Be a supporter.

As a teacher, when you get your class roster at the beginning of the year,
you are about to not only become an educator to each of the children on that list,

but you are also about to get the job to be a support system for every child. 

Whether it is academically or emotionally.

I feel that both of those apply to differentiation.

We do not know what will happen in a child's life when they are in our classroom.
In my scenario, my young step dad passed away suddenly of heart failure.
That knocks a child's work completely out of whack, and school often becomes hard.
Therefore, a student going through a traumatic time is going to require differentiation
in a lot of aspects of their education during that time frame.

There are many of my elementary school teachers that I hold dear to my heart for this reason.

They were a support to me when things were falling apart in my life.

However, they did not just support me with my emotional well being during these traumatic times.

They also supported me and helped me to continually to grow academically at the same time.

They adjusted assignments to not be overwhelming for my already fragile mind.

They provided me with assistance on days that emotions were high.

They gave me tools to catch up/stay on top of information when I missed on days I was upset.

They provided me support in a variety of different ways.

They NEVER gave up on me or let me fall, which resulted in my success.

A main way that the text talks about being a support is obviously through academics.

We know that students learn and grow when they tackle work that
is a bit beyond their capacity to complete independently. 

Therefore, in order for them to become successful, they need support.

Simple enough, right? That's your job as a teacher.

However, I can imagine that providing support to 30 students can become a challenge.

Yet, a verbal guide is not always the type of support a student needs.

The text gives some great tools to help support the students with their work, though.

Provide:

- A variety of materials can help support learning on a certain topic.

- Graphic organizers to help structure and extend thinking.

- Survival packets that distill key information, ideas, vocabulary in a unit to help students master material.

Provide anything that you feel will be a support to the students.

You know each student individually; therefore, you know the differentiated support that can help them.

I cannot stress enough that we must be prepared to be that support system for them.
We don't realize how big of an impact we are in their lives and how much of a difference we can make.
You don't want to be the teacher that students look back on and say only made the situation worse.

- Mallory