Differentiating Instruction: Beginning the Journey

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Differentiating Instruction Beginning the
Journey

• "In the end, all learners need your energy, your
  heart and your mind. They have that in common
  because they are young humans. How they need you
  however, differs. Unless we understand and
  respond to those differences, we fail many
  learners."
• Tomlinson, C.A. (2001). How to differentiate
  instruction in mixed ability classrooms (2nd
  Ed.). Alexandria, VA ASCD.
• Nanci Smith
• Educational Consultant
• Curriculum and Professional Development
• Cave Creek, AZ
• nanci.e2c2_at_gmail.com

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Differentiated Instruction Defined

• Differentiated instruction is a teaching
  philosophy based on the premise that teachers
  should adapt instruction to student differences.
  Rather than marching students through the
  curriculum lockstep, teachers should modify their
  instruction to meet students varying readiness
  levels, learning preferences, and interests.
  Therefore, the teacher proactively plans a
  variety of ways to get at and express
  learning.
• Carol Ann Tomlinson

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Key Principles of a Differentiated Classroom

• The teacher is clear about what matters in
  subject matter.
• The teacher understands, appreciates, and builds
  upon student differences.
• Assessment and instruction are inseparable.
• The teacher adjusts content, process, and product
  in response to student readiness, interests, and
  learning profile.
• All students participate in respectful work.
• Students and teachers are collaborators in
  learning.
• Goals of a differentiated classroom are maximum
  growth and individual success.
• Flexibility is the hallmark of a differentiated
  classroom.

Source Tomlinson, C. (2000). Differentiating
Instruction for Academic Diversity. San Antonio,
TX ASCD
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Assessment in a Differentiated Classroom

• Assessment drives instruction. (Assessment
  information helps the teacher map next steps for
  varied learners and the class as a whole.)
• Assessment occurs consistently as the unit
  begins, throughout the unit and as the unit ends.
  (Preassessment, formative and summative
  assessment are regular parts of the
  teaching/learning cycle.)
• Teachers assess student readiness, interest and
  learning profile.
• Assessments are part of teaching for success.
• Assessment information helps students chart and
  contribute to their own growth.
• Assessment MAY be differentiated.
• Assessment information is more useful to the
  teacher than grades.
• Assessment is more focused on personal growth
  than on peer competition.

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Two Views of Assessment --

• Assessment is for
• Gatekeeping
• Judging
• Right Answers
• Control
• Comparison to others
• Use with single activities

• Assessment is for
• Nurturing
• Guiding
• Self-Reflection
• Information
• Comparison to task
• Use over multiple activities

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FLEXIBLE GROUPING Students are part of many
different groups and also work alone based on
the match of the task to student readiness,
interest, or learning style. Teachers may create
skills-based or interest-based groups that are
heterogeneous or homogeneous in readiness level.
Sometimes students select work groups, and
sometimes teachers select them. Sometimes
student group assignments are purposeful and
sometimes random.
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Teacher and whole class begin exploration of a
topic or concept
Students and teacher come together to share
information and pose questions
The whole class reviews key ideas and extends
their study through sharing
The whole class is introduced to a skill needed
later to make a presentation
The whole class listens to individual study plans
and establishes baseline criteria for success
Students engage in further study using varied
materials based on readiness and learning style
Students work on varied assigned tasks designed
to help them make sense of key ideas at varied
levels of complexity and varied pacing
In small groups selected by students, they apply
key principles to solve teacher-generated
problems related to their study
Students self-select interest areas through which
they will apply and extend their understandings
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A differentiated classroom is marked by a
repeated rhythm of whole-class preparation,
review, and sharing, followed by opportunity for
individual or small-group exploration,
sense-making, extension, and production
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Differentiation of Instruction
Is a teachers response to learners needs guided
by general principles of differentiation
Respectful tasks
Flexible grouping
Continual assessment
Teachers Can Differentiate Through
Process
Product
Content
According to Students
Readiness
Interest
Learning Profile
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Flexible Grouping

• Students are part of many different groups (and
  also work alone) based on the match of the task
  to student readiness, interest, or learning
  style. Teachers may create skills based or
  interest based groups that are heterogeneous or
  homogeneous in readiness level. Sometimes
  students select work groups, and sometimes
  teachers select them. Sometimes student group
  assignments are purposeful and sometimes random.

