Differentiation continues

As we continue to read Tomlinson & Imbeau's book on differentiation, I continue to wonder how it can apply itself in the kindergarten class that I am in. This week was our first installment of the lesson study, and our lesson on gravity was taught to a class of kindergartners. We did not have any differentiation planned for this lesson, and it showed when we taught it to Mrs. Campbell's class. However, even we had planned for differentiation, would it have worked since we did not know her students?

I wonder if planning blanketed differentiation will really help a class, or will it need to be individualized?

In my class, I know the kids well by now. I know who I need to give extra attention to, who will run the lesson if I let them, who not to sit next to each other, etc. However, we did not know Mrs. Campbell's class. I we won't know Mrs. Kirk's either. When we are planning for our differentiation, I wonder how we will go about making sure that her students can complete the lesson. 

I know for a fact that Mrs. Kirk has a student who spends half of his days in a fully contained special education classroom, and is being labeled as having language barriers. Would we think to plan for someone like him if I did not already know him?

I think that some worksheets and programs that come with differentiation already in place, like the spelling worksheets my teacher sends home to different groups of students, cannot possibly plan for each individual child. As I read through our wall discussion about how important differentiation is to us as teachers and our students, I am beginning to realize how costly it will be on time, but also seeing that it was so beneficial to many of us as students, and how important it is to us all to include it in our future classrooms,

Our readings are helping me to become more aware of the need for differentiation and helping me to see that it is possible in my classroom. 

So even after all of my readings and teaching, I am still not convinced that you can plan for differentiation with out knowing the students. You can plan for certain levels but individuals need more individual planning. However, I think this is a good thing and means that you need to actually know your students, and shows that teachers still have a place in schools, and it is an important one.