Differentiated Instruction for School Leaders

NASSP 2010

For more information and conversation :

Rick Wormeli [email protected]

703-620-2447 Herndon, VA USA (Eastern Time Zone)

Leadership Strategies for Creating and Maintaining a Culture of Differentiated Instruction

Mindset: What we teach is irrelevant. It’s what students carry forward after their time with us that matters.

What is fair… …isn’t always equal.

Look for evidence of expertise in these areas Differentiation Student Development Successful Differentiation Subject Matter Cognitive Science

Practice with your teachers looking for evidence of DI. Sample scenarios, videos, pictures, and other portrayals from any classroom are a great place to start….

Classroom Samples

• • Students watch an instructional video. Every 10 to 15 minutes, the teacher stops the video and asks student to summarize what they’ve learned. The teacher does several math problems on the front board, then assigns students five practice problems to see if they understand the algorithm.

• • Students are working in small groups on an assigned task. One student isn’t cooperating with the rest of his group, however, and as a result, the group is falling farther behind the other groups. There are only enough microscopes for every three students. One student uses the microscope to bring items into focus, another draws what the group sees through the eyepiece, then the three students answer questions.

• • • Eleven students do not do the assignment from last night. Consequently, they are not prepared to move on with the class in today’s task.

Four ELL students have been placed in your class, but they are far from comfortable with English, especially with the vocabulary associated with your subject area.

The whole class takes notes during a lecture or presentation for 60 minutes.

Is it, or is it not, DI, and why do you believe as you do?

• • •

Some students [get] more work to do, and others less. For example, a teacher might assign two book reports to advanced readers and only one to struggling readers. Or a struggling math student might have to do only the computation problems while advanced math students do the word problems as well.” (Tomlinson, p. 7) Students have most of the control in the classroom. Teacher uses many different group structures over time.

Is it, or is it not, DI, and why do you believe as you do?

A science and math teacher, Mr. Blackstone, teaches a large concept (Inertia) to the whole class. Based on “exit cards” in which students summarize what they learned after the whole class instruction, and observation of students over time, he assigns students to one of two labs: one more open-ended and one more structured. Those that demonstrate mastery of content in a post-lab assessment, move to an independent project (rocketry), while those that do not demonstrate mastery, move to an alternative rocketry project, guided by the teacher, that re-visits the important content. (Tomlinson, p. 24)

Is it, or is it not, DI, and why do you believe as you do?

Teacher lectures for 15 minutes, then she conducts a class discussion on the topic for 10 minutes. She calls on a variety of students to answer questions to see if they understand. Some questions are basic recall and some a complex and probing. After the discussion, students are assigned a passage to read out of their textbook and asked to respond to the passage in their journals.

Become well read in differentiation. Seriously. I’m thinking three or more books, plus professional articles, in the first year.

Great book to get started:

The Differentiated School: Making Revolutionary Changes in Teaching and Learning

Carol Ann Tomlinson, Kay Brimijoin, Lane Narvaez ASCD 2008

Also, to Get Started:

Transforming School Culture: How to Overcome Staff Division

Anthony Muhammad, Solution Tree Press, 2009

Talk About Teaching! Leading Professional Conversations,

NASSP/Corwin/NSDC, 2009

Leading Change in your School: How to Conquer Myths, Build Commitment, and Get Results,

ASCD, 2009

Breaking Ranks: A Field Guide to Leading Change,

NASSP, 2009 (Don’t forget BRIM – Breaking Ranks in the Middle)

“

Opposition to change remains inevitable. In fact, if your proposed change does not engender opposition, then you should question whether or not what you are proposing really represents meaningful change.”

p. 11, Doug Reeves, Leading Change in your School, ASCD, 2009

‘Another Act of Willful Failure: Changing structures/programs without changing teacher beliefs as well. Accept the fact that there is no one way to get your whole faculty on board. Waiting for 100% buy-in is a willful act of failure.

How do education leaders maintain any new building or district initiative?

Remember: When asking how to maintain differentiated practices, we’re really asking how to maintain effective teaching.

   What are our own interpretations and preferences when it comes to assessment, grading, and differentiation: Are they accurate? What are we doing to keep informed? To what degree will we accept philosophies in our teachers that are different from our own? How can we tell if a teacher is assessing, grading, and differentiating instruction successfully? How do we know if a teacher’s approach is developmentally appropriate for students?

   What does, “Fair isn’t always equal” look like in a classroom?

Does assessment inform the teacher’s practice?

How can we facilitate struggling teachers’ growth in assessment, grading, and differentiation?

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How to interpret and use of standardized testing data...

When a student fails to learn, teachers question their instructional approach rather than automatically blaming the student. Teachers can change their lesson plans daily, depending on the needs of students, regardless of what’s been submitted for approval earlier.

Teachers need more opportunities to increase their instructional flexibility, i.e. they need to build their repertoire of responses.

