Transcript Understanding by Design

Understanding by Design
And Differentiated Instructional Strategies
Essential Questions
 The overarching concepts or principles.
 Reflect curriculum goals or standards.
 The key understanding you want the students to have
after they’ve completed the curriculum.
 Present your essential questions to students at the
beginning of the year or your course.
 Post the questions so you can refer back to them.
Unit Questions
 Provide specific content and facts about
essential questions.
 They add depth and specificity.
 Unit questions provide a framework in which
to differentiate activities.
Four Standard Statements within the Academic Standards for History: An Overview
Political and Cultural Contributions of
Individuals and Groups
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Inhabitants (cultures, subcultures, groups)
Political Leaders (monarchs, governors, elected officials)
Military Leaders (generals, noted military figures)
Cultural and Commercial Leaders (entrepreneurs,
corporate executives, artists, entertainers, writers)
Primary Documents, Material Artifacts and
Historical Places
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Documents, Writings and Oral Traditions (government
documents, letters and diaries, fiction and non-fiction
works, newspapers and other media, folklore)
Artifacts, Architecture and Historic Places (historic sites
and places, museums and museum collections, official
and popular cultural symbols, material culture)
How Continuity and Change Have
Influenced History
Conflict and Cooperation Among Social
Groups and Organizations
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Belief Systems and Religions (ideas, beliefs, values)
Commerce and Industry (jobs, trade, environmental
change ,labor systems, entertainment)
Politics (political party systems, administration of
government, rules, regulations and laws, political and
judicial interpretation)
Transportation (methods of moving people and goods over
time, transportation routes, circulation systems)
Social Organization (social structure, identification of
social groups, families, groups and communities,
education, school population, suffrage, civil rights)
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Domestic Instability (political unrest, natural and manmade disasters, genocide)
Immigration and Migration (causes of population shifts,
xenophobia, intercultural activity)
Labor Relations (strikes and collective bargaining, working
conditions over time, labor/management identity)
Military Conflicts (causes, conduct and impact of military
conflicts, wars and rebellions)
Mapping the Curriculum
 A Curriculum Map is an outline of a unit built
from both essential questions and unit
questions.
 Curriculum mapping identifies:
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Content, skills, and products for a particular
unit
Required curriculum standards.
Exit points for differentiation.
Curricular goals are the
springboard from which
differentiation ought to begin.
Teachers Can Differentiate
Content
Process
Product
According to Students’
Readiness
Interest
Learning
Profile
Adapted from The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners (Tomlinson, 1999).
Comparing Traditional and
Differentiated Classrooms
 Consideration of student differences
 Use of assessment to plan instruction
 Use of student interest and learning style
Differentiation Strategies
 All strategies are aligned with instructional
goals and objectives.
 Specific strategy selection based on
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Focus of instruction
Focus of differentiation
Differentiation Strategies (continued)
Group 1: Compacting
Group 2: Independent Study
Group 3: Interest Centers or Interest
Groups
Group 4: Flexible Grouping
Examples of Differentiation
Strategies
 Choice Boards
 Tiered Activities
 Learning Contracts
Diner Menu – Photosynthesis
Appetizer (Everyone Shares)
•Write the chemical equation for photosynthesis.
Entrée (Select One)
•Draw a picture that shows what happens during photosynthesis.
•Write two paragraphs about what happens during photosynthesis.
•Create a rap that explains what happens during photosynthesis.
Side Dishes (Select at Least Two)
•Define respiration, in writing.
•Compare photosynthesis to respiration using a Venn Diagram.
•Write a journal entry from the point of view of a green plant.
•With a partner, create and perform a skit that shows the
differences between photosynthesis and respiration.
Dessert (Optional)
•Create a test to assess the teacher’s knowledge of
photosynthesis.
THINK-TAC-TOE
Book Report
Draw a picture of
the main character.
Perform a play that
shows the
conclusion of a
story.
Write a song about
one of the main
events.
Write a poem
about two main
events in the story.
Make a poster that
shows the order of
events in the story.
Dress up as your
favorite character
and perform a
speech telling who
you are.
Create a Venn
Write two
diagram comparing paragraphs about
and contrasting the the main character.
introduction to the
closing.
Write two
paragraphs about
the setting.
Tiered Activity – Writing a Persuasive Essay
4th–6th Grade Classroom
Beginning
Intermediate
Advanced
Outcome/
Objective
Students will determine a topic and will
write a five-sentence paragraph with a
main idea, three supporting sentences,
and a concluding sentence.
Students will determine a topic,
state a point of view, and write two
paragraphs defending that point of
view.
Students will determine a topic, state
a point of view, and write an essay of
at least five paragraphs that uses
multiple sources to defend that point
of view.
Instruction/
Activity
Students will receive a model of a fivesentence paragraph and explicit
instruction in constructing the
paragraph.
As a prewriting activity, students will
list their topic and develop a list of at
least three things that support their
topic.
Students will receive a model of a
persuasive essay and a graphic
organizer that explains the
construction of a persuasive
essay. Students will also receive
explicit instruction in writing a
persuasive essay.
As a prewriting activity, students
will use the graphic organizer to
plan their writing.
