of other educators that I trust to give me accurate information and great personal opinions on anything dealing with technology in education, or just education. I hope to be able to share those same items with my fellow PLC members, and not be too weak of a link in the learning process.

In her second session, Joni shared with us her favorite web resources for Differentiation. During our “stand up meetings” I heard a teacher several rows back introduce herself from Texas. I’m not sure why this grabbed my attention, but it did. Then on our way out the door, that same teacher said that Joni didn’t share a great resource that covers all of what she did show in one place, and that was netTrekker. WooHoo! I tried to catch up with her so I could get her to write this blog, but no luck. But this is Vegas. Maybe I’ll get lucky today and find her or another one of our great users!

Terms:

PLN: Personal Learning Network

PLC: Personal Learning Communities

DI: Differentiation Instruction

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