UbDDI+B2+Chapter+2

Chapter Synthesis by Matt Towle
Chapter two of // Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design // by Carol Ann Tomlinson and Jay McTighe introduced the concept of responsive teaching. The chapter outlines three main questions that are pertinent to the influence of responsive teaching: “How can students’ lives influence their classroom experiences?” “Why does it matter to teach responsively?” and “What are some starting points for responsive teaching?” The first question has a variety of complex answers. Student’s school performance is affected by their personal lives. The neighborhoods they live in and the reliability of their social support systems can greatly impact how they act in school. It is important to teach responsively because it creates a better learning environment for everyone. Responsive teaching means “a teacher will make modifications in how students get access to important ideas and skills…” (18). Teaching responsively is all about making adjustments in the classroom to accommodate for students with different learning styles. The chapter then gives several examples of how to begin teaching responsively. Building strong teacher-student relationships, attending to student interest and attending to student’s backgrounds and needs are just a few ways in which we can begin teaching responsively.

After reading the blogs it was clear that many of us have concerns with being able to change our curriculum and lesson plans in order to accommodate for students’ different learning needs. After learning about multiple intelligences and how they can affect our classrooms we have realized how important it is to be able to make the changes necessary to benefit all of our students. I've found a website that lists several ways to adapt lessons to students' with different learning styles. The most important thing we can do for our students is to link the curriculum to their individual needs without leaving any large groups out of the loop because responsive teaching shows students that their teachers care. The book did address some of these concerns. A few ways we learned to become more responsive to our students include getting to know students on a personal level to better understand their needs, incorporating small group teaching in order to provide individual attention and using informal assessments to gauge students’ knowledge and learning. Some other ideas from the chapter that were noted in our blogs was that an important thing to keep in mind when creating curriculum is that it doesn’t necessarily matter what we are teaching so much as who we are teaching it too. We need to be aware of our students’ particular needs in order to teach them effectively. This website lists several ways in which we can be responsive to a variety of events that can occur throughout a class period. It is also good to remember that we cannot be expected to completely individualize teaching but instead should make patterns using different styles of teaching. Responsive teaching will be one of the biggest challenges we will face in our teaching career, but by mastering its’ concepts we will be able to become greater teachers.

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Ryan Pelletier
UbD/DI Chapter 2 Reflection Chapter 2 of “Integrating” talks a lot about the role that diversity plays in the classroom and the importance of recognizing, understanding, and addressing this issue. As the MI Theory told us, there is more than one type of intelligence, and more than one speed at which intelligence will develop. With this in mind, we as teachers need to “implement curriculum in diverse ways” (Tomlinson, 22). I found it interesting and important how many ways that are provided in which to help us teach a classroom of diverse individuals and learners, such as creating small-groups we can work with one-on-one or offering different styles of learning. The focus on the individual is something that is important to me and to the teaching style I would like to create.

Darcie Simmons
In this second chapter I learned that not only what we teach, but also who we teach it to is the key ingredient to what matters in teaching. I have been around the inner workings of teaching for many years, since many people in my family are teachers, or work in the schools. So when I read that teachers usually indentify “successful” and “unsuccessful” students, I wasn’t very surprised to read that. But it was nice to read ways to avoid becoming those types of teachers. Reading how to be a responsive teacher was very informational, and I liked seeing the ten different ways in which to be a responsive teacher. Those ten ways in being a responsive teacher will be with me when I find myself in a classroom setting.
 * Chapter2: What Really Matters In Teaching? (The Students)**

Taylor Kemp
This chapter talks about what is important in the way of teaching. What different actions teachers should be taking. When students are having problems, effort should be put in to solve it. When effort is put fort by a teacher it 1 shows the student that some one cares enough to help and 2 the problem can be moved to a solution. How this will impact me and my classroom is that I will hopefully keep an eye out to the smaller things that are happening in my classroom and be able to possible take care of a problem before it spirals into something bigger.

