Transcript Slide 1

IMPROVING INSTRUCTIONAL
PRACTICE WITH
DIFFERENTIATION
Sponsored by Teachers’ Center
Facilitated by Kim Lewis
May 12, 2014
Based on the work of
Carol Ann Tomlinson
Your Students…
 come from different cultures
 have different learning styles
 come to school with varying levels of
emotional and social maturity
 have varying interests in both topic and
intensity
 reflect differing levels of academic readiness
in various subjects
 all of the above can vary over time and
depending upon the subject matter
SO…CONSIDER THIS…..
How does recognizing that kids perceive
the world differently help us as
practitioners?
Does all learning
look the same?
Does all success
look the same?
Goals for Today:
1. Review Differentiated Instruction
2. Take away 3 new or “re-newed”
strategies to use this month
Want more? http://www.ted.com/speakers/sir_ken_robinson
What is Differentiated Instruction?
• Take the slips of paper out of your
envelope.
• Sort them into two groups on your
table
• “What DI is”
• “What DI is NOT”
• Be ready to share the rationale for
your decisions. IS
IS NOT
What DI is NOT
DI
• Separate learning goals for each student
• Same assignments for all students
• Single approach to learning
• Allowing students to skip questions
• Unstructured or chaotic
• Homogeneous grouping that never
changes
• Using mostly direct instruction all the
time
• Different grading system for each
student
What DI IS :
✓Proactive
✓Flexible Grouping
✓Learning Options
✓Assignment Choices based on
learning styles or interests
✓On-going Assessment
✓Matching Content to the Learner
✓Multiple Approaches to Instruction
✓Student Directed
◻ It is not the goal of a teacher to
differentiate everything all the
time.
◻ Try to meet learners where they
are in order to further their
knowledge, understanding, and
skill.
◻ Use student-selected and teacherassigned tasks and working
arrangements.
◻ REMEMBER:
◻ Curriculum is WHAT we teach.
◻ Differentiation is HOW we teach.
◻ Fair does NOT mean equal…fair
means everyone gets what s/he
needs.
Keeping
a Balance
The Goal :
“In a differentiated classroom, the
teacher proactively plans and
carries out varied approaches to
content, process, and product in
anticipation of and response to
student differences in readiness,
interest, and learning profile.”
Carol Ann Tomlinson
What Kind of Learner Are YOU?
Are you more like
a beach ball?,
clip board?, microscope?,
or a puppy?
Differentiation Based on Learning Profiles
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Variety of
Resources
Organization
Investigative
Learning
Comfortable
Environment
Choice of
activities
Structure
Critical Thinking
Encouraging
Atmosphere
Spontaneity
Visual Directions Deep Explorations Supportive
Grouping
Personal Freedom Sequential
Learning
Analyzing
Concepts
Extensions to
activities
Clear Procedures Discussions
& Expectations
Various
Manipulatives
Consistent
Routines
Respectful
Colleagues
Empathic
Listeners
Focus on Details Sensitive Peers
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3 Ways to Differentiate Your
Students:
➢ Readiness
➢ Interests
➢ Learning
Profiles
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Differentiation by Learning Profiles:
• Refers to the way we learn BEST
• Intelligence preferences
• Verbal, auditory, kinesthetic,
Strategies:
tactile, interpersonal,
• VAK modality
intrapersonal, right/left brain,
survey
etc.
• Beach Ball
activity
• Culture-influenced preferences
• Learning style
• Gender-based preferences
inventories
• “How I Like to
Learn”
Questionnaires
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Differentiation Based on Students’
Interests can…..
• Be a tool to engage students
• Demonstrate a connection
with them by focusing on
something that is personally
relevant to them
• Can be a motivator for
further learning
Strategies to Differentiate by
Student Interests:
• KWL Chart
• Rank types of
movies/books that
student likes best
• Show and tell
• Interest survey
• America’s Got Talent
• 6 Hats Self Reflection
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Differentiation Based on
Readiness Provides teacher with
• What do they
know?
• How can I
build on what
they know?
• How can I
support them
in the
process?