Students will review the graphic
organizer for a persuasive essay.
Students will be given explicit
instruction in locating sources and
quotes for their essays. As a
prewriting activity, students will use
the graphic organizer to organize
their essay. Students will also
compile a list of five sources that
defend their main point.
Assessment
Students will be able to write a fivesentence paragraph that successfully
states and supports a main idea. The
paragraph will meet the criteria on the
state writing rubric.
Students will be able to state a
point of view and successfully
defend the idea using two
paragraphs that defend the point
of view using main ideas and
supporting details. The
paragraphs will meet the criteria
on the state writing rubric.
Students will be able to write a fiveparagraph essay that states a point
of view, defends the point of view,
and uses resources to support the
point of view. The essay will meet
the criteria on the state writing rubric.
Choices
 Four strategies for providing student choice
within tiered assignments:
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Pathways Plans
Project Menus
Challenge Centers
Spin-offs
Pathways Plans
 Pathways are individual planners on which you or
your students check off or cross out the skills they’ve
mastered and choose from a list of alternative
activities.
 To create pathways, list your unit’s skills on the left
side of a sheet of paper. On the right side, list
alternative activities that students can choose from
when they loop out of skills instruction.
 In developing pathways, be sure to tier the activities
according to challenge level or by complexity.
 Grades on pathways projects replace grades on skills
work done by the other students.
Project Menus
 A project menu is a numbered list of tiered
assignments that you allow students to
choose what they’d like to work on.
 Include checklists with quality criteria so that
students clearly understand your
expectations and can maintain high
standards.
Challenge Centers
 Challenge center projects stress new concepts, new
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content, or the application of skills.
Challenge centers can be designed to focus on
multiple intelligences.
Provide step-by-step procedures on work-cards.
Design evaluation checklists for projects.
Have students use a work log to record the work they
accomplish each day in challenge centers.
Provide examples, samples, or models as necessary
to explain assignments.
Spin-offs
 Spin-offs are projects based on student interests.
They may be done independently, with partners, or in
small groups.
 For each kind of spin-off, the teacher provides the
general topic.
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For teacher-directed spin-offs, you require that certain
content or key ideas be included.
Student-directed spin-offs allow students to
differentiate their own instruction by making
independent decisions about what they’ll work on &
how they’ll share their work.
Spin-offs with a required product, allows students to
choose their specific topic and the content or key ideas
they’ll include, while you assign the product that
students will produce.
Learning Contract #1
Name _______________________
My question or topic is:
To find out about my question or topic…
I will read:
I will look at and listen to:
I will draw:
Here’s how I will share what I know:
I will finish by this date:
I will need:
I will write:
Learning Contract #2
To demonstrate what I have learned about ____________________, I want to
_ Write a report
_ Put on a demonstration
_ Set up an experiment
_ Develop a computer presentation
_ Build a model
_ Design a mural
_ Write a song
_ Make a movie
_ Create a graphic organizer or diagram
_ Other
This will be a good way to demonstrate understanding of this concept because
______________________________________________________________
To do this project, I will need help with
______________________________________________________________
My Action Plan is________________________________________________
The criteria/rubric which will be used to assess my final product is _________
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My project will be completed by this date _____________________________
Student signature: ________________________________ Date ___/___/___
Teacher signature: ________________________________ Date ___/___/___
Deciding When & How to Tier an
Assignment
 Five questions to ask yourself during planning
 Are there points when some students need more time
to work on content or a skill and other students are
ready for more advanced work?
 Is there an activity in which varied resources could be
matched with student needs and readiness?
 Is there an activity in which the same materials could
be used to work on both basic & more advanced
outcomes?
 Is there an activity in which students could benefit from
working on the same outcome but doing different kinds
of work?
 Is there an activity that could result in more than one
way for students to show what they’ve learned?
Warm-ups and Cool-downs
 This technique provides some time to work with each
group of students at the beginning or end of the class
period.
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Examples:
 Journaling
 Free Reading
 Content Webs
 Word of the day
 Sketchbooks
 Notetaking on textual materials
 Skill applications or challenges
 Daily language activity
Assessment in the Differentiated
Classroom
 Ongoing
 Instruction-dependent
 Student-dependent
 Informative for continued
instruction
Tips for Implementing Differentiated
Instruction: Your Classroom
 Start slowly.
 Organize your
classroom space.
Teacher
Station 1
Inboxes
Bookshelf
Teacher
Station
2
Schedule
Group
Assignments
Tips for Implementing Differentiated
Instruction: Your Classroom (continued)
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Start student files.
Start student portfolios.
Use a clipboard.
Use technology.
Implementing Differentiated Instruction:
Your District or School
 Start with committed staff.
 Look for existing resources/infrastructure.
 Start with one or two strategies.
 Try it and be willing to alter and extend.
Implementing Differentiated Instruction:
Additional Considerations
 Teacher support
 Professional development
 Adequate planning time
Resources
 Assessment
 Curriculum-based Measurement
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www.studentprogress.org
 National Center on Accessing the General
Curriculum (NCAC):
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www.cast.org/ncac/
 Access Center:
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www.k8accesscenter.org