Understanding the World of Academically

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Understanding the World of Academically
Intellectually Gifted

• Watson School of Education
• AIG Mini-Conference
• Angela Housand, Ph.D.
• housanda_at_uncw.edu

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A Practical Guide to Differentiation
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How do you differentiate?
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They Are All So Different

• Children come to us in a variety of shapes,
  sizes, intellectual abilities, creative
  abilities, inter/intra personal skills, and a
  myriad more characteristics that makes each child
  we deal with unique and special. Carol Ann
  Tomlinson

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Diversity in students can include

• Ability (aptitude) differences
• Achievement differences
• Academic background differenceslower achievement
  can be due to poor preparation and limited
  exposure
• Cultural differencessecond language acquisition,
  interaction style differences
• Differences in affect (enthusiasm level and
  personality) and effort (effort vs. ability
  issues)
• Differences in styles of learning style (visual,
  auditory, concrete, abstract, hands-on, written)
• Differences in interests
• Differences in preferences for products and
  processes
• Differences in self-regulation and study skills
• Sally Reis

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The success of education depends on adapting
teaching to individual differences among learners.

• Yuezheng,
• in 4th century B. C. Chinese treatise, Xue Ji

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• Why Arent Some Students Challenged?

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Classroom Practices Study

• Teachers reported that they never had any
  training in meeting the needs of gifted students.
• 61 public school teachers
• 54 private school teachers

Archambault, F. X., Jr., Westberg, K. L., Brown,
S. W., Hallmark, B. W., Emmons, C. L., Zhang,
W. (1993). Regular classroom practices with
gifted students Results of a national survey of
classroom teachers (Research Monograph 93102).
Storrs, CT The National Research Center on the
Gifted and Talented, University of Connecticut.
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Classroom Practices Observational Study

• Students experienced no instructional or
  curricular differentiation in 84 of the
  activities in which they participated
• Reading Language Arts
• Mathematics Social Studies
• Science

Westberg, K. L., Archambault, F. X., Jr., Dobyns,
S. M., Salvin, T. J. (1993). An observational
study of instructional and curricular practices
used with gifted and talented students in regular
classroom (Research Monograph 93104). Storrs,
CT The National Research Center on the Gifted
and Talented, University of Connecticut.
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Types of Differentiation in Which Target Gifted
Students Were Involved
No Differentiation Advanced Content Advanced
Process Advanced Product Indep. Study w/
Assigned Topic Indep. Study w/ Self-selected
Topic Other Differentiation
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The Five Dimensions of Differentiation
Content (Knowledge)
Process (Pedagogy)
Yourself
Classroom Organization and Management
Products (Expression Styles)
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What is differentiated instruction?

• Its teaching with student variance in mind.
• Its starting where the kids are rather than with
  a standardized approach to teaching that assumes
  all kids of a given age or grade are essentially
  alike.
• Its responsive teaching rather than one-size
  fits-all teaching.

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Ways to Differentiate Content

• Varied Texts
• Accelerated Coverage of Material
• Varied Supplementary Materials
• Independent Projects
• Tiered Lessons
• Interest Development Centers
• Compacting

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• Approximately 40-50 of traditional classroom
  material could be eliminated for targeted
  students.

Reis, S. M., Westberg, K.L., Kulikowich, J.,
Caillard, F., Hébert, T., Plucker, J., Purcell,
J.H., Rogers, J.B., Smist, J.M. (1993). Why
not let high ability students start school in
January? The curriculum compacting study
(Research Monograph 93106). Storrs, CT The
National Research Center on the Gifted and
Talented, University of Connecticut.
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Compacting

• Assesses what a student knows and what content is
  not yet mastered
• Content not yet mastered becomes part of learning
  goals
• Previously mastered content is not required
  thereby freeing up time for enriched,
  accelerated, or interest driven activities

Renzulli Reis (1997) Tomlinson (1995)
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• When teachers eliminated as much as 50 of the
  curriculum, no differences were found between
  treatment and control groups in most content
  areas. In fact, students whose curriculum was
  compacted scored higher than control group
  students in some areas.

