Differentiated Instruction

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Differentiated Instruction

• Meeting the Instructional Needs
• Of Diverse Classrooms

presented by Dr. Abraham H. Jones NEA Resource
Cadre Member
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Note of Appreciation to

• Deborah E Burns, Curriculum Coordinator, Cheshire
  Connecticut Public Schools
• Kathleen Whitmire, Director, School Services in
  Speech-Language Pathology, American Speech and
  Hearing Association
• for their collaboration in development of this
  presentation.

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Essential Questions

• What is Differentiated Instruction?
• What strategies can you use?
• What Teaching Methods can you use?

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Your KWLish wish list

• What do you
• Already know about differentiation?
• Want to learn about differentiation?
• At the end of this session
• Reflect on what you have learned

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Have you ever

• given a pretest?
• tutored a child?
• taught students in a small group?
• analyzed similarities and differences in
  students work samples/tests?
• given students different materials to read based
  on ability and/or interest?

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Youve been doing
many of these things intuitively.
Differentiation is about doing them
intentionally.
Sharon R. Schultz NEA IDEA Cadre (IN)
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Differentiated Instruction

• a process that enhances student learning by
  matching students characteristics and
  differences with changes in various instructional
  components

Definition Rationale
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New idea or not?

• Tutors
• One Room Schoolhouses
• Grade Levels
• Accelerated Classes
• Individualization
• Title One
• Special Education
• Gifted Education
• ESL Education

Differentiated Classroom
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• When once the child has learned
  that four and two are six, a thousand repetitions
  will give him no new information, and it is a
  waste of time to keep him employed in that
  manner.

J.M. Greenwood Principles of Education
Practically Applied, 1888
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Why the Current Interest?

• Standards movement
• IDEA 04
• ESEA/NCLB
• Achievement gaps
• Rulings and adjudications

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Students and learning gaps

• Special education
• English language learners
• Culturally diverse
• Low income
• Gifted and talented

• Disengaged
• Male or female
• Career and technical education
• American students

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The Roots of Student Differences
Student
FAMILY
Differences
Nature
Nurture
COMMUNITY
GENETICS
SCHOOL
SOCIAL and EMOTIONAL
ACADEMIC
COGNITIVE
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One Line of Thinking
If differences in both nature and nurture cause
many students to have different levels of
academic learning, social and emotional
development, and cognitive abilities, and these
differences impact student achievement, and
NEA IDEA Special Education Resource
Cadre
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if school is the variable we can change most
readily,
NEA IDEA Special Education Resource
Cadre
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and lesson plans and teaching are part of our job,
NEA IDEA Special Education Resource
Cadre
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then its likely that differentiating our lessons
and units will provide the appropriate level of
challenge to allow all learners to enhance their
achievement.
NEA IDEA Special Education Resource
Cadre
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We need to use our achievement data and students
learning profiles to make careful decisions
about the subject areas and the
students that need differentiation.



HISTORY
WRITING
SCIENCE
MATHEMATICS
READING
NEA IDEA Special Education Resource
Cadre
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Powerful differences exist among students

• Prior knowledge or skill expertise
• Learning rate
• Cognitive ability
• Language
• Learning style/communication preferences
• Motivation, attitude, effort/talent
• Gender
• Ethnicity

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S of Differentiation

• Academic achievement
• Achievement of ELL students
• Challenge level for achieving students
• Support for struggling learners
• Interest in and excitement about learning
• Student confidence in own learning ability

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Lessons from Goldilocks

• Too much challenge / too little challenge
• Challenging and meaningful curriculum
• Not always every student
  doing same thing

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CORE CURRICULUM
Pacing
Learning
Teaching
Products
Objective
Extension
Resources
Grouping
Assessment
Introduction
NEA IDEA Special Education Resource
Cadre
Curriculum Framework
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A sampling of strategies

• Pre-assessment
• Flexible small group teaching
• Tiered content and resources

3 Areas for Differentiation
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Pre-assessment

• Uncover what students already know
• Helps make decisions
• Which students need differentiation
• What challenge levels are needed
• What components to differentiate