**Bri Douglass**
After learning what Understanding by Design and Differentiated Instruction are in the first chapter in the second one it goes into more detail about how to obtain these things in the classroom. It focuses on differentiated instruction or responsive teaching, why it matters and basic approaches. I learned that it isn’t necessary to individualize teaching but rather make patterns using different styles. While reading the examples of how to use responsive teaching I couldn’t help but think of how I could use these myself someday. “Incorporate small-group teaching into daily or weekly teaching routines” (20). By splitting students into groups I could help each one individually while the others work so that I could provide more individual attention. I also think that “Allow working alone or with peers” (21) is a good idea especially if there are a lot of social butterflies in my class but then again it gives those introverts the option to work alone. These specific examples of how to incorporate responsive teaching into the classroom has made me think about my own classroom someday and how to use these ideas within my concentration.

Linda McLaughlin
This chapter really introduced some new ideas and concepts to me about being able to teach responsively. Students are the most important thing to keep in mind as teachers and we need to be sure to put their needs first. One thing that really jumped out at me was to use informal assessments on a regular basis to monitor students’ progress. This is a technique that I definitely plan on using in my classroom because it’s a no-pressure type of exam that simply helps me to see how I’m doing as a teacher. This chapter impacted me because it showed me how important it is to teach responsively and it gave really good descriptions and examples on how to accomplish this.

Charli Sayward
This chapter focused on the importance of getting to know your students and how this will help better understand the students’ individual needs. There were several different stories about students whose personal lives were affecting the way they learned. I can see how frustrating this may be for a teacher who is eager to help a student but isn’t aware of the issues, making it hard to relate to the student and find a better way to adjust a lesson plan. You may have to investigate what is causing a student to struggle if it’s not very obvious. From this chapter I also learned that students are looking for a positive relationship with the teacher, which can only benefit both the student and the teacher. This motivates me more to get to know my students and really connect with them. I want to be as helpful as I possibly can.

Lyzz Stevenson

 * Chapter 2**: Responsible teaching I feel is one of the most important things that an educator should strive for. Giving the most to your students and trying your hardest to have every one succeed. That could mean spending more time with one or altering the rubric a little so that it is conducive to a student’s needs and learning style. By doing this it not only shows students that their teacher cares about their success but they will also understand concepts better and maximizes learning potential.

Kassaundra Ricker
Chapter 2: What Really Matters in Teaching? (Students) Chapter 2 focuses on how to make UbD and DI work with students. It emphasizes how teachers make whole plans on how the year will go but often they need to be changed to accommodate students. This will impact me as a teacher because I like having everything go as planned. I will need to learn to let it go for the sake of my students. Also, to know when instruction needs to be accommodated and to keep students engaged teachers need to keep up with teacher/student relationships, create an effective learning environment, and pay attention to students’ backgrounds. By doing this, a teacher becomes more responsive and can better accommodate their students. Finally chapter 2 addresses the idea that curriculum cannot simply be written as a separate entity. A teacher must ask themselves questions throughout the whole process so that they can be a more responsive educator. For me this means I will need to spend a lot of time planning my curriculum and I will need to step outside of my own thought process and try to see it as my students or others might.

Matt Towle
UbD/DI Chapter 2: What Really Matters in Teaching?

Chapter two discussed many ways in which student’s learning can be affected, both positively and negatively. The information about teaching responsively was especially informative. It is very important for today’s teachers to be responsive to their student’s needs in order to ensure that they are interested in the material while at the same time gaining knowledge from it. There was a lot in this chapter that will greatly affect my teaching. The chapter discussed ways in which to get to know students on a level that will allow you to adjust your teaching to their needs. Getting to know students also helps to build trust; students are also more interested in a subject when they feel that their needs are being attended to.