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A Differentiated Classroom in Balance
Teacher-Student Partnerships
F L E X I B L E
Solid Curriculum
Shared Vision
Shared goals
Inviting
Shared responsibility
Focused
A Growth Orientation
Concept- based
Product Oriented
Sense Of Community
Resource
On-going assessment to determine need
Feedback and grading
Time
Groups
Respect For Group
ZPD Target
Approaches to teaching and learning
Safe
Respect for individual
Shared Challenge
Affirming
Tomlinson-oo
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How Does Research Support DI?

• Differentiated Instruction is the result of a
  synthesis of a number of educational theories and
  practices.
• Brain research indicates that learning occurs
  when the learner experiences moderate challenge
  and relaxed alertness readiness
• Psychological research reveals that when interest
  is tapped, learners are more likely to find
  learning rewarding and become more autonomous as
  a learner.

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Checklist for Brain Based Classrooms

• Brain organization and
• Building safe environments
• Do students feel safe to risk and experiment with
  ideas?
• Do students feel included in the class and
  supported by others?
• Are tasks challenging enough without undo
  distress?
• Is there an emotional hook for the learners?
• Are there novel, unique and engaging activities
  to capture and sustain attention?

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Checklist for Brain Based Classrooms

• Recognizing and honoring diversity
• Does the learning experience appeal to the
  learners varied multiple intelligences and
  learning styles?
• May the students work collaboratively and
  independently?
• May they show what they know in a variety of
  ways?
• Does the cultural background of the learners
  influence instruction?

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Checklist for Brain Based Classrooms

• Assessment
• Is there enough time to explore, understand and
  transfer the learning to long term memory (grow
  dendrites)?
• Is there time to accomplish mastery?
• So they have opportunities for ongoing, just in
  time feedback?
• Do they have time to revisit ideas and concepts
  to connect or extend them?
• Is metacognitive time built into the learning
  process?
• Do students use logs and journals for reflection
  and goal setting?

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Checklist for Brain Based Classrooms

• Instructional Strategies
• Are the expectations clearly stated and
  understood by the learner?
• Will the learning be relevant and useful to the
  learner?
• Does the learning build on past experience or
  create a new experience?
• Does the learning relate to their real world?
• Is it developmentally appropriate and hands on?
• Are the strategies varied to engage and sustain
  attention?
• Are there opportunities for projects, creativity,
  problems and challenges?

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Checklist for Brain Based Classrooms

• New Models
• Do students work alone, in pairs and in small
  groups?
• Do students work in learning centers based on
  interest, need or choice?
• Are some activities tiered to provide appropriate
  levels of challenge?
• Is compacting used to provide enrichment and
  challenge?
• Is integrated curriculum, problem based and
  service learning considered?
• Are contracts negotiated to provide appropriate
  learning activities for students?

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Best Practices forStandards-based Instruction

• Best Practice, New Standards for Teaching and
  Learning in Americas Schools
• Zemelman, S., Daniels, H. Hyde, A. (1998).
  Portsmouth, NH Heinemann

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Best Practices forStandards-based Instruction

• Within these recommendations, growth does not
  necessarily mean moving from one practice to
  another, discarding a previous instructional
  approach and replacing it forever. Instead,
  teachers add new, effective alternatives to a
  widening repertoire of choices, allowing them to
  alternate among a richer array of activities,
  creating a richer and more complex balance of
  instruction.