Teachers are asked to make decisions based on assessment data, and they are asked to explain those decisions publicly.

      

Teachers will work more collaboratively with those in and out of the building. Teachers emphasize formative over summative assessment.

Homework assignments will be different for some students, and it will not count heavily in the final grade, if at all.

Final exams will not carry as much weight.

Grading will be criterion-referenced (standards-based). This is the beginning of intense conversations on what teachers will accept as evidence of mastery, and the end of averaging, using zeroes on the 100-point scale, tabulating points, using percentages, and setting up gradebooks according to formats (Teachers will use individual standards instead).

Teachers will claim that this isn’t done in upper grade levels so isn’t differentiating instruction/assessment/grading a disservice to students?

Parents will need to be trained – every year.

Carol Dweck (2007) distinguishes between students with a fixed intelligence mindset who believe that intelligence is innate and unchangeable and those with a growth mindset who believe that their achievement can improve through effort and learning…Teaching students a growth mindset results in increased motivation, better grades, and higher achievement test results.” (p.6, Principal’s Research Review, January 2009, NASSP)

Skill Sets Teachers Need in Order to Improve their Differentiated Practices • • • • • • How to write and talk about teaching; how to make the implicit explicit Formative versus Summative Assessments Cognitive Science applied in the classroom How to critique each other constructively How to work with mentors/coaches How to get to know students’ well: learning styles, challenges, strengths, interests, intelligences, background, etc.

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Practice Critiques

1. Where do we begin when critiquing?

2. How should we phrase our feedback and observations? 3. On what should we comment?

4. How do we know if a lesson is differentiated well?

5.

What do we do if the lesson isn’t working?

“

[Artist Unknown]

Why do we differentiate instruction in our schools?

Clearly Define Differentiated Instruction

• • • • •

Create a working definition Provide/Generate examples of what it is and is not Bust myths Practice identifying it in classrooms: videos, peer observation, written descriptions Work with a lot of hypotheticals: Teachers feel comfortable talking in the abstract, and they’ll consider their own actions as they comment

Definition

D

ifferentiating instruction is doing what’s fair for students. It’s a collection of best practices strategically employed to maximize students’ learning at every turn, including giving them the tools to handle anything that is undifferentiated. It requires us to do different things for different students some, or a lot, of the time. It’s whatever works to advance the student if the regular classroom approach doesn’t meet students’ needs. It’s highly effective teaching.

Start with a Few…

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Identify 3 or 4 staff already differentiating or willing to give it a shot

…and support their journey with everything you’ve got

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Ask them to present their journey to the faculty - ‘mistakes, successes, ‘everything.

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Invite a parent or three to be a part of the conversations.

Create a Culture of Differentiated Instruction

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“This is our way of doing things around here.”

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Letter to potential new faculty

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Immersion - in sight.

If it’s in sight, it’s in mind, so put it

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Publicize at faculty meetings, newsletters, letter to parents, news organizations, Website

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Promote in public spaces used by teachers

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Attach differentiated instruction practices to professional goals and annual evaluation

The Professional Substrate in which we Swim

1. DI is non-negotiable.

2. We reflect on the larger questions of what we do.

3. We take risks daily: • Teaching analysis, and change as a result, is expected.

• It’s easy to ask and receive help.

Changing a Building/District’s Culture

Great publications for culture change can be found at: Corwin Press ASCD NASSP/NAESP NSDC Jossey-Bass

With colleagues, reflect on the bigger questions: Why do we grade students?

What does a grade mean? Does our current approaches best serve students? How do we communicate with parents?

How does assessment inform our practice?

Is what we’re doing fair and developmentally appropriate?

How can we counter the negative impact of poverty on our students’ learning?

What role does practice play in mastery?

What is mastery for each curriculum we teach?

What is homework, and how much should it count in the overall grade?

How are our current structures limiting us?

With colleagues, reflect on the bigger questions: Whose voice is not heard in our deliberations?

What evidence of mastery will we accept?

What do we know about differentiated practices and the latest in cognitive theory and how are those aspects manifest in our classrooms? If not, why not?

Are we mired in complacency?

Are we doing things just to perpetuate what has always been done?

Are we open to others’ points of view – why or why not? Does our report card express what we’re doing in the classroom?

How are modern classrooms different from classrooms thirty years ago? Where will our practices look like 15 years from now? To what extent do we allow state, provincial, country, or international exams to influence our classroom practices?

End hypocrisy…

Teachers Lead

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Identify two or more teachers to coordinate the DI journey for the building. Empower them to make decisions on behalf of the faculty.

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Maintain a place on the school’s Intranet to post questions and have them answered by teachers or guest experts (local and national trainers and authors on differentiation).

