Lecture Five
Uploaded by
Ron Knorr. PhDLecture Five
Uploaded by
Ron Knorr. PhDMiddle School Curriculum
ED 441/641 Section 400
Lecture Five
• Introduction
First, I owe an apology to the class. I forgot to assign you homework for this weekend. And
thank you for not embarrassing me by reminding me! All right, the truth is that we were a little ahead
of ourselves. We will do all the assignments in the syllabus, but we will be just a day or two behind.
And I know we all appreciated a little time away for even an online class. I have seen a lot of great
thinking from you in this class – I do wish we could meet occasionally, but the members of this class
are spread from SC to NY, from PA to CA. And that doesn’t include those of you on vacation!
Our book reviews start this week as well. I have posted a rubric of how I grade the reports to
the class blog to help you. After reading the syllabus and blog, please let me know if you have any
questions.
• Whole-School Models
As I have mentioned in notes to several of you, this is the point in the course where we begin
looking at actual curricular models used in the US for MS instruction. The background and philosophy
of the MS movement we have covered so far was needed to see where this idea of a modern MS
began and how it has developed. I added FWY some time back in this course to give a balanced
perspective to the concept of the MSC. FWY adds that critical viewpoint that may be different (or not)
from our own as MS teachers and teacher educators. We will continue to explore FWY’s viewpoints
for the rest of the course- this week focusing on whole school reform models for the MS. This chapter
addresses many of the curricular ideas that have been tried as part of the MS reform movement,
most with mixed success.
• Differentiated Instruction
This week we will cover several curricular models used by classroom teachers in the MS. The
first one is one that I personally believe is as vital as any in the MSC. I have personally used
differentiating instruction in my own MS teaching practice and have seen the results, sometimes
dramatic. As a college professor and a clinical supervisor, I have seen significant resistance to it from
in-service teachers. This resistance is in spite of significant promotion of it by school districts and
state departments of education. My personal feeling is that some teachers become entrenched in
their practices and don’t want to change them. This isn’t always the case, and I am glad for that.
Reading
FWY : Chapter 9
“Differentiated Instruction and Implications for UDL Implementation.” Found at:
http://www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_diffinstructudl.html
Writing
Discussion from your reading in Focus on the Wonder Years (e-mail to me): Due date: 7/13/2010 at
10:00 PM
What are some of the major reform efforts at work in middle schools? What are their goals and
primary features? Do the reforms show promise for addressing the challenges middle schools face
today?
Article Review from “Differentiated Instruction and Implications for UDL Implementation.” (e-mail to
me): Due date: 7/13/2010 at 10:00 PM
Differentiating instruction is a relatively new concept in American education. Based on the concepts
presented in the on-line material, what is your impression of this concept? If you have
experiences in using differentiating instruction, as either a student or instructor, please share
them. Cite examples from “Differentiated Instruction and Implications for UDL Implementation”
to illustrate your experiences.