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Best Practices forStandards-based Instruction

• Physical Facilities

• From
• Set-up for teacher-centered instruction (separate
  desks)
• Rows of desks
• Bare, unadorned space
• Textbooks and handouts

• To
• Set-up for student-centered instruction (tables
  or groupings)
• Clusters, centers, etc.
• Student work, friendly
• Purposeful materials

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Best Practices forStandards-based Instruction

• Classroom Climate / Management

• From
• Punishment and rewards
• Teacher-created and enforced rules
• Passive learning
• Solely ability grouping
• Rigid schedule

• To
• Engagement and community
• Students help set and enforce norms
• Purposeful engagement
• Flexible grouping
• Flexible time based on activity

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Best Practices forStandards-based Instruction

• Student Voice and Involvement

• Balanced with teacher-chosen and teacher-directed
  activities
• Students often select inquiry topics, books,
  writing topics, etc.
• Students maintain their own records, set goals,
  and self-assess
• Some themes / inquiries are built from students
• own questions
• Students assume responsibility and take roles
• in decision making

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Best Practices forStandards-based Instruction

• Activities and Assignments

• From
• Teacher presentation
• Whole-class instruction
• Uniform curriculum
• Short-term lessons
• Memorization and recall
• Short responses, fill-in-the-blank
• Same assignments

• To
• Students experiencing concepts
• Centers, groups, variety
• Topics by students needs or choice
• Extended activities
• Application and problem solving
• Complex responses, evaluations and writing
• Multiple intelligences, cognitive styles

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Best Practices forStandards-based Instruction

• Language and Communication

• From
• Forced constant silence
• Short responses
• Teacher talk
• Focus on facts

• To
• Noise, conversation alternates with quiet
• Elaborated discussions
• Student-teacher, student-student
• Skills, concepts, synthesis, evaluation

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Best Practices for Standards-based Instruction

• Student Work and Assessment

• From
• Products for teacher / grading
• No student work displayed
• Identical, imitative products
• Feedback scores or grades
• Seen / scored only by teacher
• Teacher grade book
• Standards set during grading

• To
• Products for real events / audience
• High quality / all students
• Varied and original products
• Substantive, varied, formative feedback
• Public displays and performances
• Student-maintained portfolios, assessments
• Standards co-developed with students

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Best Practices forStandards-based Instruction

• Teacher Attitude and Initiative Toward Students

• From Distant, negative, fearful or punitive To
  Positive, respectful, encouraging and warm
• From Blaming students to Reasoning with Students
• From Directive to Consultative

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Best Practices forStandards-based Instruction

• Teacher Attitude and Initiative Toward Self

• From Helpless victim To Risk taker, experimenter,
  creative agent
• From Solitary adult To Member of team within
  school and network beyond school
• From Staff development recipient To Directing
• own professional growth
• From Role of expert or presenter To Coach,
• mentor, model and guide

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Have you ever said I just dont know what to
do with that kid?(Remember, dont
overgeneralize. Theres great diversity in all
groups!!!)

• Persistent Underachievement
• Help the student accept control over his/her
  decisions and life.
• Be clear and specific about tasks and
  requirements.
• Use appropriate consequences for work done/not
  done.
• Break tasks into small segments.
• Check in with the student often.
• Be firm but warm.
• Dont tell him/her you know he/she can do the
  work.
• Coordinate approaches with a counselor and
  parents when possible.

• All Learners in Academically Diverse Classrooms
• Help students understand that everyone has
  strengths and weaknesses.
• Celebrate and understand student learning
  differences.
• Help students learn the power of controlling what
  they can in their lives.
• Help them understand our shared needs for
  success, to belong, to trust, the future, etc.
• Help them see that each person is irreplaceable
  uniqueness is a plus.
• Help students learn to set their own goals and
  chart their progress.
• Teach in varied readiness levels, interest and
  ways of learning

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(Remember, dont overgeneralize. Theres great
diversity in all groups!!!)