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Ask these teachers to train you and the rest of the administration as well – ‘creates credence, empathy, and knowledge

Put time, energy, people, and money into coaching/mentoring teachers. Consider: - PLC’s -- Critical Friends Network -- Teacher Action Research Teams -- Becoming a Lab School for a local University -- Beginning Teacher Induction programs

“Dipstick” frequently.

(a John Saphier term) This includes a checklist for evidence of DI in your Walk-through observations.

Ask teachers to present evidence in planning and practice. Consider both quantitative and qualitative measures. What would this look like?

Bring at least one parent to every conference or in-service training on differentiated instruction.

Open each Faculty Meeting with the Idea

A different group shares their interactions with the topic for five to ten minutes each meeting. Rotate different departments and grade levels through the presentation duty.

Use Department Meetings

At every department meeting: Discuss an aspect of the idea and prepare a report for the administration Ask: What does this look like in our discipline?

Conduct Instructional Roundtables

• • •

One-hour or less Someone (not limited to leaders) posts a topic for discussion and a location for the meeting two weeks in advance All are invited, but ‘must have one idea to share (photocopied) as ticket to the roundtable

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Teacher Inservice Training

Alberta Assessment Consortium www.nmsa.org

www.ascd.org

www.sde.com

www.nsdc.org

www.nassp.org

Specific subject professional organizations Authors and presenters www.aeispeakers.com

Speaker’s bureaus “Wisdom Within” – experts in the building already Consider Webcasts, E-Seminars, or Videocasts

Conduct Monthly or Quarterly meetings

Gather together to debrief in small groups about how things are going with the new initiative.

Conduct Book Study Groups

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Teachers and administrators Request study guides from publisher, if available One month in duration, if possible

Disseminate articles/ideas in teacher boxes

Keep the idea(s) in front of teachers so it doesn’t get moved to the back burner. Make sure to follow up with a structured interactions.

Inform Parents

Educate parents of the school’s new emphasis and invite them to look for evidence of it in action. Invite parents to help critique the impact of the new emphasis.

Publicize!

Add the new program or emphasis to the school’s publications such as newsletters, Website, Work Plan, accreditation materials, and promotional school materials.

• • • • • • •

Regularly Affirm Small Steps

public recognition at faculty gatherings private notes of thanks & encouragement take over a teacher’s class in order to give her an extra planning period refer a teacher looking for help to a successful teacher post teacher successes somewhere visible invite news organizations to interview teachers who’ve been successful ask successful teachers to take on leadership roles

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Peer Observation System

Create a system of collegial feedback in which teachers observe and analyze each other’s lessons in light of the new faculty emphasis. Assign someone the task of coordinating who’s partnering with whom, as well as the dates and times for observations and post-observation analysis. Observations can be in person by giving up an occasional planning (or providing a sub for a non-planning period slot), or it can be done by video-taping the class and analyzing the lesson with a colleague later. Enlist retirees and parents to do the video taping, if that’s easier.

Keep a Sense of Humor

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Humans are inconsistent and messy – embrace it.

Three steps forward, two steps back.

Humor bonds.

Accept a Multi-Year Learning Curve

Most big initiatives require 3 to 5 years to become the culture of a school, with vigilant attention to progress and training of new faculty members.

C.B.A.M. - Concerns-Based Adoption Model

Teachers move through different stages of concern – for themselves, for the task, for the new idea’s impact – new initiative. as well as through stages of use. If we respond to each level of concern and how teachers are using the idea, teachers are more willing to partake in the

Teacher Concerns

6 - Refocusing 5 – Collaboration 4 – Consequences 3 – Management 2 – Personal 1 – Informational 0 – Awareness

Teachers Use of the New Idea

6 – Renewal 5 – Integration 4a/4b – Refinement/Routine 3 – Mechanical 2 – Preparation 1 – Orientation 0 – Non-use

Great CBAM Resources:

Taking Charge of Change

Shirley M. Hord, William L. Rutherford, Leslie Huling Austin, Gene E. Hall ASCD, 1987 Also try, Southwest Educational Development Laboratory catalog: www.sedl.org/pubs/catalog/items/cbam15.html

Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 1

Keep the timeline and accomplishments ever-visible.

How Can We Tell if a Teacher Differentiates on a Regular Basis?

• • • Students are content; they feel safe.

Students are engaged; they are on task.

Students are learning.

All three of these don’t happen at once if

the teacher isn’t differentiating.

To see the true extent of a teacher’s differentiation and keep it on the collective radar scope, ask teachers: • • • • • • “Tell me about the students in this class.” “May I see your class (or learning) profile?” “How did you determine who was in which group?” “Why are you teaching this topic this way to these specific students?” “What did you do with students prior to this lesson to prepare them for it?” “How will you have students respond to this information tomorrow or later in the week?”

• • • • “How did you alter your instruction based on the unique needs of these students?” “How did(does) assessment inform your decisions?” “Is there anything you would change in this lesson the next time you teach it?” “How will (or did) you know you were successful in this lesson with every student?”