Carol Tomlinson and DI

I believe the most important factor relating to DI is the idea that not every student is at the same level of readiness for the content material. In my AP Government class, which will be where I perform the methodology of my research, I have already witness that there are varying levels of ability and readiness for these students. Looking over their grades, observing their behaviors in the classroom, and hearing their attitudes about the classwork, has given me evidence that every student has differing abilities and strengths for the content and these varying factors in the classroom will influence how successful or not successful the differentiated grouping will be. One thing that educators must always be mindful of is that readiness does not relate directly to an IQ level.

Carol Tomlinson is one of the leading experts in differentiated instruction. She has contributed a great deal of knowledge and research on the subject of DI. The follow two links are videos of Carol Tomlinson discussing her opinions on DI...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcQ8shR37yg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMvCd5Xafag

When it comes time to begin grouping my students, the readiness level of each student will be a major factor in how I group these students. On the one hand I will break students up into groups, where each student displays about the same level of readiness for the content; this will be my homogenous grouping strategy. On the other hand I will break students up into groups where each student displays varying levels of readiness for the content; this will be my heterogeneous grouping strategy. Based on what Ms. Carol Tomlinson has described in her research, there should be different degrees of difficulty for students to achieve the same outcome. Will students learn better and find content more educationally difficult and stimulating in a heterogeneous group or a homogeneous group? The data for this question will be collected through observing group behaviors and keeping notes on peer relationships within the groups, as well as assessing each groups final product in the classroom. One of my theories is that if students are broken up into heterogeneous levels it will be more beneficial to each student because, just because each student is not a the same readiness level with the content, does not mean that each student does not have other strengths that they can bring to the group work. A student may not be at an expert readiness level for the topic of Federalism, but this same student may be incredibly organized and creative and may be the best person for designing the layout of the final project and can teach others in the group how to design such a creative project. 

The following link is a video of the 7 major steps in Differentiating Instruction as seen in Hollywood...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6rEy3Lqfio