Differentiated Instruction

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Differentiated Instruction

• The Basic Steps Towards
• Differentiating

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Super Sleuth

• Directions Walk around the room and find
  someone to respond to the questions on your Super
  Sleuth paper. After a verbal answer the person
  will initial the square.
• Rules
• A person can only answer and initial one square.
• The goals are to activate prior knowledge and to
  meet new people with new ideas.

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Super Sleuth
What is your definition of differentiated instruction? Give an example of when you have used DI? What is something you would like to learn about DI?
When do you use small group instruction? Differentiation means as many lesson plans as you have students. Agree? How do you discover how your students learn?
What is one way you can form groups in your classroom? What are some quick on-going assessments in your class? Are DI and assessment related?
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Lets Define Differentiated Instruction

• Differentiating instruction is doing whats
  fair for students. It means creating multiple
  paths so that students of different abilities,
  interests, or learning needs experience equally
  appropriate ways to learn.

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The Rationale for Differentiated Instruction

• Different levels
• of readiness
• 
  Different Interests

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The Rationale for Differentiated Instruction

• Different Ability Levels
• 
  Different Cognitive Needs
  
  

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Teachers can differentiate according to .

• The content
• The process
• The product

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Differentiating Content

• Resource materials at varying readability levels
• Audio and video recordings
• Highlighted vocabulary
• Charts and models
• Interest centers
• Varied manipulatives and resources
• Peer and adult mentors

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Differentiating Process (making sense and
meaning of content)

• Use leveled or tiered activities
• Interest centers
• Hands-on materials
• Vary pacing according to readiness
• Allow for working alone, in partners, triads, and
  small groups
• Allow choice in strategies for processing and for
  expressing results of processing

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Differentiating Products(showing what is know
and able to be done)

• Tiered product choices
• Model, use and encourage student use of
  technology within products and presentations
• Provide product choices that range in choices
  from all multiple intelligences, options for
  gender, culture, and race
• Use related arts teachers to help with student
  products

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Strategies to Make Differentiation Work

• Tiered Instruction
• Changing the level of complexity or
  required readiness of a task or unit of study in
  order to meet the developmental needs of the
  students involved.

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Tiering
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What Can Be Tiered?

• Processes, content and products
• Assignments
• Homework
• Learning stations

• Assessments
• Writing prompts
• Anchor activities
• Materials

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What Can We Adjust?

• Level of complexity
• Amount of structure
• Pacing
• Materials
• Concrete to abstract
• Options based on student interests
• Options based on learning styles

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Tiering Instruction

• Identify the standards, concepts, or
  generalizations you want the students to learn.
• Decide if students have the background necessary
  to be successful with the lesson.
• Assess the students readiness, interests, and
  learning profiles.

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Tiering Instructions

1. Create an activity or project that is clearly
   focused on the standard, concept or
   generalization of the lesson.
2. Adjust the activity to provide different levels
   or tiers of difficulty that will lead all
   students to an understanding.
3. Develop an assessment component for the lesson.
   Remember, it is on-going!

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Strategies to Make Differentiation Work

• Anchoring Activities
• These are activities that a student may do
  at any time when they have completed their
  present assignment or when the teacher is busy
  with other students. They may relate to specific
  needs or enrichment opportunities, including
  problems to solve or journals to write. They
  could also be part of a long term project.

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Strategies to Make Differentiation Work

• Flexible Grouping
• This allows students to be appropriately
  challenged and avoids labeling a students
  readiness as a static state. It is important to
  permit movement between groups because interest
  changes as we move from one subject to another

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Ebb and Flow of Experiences(Tomlinson)
Back and forth over time or course of unit
Individual Small Group Whole Group
Small Group Individual
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Flexible Grouping

• Homogenous/Ability
• -Clusters students of similar abilities,
  level, learning style, or interest.
• -Usually based on some type of pre-assessment
• Heterogeneous Groups
• -Different abilities, levels or interest
• - Good for promoting creative thinking.

• Individualized or
• Independent Study
• -Self paced learning
• -Teaches time management and responsibility
• -Good for remediation or extensions
• Whole Class
• -Efficient way to present new content
• -Use for initial instruction

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Strategies to Make Differentiation Work

• Compacting Curriculum
• Compacting the curriculum means assessing a
  students knowledge and skills, and providing
  alternative activities for the student who has
  already mastered curriculum content. This can be
  achieved by pre-testing basic concepts or using
  performance assessment methods. Students
  demonstrating they do not require instruction
  move on to tiered problem solving activities
  while others receive instruction.

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What Differentiation Is

• Student Centered
• Best practices
• Different approaches
• 3 or 4 different activities

• Multiple approaches to content, process, and
  product
• A way of thinking and planning
• Flexible grouping

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What Differentiation Isnt

• One Thing
• A Program
• The Goal
• Hard questions for some and easy for others

• 35 different plans for one classroom
• A chaotic classroom
• Just homogenous grouping

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In Summary..

• What is fair isnt always equal
• and
• Differentiation gets us away from
  one size fits all approach to curriculum and
  instruction that doesnt fit anyone

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Bibliography

• Campbell, Bruce. The Multiple Intelligences
  Handbook Lesson Plans and More. Stanwood, WA.
  1996.
• Daniels, Harvey and Bizar. (2005). Teaching The
  Best Practice Way
• Methods that Matter, K-12. Portland, Maine
  Stenhouse Publishers.
• Gregory, Gayle. Differentiated Instructional
  Strategies in Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA.
  2003.
• Tomlinson, Carol Ann. The Differentiated
  Classroom. Alexandria, VA ASCD. 1995.
• Wormeli, Rick. Fair Isnt Always Equal
  Assessment and Grading in the Differentiated
  Classroom, Stenhouse Publishers, 2006.