• Students with Learning Disabilities
• Emphasize strengths.
• Develop ways to compensate for weaknesses so they
  dont inhibit what the student can do.
• Help the student distinguish between and explain
  both strengths and weaknesses, as well as plans
  for both.
• Shoot high and then scaffold the weakness.
• Be clear about what the student should know,
  understand, and be able to do but offer options
  for explanation, expression and assessment.

• Students with Retardation or
• Similar Struggles
• Focus on essential concepts and principles as a
  context for applying IEP skills.
• Use IEP goals in ways that integrate students
  with their peers rather than isolating them.
• Whenever possible, teach for meaning rather than
  rote uild frameworks of meaning.
• Spotlight the students legitimate successes and
  contributions.
• Use small groups for teaching needed skills,
  re-teaching by need.

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(Remember, dont overgeneralize. Theres great
diversity in all groups!!!)

• Advanced Learners
• Emphasize quality of thought and expression vs.
  accuracy.
• Balance student choice and teacher choice tasks
  to allow independence but still ensure encounters
  with rigor.
• Help the student learn to compete against
  him/herself.
• Necessitate and commend intellectual risk and
  perseverance.
• When raising the ceiling, support the climb!
  Teach for success.
• Be flexible. Invite student imput.
• Use small groups to extend thought and skills
  levels.

• Students with Behavior Problems
• Coordinate efforts and strategies with
  specialists.
• Help the student articulate difficult areas and
  learn to look for signs of them.
• Be sure the student has an easy way out of
  tough spots.
• Provide safe spaces to be alone / work alone.
• Acknowledge successes.
• Allow choices when feasible.
• Be flexible about movement.

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(Remember, dont overgeneralize. Theres great
diversity in all groups!!!)

• Second Language Learners
• Link classroom ESL resource work.
• Ensure that the student has useful tasks at all
  times andis accountable for them
  (listening/reading with tapes, writing,
  translating, vocabulary practice).
• Dont let the student sit idle and isolated.
• Use students who can bridge the two languages.
• Plam specific ways each day to involve the
  student in coversation contribution.
• Chart growth vs. only comparison
• Use small groups for teaching next-step skills.

• Culturally Diverse Learners
• Help build peer-support systems.
• Be sure you offer varied working arrangements and
  modes of expression.
• Invest time in the student in ways that
  communicate your berlief in his/her success.
• Help the student develop school skills that may
  be weak.
• Teach from whole to part.
• Be clear about expectations and that students
  both understand and know how to achieve them.
  Dont let work slide.
• Emphasize contextualized learning.

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THINKING ABOUT ON-GOING ASSESSMENT

• STUDENT DATA SOURCES
• Journal entry
• Short answer test
• Open response test
• Home learning
• Notebook
• Oral response
• Portfolio entry
• Exhibition
• Culminating product
• Question writing
• Problem solving

• TEACHER DATA MECHANISMS
• Anecdotal records
• Observation by checklist
• Skills checklist
• Class discussion
• Small group interaction
• Teacher student conference
• Assessment stations
• Exit cards
• Problem posing
• Performance tasks and rubrics

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Learner Profile Card
Gender Stripe
Auditory, Visual, Kinesthetic Modality
Analytical, Creative, Practical Sternberg
Students Interests
Multiple Intelligence Preference Gardner
Array Inventory
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Tomlinson/UVa/2000
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Planning a Focused Curriculum
Means Clarity About
What Students Should

• Facts (Columbus cam to the New World
• Vocabulary (voyage, scurvy)
• Concepts (exploration, change)
• Principles/Generalizations (Change can be both
  positive and negative. Exploration results in
  change. Peoples perspectives affect how they
  respond to change).
• Skills
• Basic (literacy, numeracy)
• Thinking (analysis, evidence of reasoning,
  questioning)
• Of the Discipline (graphing/math/social studies)
• Planning (goal setting use of time)
• Social
• Production

