100 word response 1 reference
Allison
A traditional classroom is one that many of us may have experienced ourselves in the public school setting as we moved from K-12. In accordance to Bartleby Research (n.d.), a traditional classroom has a teacher design a lesson plan with the focus of teaching a particular objective to one large group of students. The teacher typically chooses and commits to a singular teaching style to communicate the concepts in the lesson plan, and students are expected to adapt to it. Students have their knowledge checked through a singular assessment at the end of the unit. For example, an approach to this would look like a teacher conducting a lecture-style lesson to the entire class that covers World War I. Students are asked to take notes and listen to the lecture. The students must complete a test at the end for a grade to show they have learned the material.
Differentiated classrooms take a very different approach in a number of key ways. First, the lesson plan is designed with flexibility in mind in terms of content, process, and product (Hanover Research, 2018). Second, the teacher prepares and customized their lesson plan to juggle multiple learning styles and materials to suit their students’ unique needs (Bartleby Research, n.d). Thirdly, to be effectively customized, a student’s progress is checked regularly throughout the unit as opposed to once at the end, which arms the instructor with necessary data to quickly pivot their style or materials if a student is showing signs of struggle. Finally, unlike a traditional classroom, the students are often broken up into smaller groups of learning needs that compensate each other (Tomlinson, 2001). This makes the customizing approach more manageable with larger class sizes.
For example, if the previously mentioned traditional classroom teacher wished to convert their previous model for their World War I lesson, they could do so by first reconsidering their delivery. Rather than relying on purely on a lecture (which alienates hearing disabled and ESL students), the instructor can implement a PowerPoint. This makes the content more engaging and friendlier to students where audio-only format is a hinderance. The instructor can also break the students up in small groups and encourage them to collaborate on a knowledge check activity. This helps circulate knowledge amongst the peer group, while also serving as a checkpoint to see how students are progressing – and enabling the instructor to pivot their lesson plan more if needed.

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