Chapter 4: Designing Instruction to Improve Teaching and Learing

This chapter really focused on differentiated instruction in the classroom. It talked about the WHERE (WHERETOS in Practicum). One thing that I really pulled from this chapter however, was when it talked about tracking in the schools. In our education classes we have been talking about tracking and discussing why it is not a good thing to have in the classroom anymore. However, this chapter was the first time I have seen in writing about why it is not a good concept to have in the schools anymore. The line “schools are not factories” is so true. When we do tracking in the schools chances are social status is going to determine where you are placed in class level. While tracking may be easy for the teachers, it is not beneficial to the students. When you have students of all levels in the same class, then those who are advanced will become better students, and those who are lower levels will be able to improve as students and not be stuck at the lower level they would have been forever had there been tracking. The rest of the chapter continues to talk about how to teach to the whole classroom, a lot of which we have heard about during practicum. However, it was nice review to have.