Know
Understand
Be Able to Do
As a Result of a Lesson, Lesson Sequence, Unit,
and year
Exception--linear skills and information which
can be assessed for mastery in the sequence (e.g.
spelling)
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Know
These are the facts, vocabulary, dates, places,
names, and examples you want students to
give you. The know is massively forgettable.
Teaching facts in isolation is like trying to
pump water uphill. Carol Tomlinson
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Understand
Major Concepts and Subconcepts
These are the written statements of truth, the
core to the meaning(s) of the lesson(s) or unit.
These are what connect the parts of a subject to
the students life and to other subjects. It is
through the understanding component of
instruction that we teach our students to truly
grasp the point of the lesson or the
experience. Understandings are purposeful. They
focus on the key ideas that require students to
understand information and make connections while
evaluating the relationships that exit within the
understandings.
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A Student who UNDERSTANDS Something can

• Explain it clearly, giving examples
• Use it
• Compare and contrast it with other concepts
• Relate it to other instances in the subject
  studies, other subjects and personal life
  experiences
• Transfer it to unfamiliar settings
• Discover the concept embedded within a novel
  problem
• Combine it appropriately with other
  understandings
• Pose new problems that exemplify or embody the
  concept
• Create analogies, models, metaphors, symbols, or
  pictures of the concept
• Pose and answer what-if questions that alter
  variables in a problematic situation
• Generate questions and hypotheses that lead to
  new knowledge and further inquiries
• Generalize from specifics to form a concept
• Use the knowledge to appropriately assess his or
  her performance, or that of someone else.
• Adopted from Barell, J. (1995) Teaching for
  thoughtfulness Classroom Strategies

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Able to Do
Skills
These are the basic skills of any discipline.
They include the thinking skills such as
analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing. These
are the skills of planning, the skills of being
an independent learner, the skills of setting and
following criteria, the skills of using the tools
of knowledge such as adding, dividing,
understanding multiple perspectives, following a
timeline, calculating latitude, or following the
scientific method. The skill portion encourages
the students to think like the professionals
who use the knowledge and skill daily as a matter
of how they do business. This is what it means
to be like a doctor, a scientist, a writer or
an artist.
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Ways
to Differentiate Content

• Reading Partners / Reading Buddies
• Read/Summarize
• Read/Question/Answer
• Visual Organizer/Summarizer
• Parallel Reading with Teacher Prompt
• Choral Reading/Antiphonal Reading
• Flip Books
• Split Journals (Double Entry Triple Entry)
• Books on Tape
• Highlights on Tape
• Digests/ Cliff Notes
• Notetaking Organizers
• Varied Texts
• Varied Supplementary Materials
• Highlighted Texts
• Think-Pair-Share/Preview-Midview-Postview
• Tomlinson 00

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TO DIFFERENTIATE PROCESS
WAYS

• Fun Games
• RAFTs
• Cubing, Think Dots
• Choices (Intelligences)
• Centers
• Tiered lessons
• Contracts

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USE OF INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES. The following
findings related to instructional strategies are
supported by the existing research

• Techniques and instructional strategies have
  nearly as much influence on student learning as
  student aptitude.
• Lecturing, a common teaching strategy, is an
  effort to quickly cover the material however, it
  often overloads and over-whelms students with
  data, making it likely that they will confuse the
  facts presented
• Hands-on learning, especially in science, has a
  positive effect on student achievement.
• Teachers who use hands-on learning strategies
  have students who out-perform their peers on the
  National Assessment of Educational progress
  (NAEP) in the areas of science and mathematics.
• Despite the research supporting hands-on
  activity, it is a fairly uncommon instructional
  approach.
• Students have higher achievement rates when the
  focus of instruction is on meaningful
  conceptualization, especially when it emphasizes
  their own knowledge of the world.

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RAFT

• RAFT is an acronym that stands for
• Role of the student. What is the students role
  reporter, observer, eyewitness, object?
• Audience. Who will be addressed by this raft
  the teacher, other students, a parent, people in
  the community, an editor, another object?
• Format. What is the best way to present this
  information in a letter, an article, a report,
  a poem, a monologue, a picture, a song?
• Topic. Who or what is the subject of this
  writing a famous mathematician, a prehistoric
  cave dweller, a reaction to a specific event?

