Transcript LOSING SIGHT OF THE SHORE - Maximum Impact Media, Inc.

LOSING SIGHT OF THE
SHORE
DIFFERENTIATING CURRICULUM
AND INSTRUCTION
Heartland Curriculum Network
Mary Schmidt
School Improvement Consultant
Heartland AEA 11
[email protected]
WHAT ARE YOU?
 Enthusiast?
 Explorer?
 Sightseer?
 Vacationer?
 Prisoner?
G
You cannot discover
new oceans unless
you have the courage
You to
cannot
oceans
losediscover
sight new
of the
unless you have the courage
shore.
to lose sight of the shore.
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS
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What is differentiation?
Why is it important?
How is it accomplished?
Where does collaboration fit in?
How does one assess the success of
efforts to differentiate?
What are the recommendations for
instructional leaders in schools ready to
differentiate?
GUIDING ASSUMPTIONS
A “teach to the middle” or “one size fits
all” classroom is less responsive to and
less effective in meeting the needs of the
diverse populations in our classrooms
than a classroom which offers various
learning opportunities designed to meet
different learning needs.
2 A differentiated classroom offers different
approaches to what students learn, how
they learn it, and how they demonstrate
what they’ve learned.
1
GUIDING ASSUMPTIONS
3
Flexible grouping enables teachers to
match student with learning experience.
4
Developing a differentiated classroom
takes time, support, and commitment.
WHAT IS
DIFFERENTIATION?
DIFFERENTIATION ala...
WEBSTER
“…to make unlike; to develop specialized
differences in…”
TOMLINSON
“…shaking up what goes on in the
classroom so that the curriculum is a better
fit for all.”
DIFFERENTIATION ala...
BORLAND
“…a course of study that is in some manner
different from the one to which students in
the mainstream are exposed…Differentiation
is not enough. To be appropriate, a
curriculum for…students must be defensible
as well…Defensibility in this context implies
that the curriculum is not only different from
the norm, but educationally right
for…students.”
DIFFERENTIATION
INVOLVES...
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creating specialized differences in curricular
experiences
creating multiple options for knowledge
acquisition, sense-making, and product creation
providing different work, not more of the same
building on the characteristics which create
differences
providing what is educationally right for
learners
WHY
DIFFERENTIATE?
IT’S THE LAW!
12.5(12)Provisions for gifted and talented students. Each school district shall incorporate
gifted and talented programming into its comprehensive school improvement plan as
required by Iowa Code section 257.43. The comprehensive school improvement plan
shall include the following gifted and talented program provisions:
 valid and systematic procedures, including multiple selection criteria for
identifying gifted and talented students from the total student population
 goals and performance measures
 a qualitatively differentiated program to meet the students’ cognitive and
affective needs
 staffing provisions
 an in-service design
 a budget
 qualifications of personnel administering the program.
Each school district shall review and evaluate its gifted and talented programming. This
subrule does not apply to accredited nonpublic schools.
REDUCE RISK OF
UNDERACHIEVEMENT
“Smart children soon learn that what is
important in school is one thing--and what is
important in life is another, and they live in this
schizophrenic existence satisfactorily. Many,
however, do not. Everything we learn doesn't
have to be relevant. But if some of our school
learning isn’t meaningful, we may get turned off
enough so that we don’t want to learn anything
anywhere. We may simply drop out.”
William Glasser
Schools Without Failure
ALLEVIATE DISCIPLINE
PROBLEMS
DISCIPLINE PROBLEMS REFLECT
A COLLISION WITH
INAPPROPRIATE CURRICULUM.
--Susan Winebrenner
INCREASE MOTIVATION
TWO MOTIVATIONAL STATES INTERFERE
WITH LEARNING. ONE IS ANXIETY; THE
OTHER IS BOREDOM. ANXIETY OCCURS
WHEN TEACHERS EXPECT TOO MUCH,
BOREDOM WHEN THEY EXPECT TOO
LITTLE.
Mihaly Csikezentmihalyi
Flow: the Psychology of Optimal Experience
ADDRESS LEARNER
READINESS
WHEN WE TEACH THE SAME THING TO ALL
KIDS AT THE SAME TIME,
1/3 ALREADY KNOW IT,
1/3 GET IT, AND
1/3 NEVER WILL.
SO 2/3 OF THE KIDS ARE WASTING THEIR
TIME.
--Scott Willis
BUILD SELF ESTEEM
THE SUREST PATH TO POSITIVE SELF
ESTEEM IS TO SUCCEED AT SOMETHING
WHICH ONE PERCEIVED WOULD BE
DIFFICULT. EACH TIME WE STEAL A
STUDENT’S STRUGGLE, WE STEAL THE
OPPORTUNITY FOR THEM TO BUILD
SELF-CONFIDENCE. THEY MUST LEARN
TO DO HARD THINGS TO FEEL GOOD
ABOUT THEMSELVES.
--Sylvia Rimm
NORMAL IS ONLY
A SETTING ON THE
WASHING
MACHINE
THAT STUDENTS DIFFER MAY BE
INCONVENIENT, BUT IT IS
INESCAPABLE. ADAPTING TO THAT
DIVERSITY IS THE INEVITABLE PRICE
OF PRODUCTIVITY, HIGH
STANDARDS, AND FAIRNESS TO THE
STUDENTS.
--Theodore Sizer
WAYS IN WHICH INDIVIDUALS CAN
DIFFER
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Prior knowledge or skill expertise
Learning rate
Cognitive ability
Learning style preference
Motivation, attitude, and effort
Interest, strength, or talent
THE GRADE LEVEL
CURRICULUM:
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exposes all students to the same skills and
content
sets predetermined completion times
stresses a single activity
expects all students to achieve all objectives
•provides most instruction in large
groups
•bases instruction on the average
student
•uses limited single resources
•provides few student decision
making opportunities
WHAT CAN BE
DIFFERENTIATED?
