Adjusting the learning tasks in various ways assists in meeting the needs of understanding and attitudes among the learners. This is done by providing different assignments in efforts of understanding their capacity. Compacting involves reassessing the learners, acknowledging them for what they already know, and giving them direction towards a curriculum. Grouping involves working in different open-ended tasks, which allow teachers to understand the skills of the students. The learners are then matched according to their common skills, and this allows close attention and monitoring (Sims and Sims, 1995).
If I were to provide professional development on differentiated instructions, I would apply assessment and grouping strategies (Given, 2000). By assessing, I would be able to determine what every learner understands better. This would be done by having tests before, on course and after instructions. The tests would be graded from excellent to poor. This would improve the performance of learners and in taking full responsibility of their own learning. By grouping the learners, I would develop open and broad minds and more techniques of learning. Groups would thereafter be assessed by use of discussion tests that would be graded on rubric grading. This would help in determining the strengths and weaknesses of various individuals and groups.
The use of multiple texts and long term projects, such as concepts and topics, in differentiated learning, require a lot of time before the teacher assesses the capability of the learners. The learners take a lot of time before manifesting their understanding and attitude towards such topics (Orlich et all, 2009). Given a time constraint, such strategies may not work.
Conducting tests, and assessments, during the training, help in determining the understanding of different learners. This may also be boosted by allowing the learners have open discussions and questions during the training. The questions allow the trainer in gauging the level of understanding of the learners.
Reference.
Given, B. (2000). Learning Styles: A Guide for Teachers and Parents. Learning Forum Publications: Oceanside, CA.
Sims, G. & Sims, S. (1995). The Importance of Learning Styles: Understanding the implications of Course Design, and Education. Greenwood Publishing Group: Westport, CT.
Orlich, D., Harder, R., Callahan, R., Trevisan, M. & Brown, A. (2009).Teaching Strategies: A Guide to Effective Instruction. Cengage Learning: New York.