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RAFT Activities
Language Arts Literature
Science
History
Math
Format based on the work of Doug Buehl cited in
Teaching Reading in the Content Areas If Not Me
Then Who? Billmeyer and Martin, 1998
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Developing a Tiered Activity
1
2

• Select the activity organizer
• concept
• generalization

• Think about your students/use assessments
• readiness range
• interests
• learning profile
• talents

Essential to building a framework of understanding
skills reading thinking information
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4
5
6
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The Equalizer

• Foundational Transformational
• Concrete Abstract
• 3. Simple Complex
• 4. Single Facet Multiple Facets
• 5. Small Leap Great Leap
• 6. More Structured More Open
• 7. Less Independence Greater Independence
• 8. Slow Quick

Information, Ideas, Materials, Applications Rep
resentations, Ideas, Applications,
Materials Resources, Research, Issues,
Problems, Skills, Goals Directions, Problems,
Application, Solutions, Approaches, Disciplinary
Connections Application, Insight,
Transfer Solutions, Decisions,
Approaches Planning, Designing,
Monitoring Pace of Study, Pace of Thought
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Designing a Differentiated Learning Contract

• A Learning Contract has the following
• components
• A Skills Component
• Focus is on skills-based tasks
• Assignments are based on pre-assessment of
  students readiness
• Students work at their own level and pace
• A content component
• Focus is on applying, extending, or enriching key
  content (ideas, understandings)
• Requires sense making and production
• Assignment is based on readiness or interest
• A Time Line
• Teacher sets completion date and check-in
  requirements
• Students select order of work (except for
  required meetings and homework)
• 4. The Agreement
• The teacher agrees to let students have freedom
  to plan their time
• Students agree to use the time responsibly
• Guidelines for working are spelled out
• Consequences for ineffective use of freedom are
  delineated
• Signatures of the teacher, student and parent (if
  appropriate) are placed on the agreement

Differentiating Instruction Facilitators Guide,
ASCD, 1997
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Ways
to Differentiate Product

• Choices based on readiness, interest, and
  learning profile
• Clear expectations
• Timelines
• Agreements
• Product Guides
• Rubrics
• Evaluation

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Creating a Powerful Product Assignment

• Identify the essentials of the unit/study
• What students must
• Know (facts)
• Understand (concepts, generalizations)
• Be able to do (skills)
• As a result of the unit/study
• 2. Identify one of more format or packaging
  options for the product
• Required (e.g. poetry, an experiment, graphing,
  charting)
• Hook
• Exploratory
• Talent/passion driven
• Determine expectations for quality in
• Content (information, ideas, concepts, research
  materials)
• Process (planning, goal-setting, defense of
  viewpoint, research, editing)
• Product (size, construction, durability,
  expert-level expectations, part

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Creating a Powerful Product Assignment, contd

• Decide on scaffolding you may need to build in
  order to promote success
• Brainstorming for ideas
• Developing rubrics/criteria for success
• Timelines
• Planning/goal-setting
• Storyboarding
• Critiquing
• Revising-editing
• Develop a product assignment that clearly says to
  the student
• You should show you understand and can do these
  things
• Proceeding through these steps/stages
• In this format
• At this level of quality
• Differentiate or modify versions of the
  assignments based on
• Student readiness
• Student interest
• Students learning profile
• Coach for success!