•
•
clarity regarding students’ prior
knowledge
information about the students’
level of master of the unit’s new
content to target instruction
Strategies to Differentiate by
Student Readiness:
Informal
• Thumbs Up/ Thumbs
Down
• KWL Charts
• Four Corners
• Response Cards
• Clickers
• Geddit , Quizlet, etc.
• Teacher Observation
Strategies to Differentiate by
Student Readiness:
Formal
• Frayer Diagrams
• Graphic
Organizer
• Journal Entries
• Quizzes
• Student Self
Rating
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Readiness: Four Corners
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Path to Differentiated Learning
• What is a strategy you use in your classroom
to gauge your students’ readiness, interest,
or learning profiles?
• Write your strategy on a post-it.
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Place a post-it on the color
that best represents your
learning so far:
Using this method
in your classroom
•Green – post something
valuable you learned or “your”
strategy
•Yellow – post a question you
have still have about DI
•Red – post something you
don’t understand from first
section
Survival Guide :
Differentiation 12 min
Frames for Discussion
Secondary Literacy 7 min
Lesson/Unit Design with DI:
Teachers Can Differentiate by…
Through a range of instructional and management strategies
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Differentiating CONTENT involves
Varying INPUT:
How students will gain access to new
learning
• Readiness differentiation: matching
material to student’s capacity to
understand it.
• Interest differentiation: using materials
that build on or extend student interest.
• Learning Profile differentiation: using
materials/methods that best match
students’ preferred way of learning.
LETS PLAY!
DI STRATEGY
BINGO
How does Assessment relate to DI?
On-going Assessment: A Diagnostic Continuum
Pre-assessment
(Finding Out)
Pre-test
Graphing for
Greatness
Inventory
KWL
Checklist
Observation
Self-evaluation
Questioning
Formative Assessment
(Keeping Track & Checking Up)
Conference
Exit Card
GEDDIT
Peer Evaluation
3- minute pause
Observation
Talkaround
Questioning
Portfolio Check
Quiz
Journal Entry
Self-Evaluation
FIST
TO
FIVE
Summative
Assessment
(Making Sure)
Unit Test
Performance Task
Product
Exhibit
Demonstration
Portfolio Review
TIERED Exit Card
Letsgeddit.com
Hint Cards
for
Scaffolding
Clipboards for
Informal Assessment
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Differentiating CONTENT Examples:
• I-Search
• Learning Contracts
• Learning Centers
• Compacting
• Interest Centers/Groups
• Flexible Grouping
• Tiering
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Tiering by Content : giving
students pathways aligned with their
levels.
Great strategy when you are able to use
materials which are matched to student needs
and readiness.
Same content but varying levels ie. reading levels, varied
directions, varied materials/resources for task
❑ All students explore same essential content but varied
degrees of difficulty
❑ Equally active
❑ Equally engaging and interesting
❑ Fair in terms of expectations (targeted to students’
readiness) and allotted time
❑ Task incorporates key concepts, skills, and/or ideas
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Differentiating PROCESS:
⬜Student activities or opportunities for
learning, understanding, and application
⬜Students make sense of ideas and
information when instruction:
1) Matches their level of readiness
2) Causes them to think at high levels
3) Relates new ideas/skills to previous learning
4) Causes them to use a key skill(s) to understand
a key idea(s)
5) Is of interest to them
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Differentiating PROCESS Examples:
• Learning Logs &
• Jigsaw
Journals
• Six Hats
• Graphic Organizers
• PMI (pluses,
• Think-Pair-Share
minuses,
interesting points)
• Two Sided Debates
(Discussion Webs)
• Cubing
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Differentiating PRODUCT:
• Refer to ways students will
demonstrate their ability to use,
transfer, and extend what they have
learned.
• Differentiated product assignments
can be excellent forms of assessing
student knowledge.
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Differentiating PRODUCT:
• Choice Boards
• 4-MAT
• Portfolios
• Independent Study
• Group Investigation
• Orbital Studies
• RAFTS
• Learning Menus
• Check out the activities in as many folders as
you can
• Write your name on the list for any you want
• Later ~with your certificate~ you’ll get a
personalized (DIFFERNTIATED) folder of
documents !
• You can also sign on to computer and check out
links on next page and print what you’d like to
have
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Additional
resources:
iPad TECHNOLOGY
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The PRESENT requires us to
remember:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_6GUx1Zx0w