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Deciding to Teach Them All – [|Carol Ann Tomlinson] In this article Tomlinson emphasizes the importance of asking the right questions when teachers try to balance between the two values of equity and excellence. She gives us the story of her colleague as an example to what are the right questions that will make a different to every student no matter what his difficulties are. Her colleague was a teacher in a school for very advanced and capable students. She was very successful in her work, but she decided that she wanted to teach regular classes. She wanted to try to teach the same curriculum for the advanced students to her new heterogeneous class. It means a class with variety of competences. She asked herself questions that put the student’s needs in the centre; she decided to teach each individual student from where he stands academically and, to see what are his interests and strengths. She asked herself also questions about what she could do to ensure that each student would work at the high level of thought and production possible, what would arise the student’s natural motivation, how to make the curriculum fit the student and not the other way around and what will be the most effective way for the student to develop himself. Tomlinson says that all these questions search for equity and excellence for all students. This teacher wanted to give to more students the opportunity to reach excellence. Curriculum and instruction that are excellence oriented can make the different and produce [|thinking students], problem solvers and producers. Tomlinson claims that we as teachers are still asking ourselves wrong questions that lead to nowhere and stigmatize students. To meet every student’s needs the teacher worked in differentiated ways. Of course it was not easy. This story is a successful one. One can make a difference. “Differentiation can reinforce status”. Tomlinson sums up with the question concerning the teachers: “What can we do to support educators in developing the skill and the will to teach for each learner’s equity of success to excellence?” She offers six principles that can improve equity and excellence: 1) “Good curriculum comes first”, 2) “All tasks should respect each learner” (the student need to be challenged), 3) “When in doubt, teach up”!( teach i+1), 4) “Use flexible grouping” (group work is good but not all the time and in the same way), 5) “Become an assessment junkie” ( emphasize assessing ongoing tasks), 6) “Grade to reflect growth”. Reflection This amazing story that Tomlinson presented here shows us, the teachers, that it is possible, although not easy, to help each student and make a difference to our students. She put a mirror in front of us to let us think about what we do or what questions we ask ourselves, how we approach and act in a class that need a differentiate treatment. And we all teach in heterogeneous class, so we all should think about it. I think that nowadays teachers are aware of the diversities in classes and use [|differentiating methods].