It is your job, as teacher, to make explicit
That which you thought was implicit
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Possible Products

• Map
• Diagram
• Sculpture
• Discussion
• Demonstration
• Poem
• Profile
• Chart
• Play
• Dance
• Campaign
• Cassette
• Quiz Show
• Banner
• Brochure
• Debate
• Flow Chart
• Puppet Show
• Tour

• Lecture
• Editorial
• Painting
• Costume
• Placement
• Blueprint
• Catalogue
• Dialogue
• Newspaper
• Scrapbook
• Lecture
• Questionnaire
• Flag
• Scrapbook
• Graph
• Debate
• Museum
• Learning Center
• Advertisement

Book List Calendar Coloring Book Game Research
Project TV Show Song Dictionary Film Collection Tr
ial Machine Book Mural Award Recipe Test
Puzzle Model Timeline Toy Article Diary Poster Mag
azine Computer Program Photographs Terrarium Petit
ion Drive Teaching Lesson Prototype Speech Club Ca
rtoon Biography Review Invention
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ASSESSING TEACHER CREATED PRODUCTS
PRESENT 2
MARGINAL 3
STRONG 1
ABSENT 4
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Differentiated Report Cards
On report cards, I need to find a way to show
individual growth and relative standing to
students and parents

• A Excellent Growth
• B Very Good Growth
• C Some Growth
• D Little Growth
• F No Observable
• Growth

• 1 The student is
• Above Grade
• Level
• 2 The student is
• Working At
• Grade Level
• 3 The student is
• Working Below
• Grade Level

Tomlinson, 2001
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Grades
A Excellent Growth B Very Good Growth C
Some Growth D Little Growth F No observable
growth 1 Above grade level 2 At grade
level 3 Below grade level
A Excellent B Very Good C Average D
Poor F Unsatisfactory 1 Above
grade level 2 At grade level 3 Below grade
level
A-1 Excellent performance working above grade
level A-2 Excellent performance working at
grade level A-3 Excellent performance working
below grade level Personal grade Traditional
grade B Personal grade D Traditional
grade C Personal grade A Traditional grade
Grades are supposed to 1. Motivate students
2. Report accurately to parents
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Begin Slowly Just Begin!
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OPTIONS FOR DIFFERENTIATION OF INSTRUCTION
To Differentiate Instruction By Readiness
To Differentiate Instruction By Interest
To Differentiate Instruction by Learning Profile
CA Tomlinson, UVa 97
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Thinking About the Role of Instructional
Strategies in Differentiation
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Thinking About the Role of Instructional
Strategies in Differentiation, contd
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Differentiated Schools

• Schools that promote and support DI include
  classrooms and programs that
• Respond to variations in students readiness
• Respond to the myriad of students interest
• Respect the various students learning profiles
• Regard leadership as a cornerstone good
  instruction

Vera J. Blake, Ed.D. verablake_at_verablake.com Sara
Lampe sntlampe_at_msn.com
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Administrative Roles in Achieving Differentiation

• Introduce all teachers to concept
• Provide opportunities for training
• Establish expectations
• Provide opportunities for training
• Provide opportunities for teachers to demonstrate
  and share
• Provide support resources, time, expect
  teachers assistance
• Encourage risk-taking
• Observe and evaluate (develop tools to do this
  for my sites focus)
• Provide feedback
• Model lessons and team teaching
• Reward progress

Vera J. Blake, Ed.D. verablake_at_verablake.com Sara
Lampe sntlampe_at_msn.com
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Leadership in Differentiation

• To be effective in using differentiation, site
  administrators and central office should be
• Consistent
• Use vocabulary that is clear and commonly
  understood by the principal, the parent, the
  teacher
• Articulate the philosophy Kids differ.
  Professional teachers act robustly to address the
  differences.
• State the expectations all of us must g row in
  responsiveness. That we must change / grow /
  differentiate is non-negotiable the path that we
  each may take is negotiable.
• Incorporate umbrella image these are
  overarching goals, for everyone, and these can
  and do encompass other areas like literacy in
  technology or reading competency.