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Sample Pre-assessment Techniques

• K-W-N Charts
• Journals
• Parent Letters
• Lists, Surveys
• Performances
• Conferences
• Concept Maps

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Modified K-W-L K-W-N
K
W
N
What the student ALREADY KNOWS
What the student WANTS TO KNOW
What the student NEEDS TO KNOW
Prior experiences, knowledge, skills, and
attitudes
A self-rating of their current understanding
about the unit objectives
Their interests, questions, and ideas for
exploration or investigation
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Concept Map
Word Bank sun hot gas space heat night constellati
on day
day
see in
is in
is a
space
sun
star
has
see at
heat
makes a
makes
night
constellation
hot gas
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Pre-assessment data

• Think like a researcher
• Sort data
• Identify learning difference
• Address through differentiated teaching/learning
  activities.

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Sorting data

• Prior knowledge
• Concept
• Skill
• Application

• Area of interest
• History
• Geography
• Elements of culture

• Preferred learning style
• Small group
• Alone with visuals
• With adult support

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Flexible small groups

• Usually occur within a class
• Vary in size (2-8 students)
• Vary in duration of time together
• Allow for differentiating
• Learning objective
• Teaching methods
• Materials
• Student strategies for access

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Use flexible small groups to

• Enhance achievement
• Honor student differences
• Foster self-regulatory behaviors
• Permit ongoing assessment
• Alleviate problems associated with ability
  grouping

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Scheduling

• Whole class practice sessions
• Designated time of the week
• During dual coverage opportunities
• During volunteer time
• In a subject area of highest priority

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3-group/4-activities paradigm

• Three groups of students
• Four activities
• Instructional activities
  
• Learning activities
• Anchoring activities
• Optional activities

3 Group Paradigm
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Potential anchoring and optional activities

• Journals
• Student reflections
• Writers workshop
• Vocabulary work
• Independent reading
• Computer software
• Practice activities
• Listening/video center

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Ensure

• Membership changes when learning objective has
  been met
• Content and learning objective are differentiated
• Scaffolding varies across groups
• Students are working at an
  appropriate level of challenge

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Tiering instruction

• Learning goals
• Teaching activities
• Learning activities
• Resources
• Products

• Requires
• Pre-assessment
• Small group teaching
• Anchoring activities

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Tie shoelaces

• Tier One make a knot
• Tier Two make a bow
• Tier Three make a double knot/bow

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The student will use the scientific process to
answer everyday questions.

• Everyone knows What an experiment is how to
  ask a question
• Some know How to pose a hypothesis
• Few know How to control variables
• No one knows Difference between independent and
  dependent variables

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Differentiating Teaching Methods

• Think-Aloud
• Modeling
• Strategy Training
• Questioning
• Coaching
• Feedback Provider

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Additional strategies

• Learner profiles
• Contracts
• Graphic organizers
• Rubrics
• Questioning strategies
• Writers workshop
• Guided reading

• Software
• Web quests
• Tutoring
• Leveled books and classes
• Sheltered English immersion
• Inquiry based learning activities

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Designing a tiered lesson plan

• Tier a component of the lesson
• Learning goal
• Resources to access content
• Teaching strategy
• Learning activity
• Product to demonstrate learning
• Design for
• Novice learners
• Typical learners
• Advanced learners

Designing a 3-tiered lesson plan
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DebriefingReflecting KWL
Revisited

• What was most interesting to you?
• What new ideas do you have?
• What questions do you still have?
• What do you want to do next?
• How and where may/do you get support?

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Things Take Time

• One subject area at a time
• One unit at a time
• One lesson at a time
• One student at a time
• One strategy at a time

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Essential Questions

• What is Differentiated Instruction?
• What strategies can you use?
• What Teaching Methods can you use?

Resources
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Online Resources
The Access Center www.k8accesscenter.org
Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development www.ascd.org
Internet4Classrooms http//www.internet4classroom
s.com/di.htm
Staff Development for Educators http//differentia
tedinstruction.com/