Embracing Differences and Identity

Saltman quotes Hall in the beginning of hie essay when he is trying to set up a definition of what Identity both means and entails as a concept. The line that struck me the most profoundly was "Identities are constructed through, not outside difference. . . this entails the radically disturbing recognition that it is only through the relation to the Other, the relation to what it is not, to precisely what it lacks, to what has been called its constitutive outside that the 'positive' meaning of any term -- this its 'identity' -- can be constructed" (p. 237). What I liked about this quote was that it points out that our differences help us to form an identity of who we are, but also that there is a focus on this being a 'positive' thing we should embrace to help us form a positive image of our identity in relation to other's identities. This reminded me also of a quote I heard Barack Obama say in the past. On the topic of whether we should seek a "colorblind" nation he said, that the goal shouldn't be a society in which we don't see color, but rather a society in which we find beauty, respect, and appreciation in each other's cultures and differences. I also found it interesting that the idea of identity was discussed in terms of outside influences (history, institutions, the Other) that inform what our identity is or will become. When we think of identity we think of this formation as something that takes place only inside of ourselves, but in reality there is a multitude of things that can shape it from the outside in and not the other way around. This discussion of identity helps me situate myself in other people's shoes better in order to understand how their identity is being formed or will be formed by outside influences that affect myself too.

Differentiated Instruction

Putting together our presentation on differentiation of instruction proved to be very helpful to the way I think about education. We read many articles that all confirmed the success this approach can allow students to have and read many strong and distinguished voiced on the subject. One person who kept popping up in our research was Carol Tomlinson who seems to be the leading voice on Differentiation. He passion to ensure EVERY single student learns and to the best of their ability was inspiring and it was comforting to know there are such great pioneers in the field out there. Some points about Differentiation that I found to be the most interesting were the fact that EVERYONE can benefit from it (not just L.D. or gifted students, but everyone in between), and that it engages students in more real world problems and critical thinking skills. On the first point that it benefits everyone, we found that when you implement differentiation into your lessons that the strategies end up being just good teaching skills and allow most students to learn more effectively than the standard teacher-driven lecture and typical test at the end of a unit. Usually individualizing instruction and anticipating ways that students will struggle and need extra help will benefit every student in you class, not just the ones you set out to differentiate for in the first place. On the second point about differentiation utilizing critical thinking skills, the approach is great to help relate material to students lives as they are actually lived. When you incorporate content that is a reflection of students lives, they will make a connection with it and be much more interested in doing learning. We all know that learning is cool and have sought out topics that interest us for further research, but some students won't grasp this concept unless we use content that they can relate to and show them the wealth of relevant information that is out there. I hope all of you enjoy our presentation on Monday and find the information as helpful as I have.