**Jenn Baum**
In this chapter, I learned that there are many different barriers to learning that will arise in a number of students and that it is my job as their teacher to help identify the barrier in order to determine a path to overcome the given obstacle. To me it is important to recognize these barriers as obstacles rather than problems or personal defects because you can often times find ways to overcome obstacles or navigate around them, whereas problems seem to be more of a burden. As a teacher, none of my plans will be concrete and many different circumstances may and will arise at any given point that will force sudden changes in my plans. Flexibility will be essential quality to have in order to be an effective teacher who is able to deal with and work with students and their obstacles. One point that stuck with me was the idea of how positive relationships with my students can increase the motivation for them as learners to want to learn and participate. After reading this chapter, another goal as an educator will be to set the standards for the classroom high in order to push all students to higher levels and expectations, but at the same time providing them with a large network of support in order to provide them all with opportunities to succeed.
 * Chapter 2:** What Really Matters in Teaching? (The Students)

Kelly Steinhagen
Chapter 2: I felt as though the second chapter of this book identified different types of events or ideas that could prevent a student from learning, helping me to begin thinking about all the various things I could come across as a teacher. There were different examples of what the student did and how they achieved, but I thought that most of the people or cases or results could be swapped to create another problem that could occur for students. I found the section that gives multiple examples of how to learn more about the students and how to bring these different findings into everyday classroom life extremely helpful. This section seemed like a well-balanced and basic curriculum outline, minus the unit topics, and would be something that I would reference in the future so that I do not forget all the various ways to make my own curriculum stronger.

**Olivia Norris**

 * Chapter 2:**

Chapter two discussed the importance of understanding students and meeting their needs. I learned that the job of a teacher is to make a link between basic human needs and the curriculum. The chapter gave example of students who had learning disabilities and learning styles. These students all had teachers who cared about their needs as students and worked hard to make sure the needs were met with the curriculum. Responsive teaching means that teachers are willing to respond to the needs of their students and helping them to progress.

Kaitlyn Haase
What Really Matters In Teaching? (Students) In chapter 2, I learned about student variance and how it should influence changes in curriculum. Students’ learning may be impeded by learning disabilities, personal problems, identity issues... etc. It is important for teachers to recognize these learning barriers and stray from their original “plans” to help accommodate their students. Another thing I learned in this chapter is that “responsive” teaching is the best way to create positive student/teacher relationships, spark student motivation, and enable efficient learning. Teaching responsively in my classroom would have a great impact on my students because it would allow them to know that I truly want to know them as individuals in order to help them succeed as students.

Justin Stewart
The second chapter introduced ways to meet the needs of the classroom as a whole. The author spoke about the need to help as many of your students as possible, but not to expect to help every one. This chapter gave me a few ideas that I wouldn’t mind implementing if I do perceive a problem with one of my students. One of my big worries was that I wouldn’t be able to satisfy every type of learner with every lesson I taught. Being able to diagnose that there is a problem and then attempt to discover the cause is a very important step. Teaching is a continuous learning process that will never stop because there are so many different types of learners that I will have to account for.

"…the best-laid plans of th e best teachers are just that—plans, subject to change” (page 13). This seems like an obvious statement because everybody has made plans that they had to change later. However, as the book points out, there are so many things a teacher could not expect when making plans, like a student’s emotional state or unexplained reasons for not doing work. The book states that it isn’t the teacher’s job to get to know every individual student because it simply isn’t feasible; I know it isn’t feasible but it seemed to me throughout high school that a lot of teachers actually did know every one of their students and I kind of expect it of myself, though I know it would be extremely difficult. If I have high expectations of myself, even if I know my own expectations are very high, my students will benefit and hopefully I will help them to succeed by expecting close to the same of them.

Erin O'Halloran
In Chapter 2: What Really Matters in Teaching? (The Students) I learned about responsive teaching. Responsive learning is when a teacher “is attuned to students’ varied learning needs as to the requirements of a thoughtful and articulated curriculum” (p. 18). Using responsive teaching will strengthen my relationship with each individual student which is one of my expectations of becoming a teacher. I need to keep my students’ energy up because that will motivate them and keep them interested in the subject. I also need to be aware of my surroundings and get to know my students on a personal level to teach responsively.

Megan Wallace
Chapter 2: I learned that sometimes it is very useful to get to know the students in your classroom before coming up with a curriculum for the year. Students vary from year to year and even class to class. Their individual strengths and weaknesses need to be taken into account in order to teach them effectively. I now plan on going into my classroom with a basic structure in mind on how I want to teach the material. This structure however will be flexible and allow me to adapt to the range of abilities that my students show.