Differentiated Instruction

I have been doing some preparation for the conference I am attending tomorow by doing some researches on the web. I came across an article and the related discussion


We have always been put in the dilemma of whether we should differentiate the instruction in class. Some say that we should have different strategies for students of different abilities and some say that too much labelling causes harm! I have parents calling in and saying that we shouldnt be streaming the students into classes of different abilities as that is demotivating for the less able students. But I also have parents complaining sometimes about the pace of some lessons which have been slowed down because the teacher has to deal with the less able ones in class.



Some teachers tend to be bothered by the marginal group and spend whole lot of time doing remedial classes for them and offering personalised help. This is really good of them. But what about the more able ones, are we trading off the benefits that they can enjoy?



Schools in Hong kong in general tend to be giving little attention to the 'cream' group. We always see advertisements on papers for teachers in doing after school remedial classes, not so much in enrichment classes. What abou the curriculum and the lesson design? Perhaps we should design the lesson well enough to arouse their 'curiosity' to explore further in learning? Or should we give more opportunites to them outside classrooms?


Three of our students won the overall champion in the Cathay Pacific Aviation knowledge contest. They really surpised me! And I couldnt hold my breath as we nearly snatched off their opportunity to win! I remember when the notice of the competition came, it was around the exam period and every one was so busy. Even the teacher given the notice was frowning. He wondered whether anyone would go. I said , ' ask the students! ' Surprisingly, three students came up. They went to the competition, went through the rounds and won the champion! Gosh! This is the opportunity I meant! Given the opportunity, their interest got further enhance and their talent got tapped!



I hope I could get some more insights over the weekend in the conference.