Week 3 Reflection

This week we talked about differentiation. I played in Minecraft this week and it was “survival mode.” The team that I was on was trying to get gold, coal, cooked food…etc We did pretty well. I do not like survival mode. I had a spider that stalked me into a house. My teammate Scott, was stalked into the house as well. Which made it so we couldn’t build. Survival mode is frustrating and I wish we could have creative mode where supplies is always available.

            This is a different way of differentiating the game and it does work for students to problem solve, work with partners or groups. It is also a way for students to learn how to work on a team. I think our class as a whole is starting to get minecraft a lot more.

            This week we talked about our steps we do for differentiating. From reading the required texts this week and my peers blogs, I found that we all assess our students. Some of us observe data in the beginning and pin point certain areas to work on, others assess students throughout and at the end.  One of the ways I enjoyed reading about this week was the students reflecting on their own work and lesson. Teachers always reflect on their lesson and what they could change and keep the same. I think it’s important for students to reflect on their own work and understand why they are learning it. I also read about leveled reading groups. In my reading class every day we break into leveled reading groups. It’s important students have classmates that read at their level in a group. It helps with comprehension and fluency. It gives student challenges and helps them be successful. I plan on using Tyler’s idea of grouping them with three different levels. Challenging the students, stretching their ability, working on comprehension and fluency.