 CONTENT--What
students learn
 PROCESS--How they learn it
 PRODUCT--How students show
what they’ve learned
 LEARNING ENVIRONMENT-The conditions under which
learning takes shape
IN DIFFERENTIATED CLASSROOMS,
TEACHERS...
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begin where students are, not at the front of the
curriculum guide.
build upon the premise that learners differ in important
ways.
engage students through different learning modalities, by
appealing to different interests, and by using varying
rates of instruction and degrees of complexity.
ensures that students focus more on individual growth
than on competition with other students.
recognize that each student’s roadmap to learning differs
from that of others.
believe that students should be held to high standards.
IN DIFFERENTIATED CLASSROOMS,
TEACHERS...
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ensure that struggling, advanced, and in-between
learners think and work harder than they meant to;
achieve more than they thought they could; and
come to believe that learning involves effort, risk,
and personal triumph.
help students learn that success is achieved
through hard work.
use time flexibly.
employ a range of instructional strategies.
become partners in learning with their students.
accept, embrace, and plan for the commonalities
and differences learners bring to their classrooms.
INDICATORS OF DIFFERENTIATION
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Consistent use of pretesting
 A decrease in the frequency of large group
activities
 An increase in:
– Small group teaching activities
– Flexible small group learning activities
 An increase in individual alternatives:
– Centers
– Homework
– Contracts
THE DIFFERENTIATION PROCESS
•Objective
•Introduction
•Initial instruction
•Pretesting
•Diagnosis
Breadth
Depth
Branching Out
Managing Flexible Small
Groups
Alternative Activities
Adjusting the
Breadth
Tiered Assignments
Altering the Depth
OFFERING ALTERNATIVE
ACTIVITIES
To Increase the Breadth of a Lesson
MISSION CONTROL (The
Teacher)
PROVIDES:
Whole Group Introduction
and Instruction and
Launches Satellites (small
groups) on Alternative
Activities
Product
Options
Alternative
Activities
Choice of
Resources
Varying
Goals
TIERED ACTIVITIES
To Alter the Depth of a Lesson
KEY FEATURES:
•
•
•
INCREASE/DECREASE:
•Abstraction
Whole Group Introduction
•Extent of Support
Whole Group Initial
•Sophistication
Instruction
•Complexity
Identification of
Developmental
of
Differences
Goals/Resources/Activities/
Products
Make a list of 10 things that are
everlasting.
List 5 synonyms for everlasting.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Put those 10 things on a continuum from
most everlasting to least everlasting.
Justify y our ranking.
HOW DO GIFTED STUDENTS
SPEND THEIR TIME?
Gifted Program
Classroom
(Starko, 1986)
HOW DO I KNOW IT’S
WORKING?
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LISTEN TO AND OBSERVE THE KIDS
 MONITOR AND MEASURE ATTAINMENT
OF GOALS
 DEVELOP BEHAVIORIAL CHECKLISTS
 YOU SEE MOTIVATED, ENGAGED, SELFDIRECTED LEARNERS ABLE TO
FUNCTION AND THRIVE WITHIN AN
ENVIRONMENT WHICH CHALLENGES
THEM.
WHERE DO WE BEGIN?
THE BUILDING LEVEL
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BEGIN SMALL. TRY A FEW PILOT
TEACHERS AND CLASSROOMS.
BEGIN WITH TEACHERS WHO HAVE THE
SKILL AND WILL TO CHANGE.
CREATE TEAMS OF TEACHERS.
COLLEGIALTIY, NOT ISOLATION,
NOURISHES NEW IDEAS.
GO FOR ACTION AND APPLICATION.
ADJUST SCHOOL SCHEDULES TO
PROVIDE TEACHERS LARGER BLOCKS
OF UNINTERRUPTED TIME.
WHERE DO WE BEGIN?
THE BUILDING LEVEL
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CONSIDER ADOPTING MULTIPLE TEXTS
INSTEAD OF ONE FOR A GIVEN SUBJECT
AND GRADE LEVEL.
 CONSIDER MODIFIED REPORT CARDS TO
PROVIDE A LOOK AT PERSONAL
GROWTH INSTEAD OF, OR IN ADDITION
TO, GROUP COMPARISONS.
 CONSIDER NARROWING THE RANGE OF
LEARNERS IN SOME CLASSROOMS.
 DEVELOP COTEACHING AND
COLLABORATIVE RELATIONSHIPS.
EFFECTIVE LEADERS
WILL...
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make time for teachers to plan differentiated
lessons.
provide opportunities to visit differentiated
classrooms.
give access to a wide range of learner materials.
create an environment where teachers feel safe
trying a new approach w/o fear of judgement.
give meaningful, targeted feedback about
teachers’ work with differentiation.
provide support networks.
YOU’VE EITHER
GOT TO SEE THE
LIGHT OR FEEL THE
HEAT.
REMEMBER THAT
NOTHING THAT’S GOOD
WORKS BY ITSELF JUST
TO PLEASE YOU. YOU’VE
GOT TO MAKE THE DAMN
THING WORK.
--Thomas Edison
T.T.T.
Put up in a place where
it’s easy to see,
The cryptic
admonishment,
T.T.T.
When you feel how
depressingly slow you
climb
It’s well to remember
that
THINGS TAKE TIME.
FOR MORE INFORMATION...
http://www.aea11.k12.ia.us/curriculum/differentiated.html