23 Introduction/Literature Review

Introduction

"The biggest mistake of past centuries in teaching has been to treat all children as if they were variants of the same indivdual, and thus to feel justified in teaching them the same subjects in the same ways," (Gardner, 1994). 


Children are all very different in a variety of ways.  Not all children look the same, behave the same, or think the same.  Even though children may be of the same age, they each have an array of needs.  These needs follow over to education in the classroom.  Not all children learn the same. Some children learn better auditorily, visually, or kinesthetically.  It is up to the teachers to provide these various methods of teaching to target the individual needs of the children.  Teachers can use different materials to differentiate teaching methods in order to engage all of the students in learning.  Teachers can also allow students to make interest based learning choices to ensure that each student is interested in learning.  Overall, teachers can modify the entire process in which they teach to target the needs of every student.  I have interviewed a teacher of the elementary school level to gather a better understanding of how teachers apply these methods to their teaching.  By using a variety of my own methods, I have analyzed the interview transcript to study how this teacher talks about teaching.  The teacher's tone of voice, the way she laughs, and how long she discusses certain points reveals how she truly feels about teaching.  The tone of her voice and the way she laughs gives evidence that she may be uncertain or very certain about the material.  Also, when discussing a point for a longer period of time provides proof that she has an unconscious draw to her favorite teaching method.  Also, with the insight of Carol Ann Tomlinson, a researcher who studies differentiated teaching, I will compare Mrs. K's teaching strategies.


why/how my research relates to writing studies
what is the definition of differentiated teaching?

Works Cited:

Howard Gardner, Siegel&Shaughnessy, 1994

Tomlinson, Carol A. The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1999. Print.

Literature Review

break into sections

Conclusion

why/how my research relates to writing studies