Vera J. Blake, Ed.D. verablake_at_verablake.com Sara
Lampe sntlampe_at_msn.com
64
Leadership in Differentiation

• Persistent
• State and follow long term goals at all levels
  classroom, school site, district
• State and follow short term goals at all levels
• Set time-lines so that everyone knows these goals
  are not going away
• Connect with all initiatives standards, math
  assessment, technology
• Provide on-going sharing of how
• Provide on-going sharing of results throughout
  the school and district

Vera J. Blake, Ed.D. verablake_at_verablake.com Sara
Lampe sntlampe_at_msn.com
65
Leadership in Differentiation

• Insistent
• Require that differentiation be part of teacher
  plans
• Require that differentiation be part of school
  plans
• Require that differentiation be part of all staff
  development
• Link differentiation to observations, feedback,
  peer review, mentoring, evaluations

Vera J. Blake, Ed.D. verablake_at_verablake.com Sara
Lampe sntlampe_at_msn.com
66
PRINCIPALS SUPPORTING DI

• Capitalize on support from district-level
  administrators, curriculum supervisors or
  specialists, . . .
• Develop supervision techniques that motivate and
  recognize efforts to initiate and/or implement DI
  strategies
• Choose professional development opportunities
  that provide follow-up coaching and allows time
  to practice new skills

Vera J. Blake, Ed.D. verablake_at_verablake.com Sara
Lampe sntlampe_at_msn.com
67
PRINCIPALS SUPPORTING DI

• Build professional learning communities
  job-embedded learning, study groups, action
  research, peer coaching, collaborative planning
  and review of student work
• Effectively use faculty meetings and
  non-instructional time
• Serve as coach provide/receive feedback, know
  role vs. evaluator, coaching practices

Vera J. Blake, Ed.D. verablake_at_verablake.com Sara
Lampe sntlampe_at_msn.com
68
To support differentiation, leaders should

• Establish clarity of definition
• Provide an environment supportive of risk
• Balance seeing the light feeling the heat
• Differentiate for teachers
• Provide guidance in beginning sensible and
  progressing steadily
• Provide materials and time
• Examine impact of current policies and practices
• Communicate with parents
• Begin with those ready to start
• Develop planning and teaching teams which
  routinely include g/t, remedial and special ed.
  Personnel
• Start small, build local leadership
• Re-focus / re-energize local leaders with experts
• Integrate differentiation into curriculum
  development
• Maintain long term commitment to change
• Understand that differentiation is part of range
  of services not a panacea!

Carol Tomlinson
69
How to Assist Teachers in Professional Growth in
Differentiation

• Provide building-level staff development that
  matches teacher / school goals (common
  experience)
• Provide time for on-going dialogue about
  differentiation both site workdays, release
  time, faculty meetings
• Develop common understanding of differentiation
  and related terms
• Observe and support teachers growth with
  specific feedback (peer and admin)
• Tenured teachers set different goals than new
  teachers
• Give personal (yours, a specialists, an expert
  teachers) time and support for modeling,
  mentoring, consulting, collaborating, and
  discussing

Vera J. Blake, Ed.D. verablake_at_verablake.com Sara
Lampe sntlampe_at_msn.com
70
In learning to differentiate, teachers may need
help with . . .

• A rationale for differentiation
• Pre-assessing student readiness
• Effective work with classroom groups
• Flexible grouping
• Resolving issues regarding grading / report cards
• Role of the teacher in a differentiated classroom
• Appropriate use of varied instructional
  strategies
• Using concept-based instruction
• Develop carefully focused tasks and products
• Knowing how to teach struggling learners without
  remedial expectations

Carol Tomlinson
71
LOOK-FORS in the Classroom

• Learning experiences are based on student
  readiness, interest, or learning profile.
• Assessment of student needs is ongoing, and tasks
  are adjusted based on assessment data.
• All students participate in respectful work.
• The teacher is primarily a coordinator of time,
  space, and activities rather than primarily a
  provider of group information.
• Students work in a variety of groups
  configurations. Flexible grouping is evident.
• Time use is flexible in response to student
  needs.
• The teacher uses a variety of instructional
  strategies to help target instruction to student
  needs.
• Clearly established criteria are used to help
  support student success.
• Student strengths are emphasized.

72

Whatever it Takes!