Reis, S. M., Westberg, K.L., Kulikowich, J.,
Caillard, F., Hébert, T., Plucker, J., Purcell,
J.H., Rogers, J.B., Smist, J.M. (1993). Why
not let high ability students start school in
January? The curriculum compacting study
(Research Monograph 93106). Storrs, CT The
National Research Center on the Gifted and
Talented, University of Connecticut.
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What is Curriculum Compacting?

• Modifying or streamlining the regular curriculum
• Eliminating the repetition of previously mastered
  material
• Upgrading the challenge level of the regular
  curriculum

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Family Circus
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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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Student Behaviors Suggesting that Compacting May
Be Necessary
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• Finishes tasks quickly
• Completes homework in class
• Appears bored during instruction time
• Brings in outside reading material
• Creates puzzles, games, or diversions in class

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• Tests scores consistently excellent
• Asks questions that indicate advanced familiarity
  with material
• Sought after by others for assistance
• Daydreams

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For Students, Compacting

• Eliminates boredom resulting from unnecessary
  drill and practice.
• Provides challenge leading to continuous growth.

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How to Compact
Step One Identify the objectives in a given
unit and pre-test students to ascertain mastery
level.
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How to Compact
Step Two Eliminate or Streamline instruction for
students who demonstrate mastery.
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How to Compact
Step Three Keep records of the process and
instructional options available to compacted
students.
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Inconceivable
Should every student have an Individualized
Education Plan?
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Ways to Differentiate Content

• Varied Texts
• Accelerated Coverage of Material
• Varied Supplementary Materials
• Independent Projects
• Tiered Lessons
• Interest Development Centers
• Compacting

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Tiered Lessons

• Varied level of activities
• Designed to ensure that students explore ideas at
  a level that builds on prior knowledge
• Prompts continued growth

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Why use tiered instruction?

• Maximizes the likelihood that
• Each student comes away with key skills and
  understandings.
• Each student is appropriately challenged.
• Each student avoids work that is
  anxiety-producing (too hard) or boredom-producing
  (too easy)

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Developing Tiered Instruction

• Think about the students who will be using the
  activity
• Readiness
• Interests
• Learning Profile
• Create one activity that is interesting, requires
  high-level thinking and is clearly focused on the
  key concept, skill or generalization.

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Developing the Tiers

• Create an activity or use a successful activity
  from the past
• The activity should
• Be interesting
• Engender high level thinking and problem solving
• Cause students to utilize target skills to
  understand key ideas or concepts

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Developing the Tiers

• Chart the complexity of the activity
• Is it high skill complexity or low skill
  complexity?
• Who will be challenged by this activity
• Advanced students?
• On grade-level students?
• Struggling learners?

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Developing the Tiers

• Based on where the activity falls on the ladder,
  you can define who needs more or less challenging
  versions of the same assignment
• Clone the activity along the ladder
• How many versions will you need?

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All Tiers Should

• build understanding
• challenge students
• be interesting and engaging
• be respectful

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Group sizes may vary

• The number of groups per tier will vary
• The number of students per group will vary
• For Example
• Tier One Two groups of three
• Tier Two Five groups of four
• Tier Three One group of two

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What can be tiered?

• Experiments
• Materials
• Assessments
• Writing
• Prompts

• Assignments
• Activities
• Homework
• Learning Centers

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Sample Tiered Math Game

• Use two dice.
• One person at a time, roll the dice.
• Add or multiply totals.
• The goal is to reach but not exceed 36.

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First cast of the dice
3
1 2
3
2
1 x 2
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Second cast of the dice
3 12 15
3 4
7
12
3 x 4
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Third cast of the dice
15 6 21
5 1
6
5 x 1
5
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Fourth cast of the dice
21 18 39
21 9 30
3 6
9
3 x 6
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Modifications for Advanced Students

• Play to 100
• Disallow paper for calculations or remembering
  numbers
• Use powers
• Use subtraction
• Allow negative numbers
• What about fractions?

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Tiered LessonUsing Powers Option
81
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3 x 3 x 3 x 3 81
4 x 4 x 4 64
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Tiered LessonExploring Options
2 6 8
2 - 6 -4
6 - 2 4
2 x 6 12
26 64
62 36
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What about

• Using a multi-sided die

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• Or two?

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We could really shake things up

• Try three dice and use the distributive law!

12 (3 x 18) 12 54 66
(12 18) x 3 30 x 3 90
Did you get closer to 100?
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A Quick Differentiation QUIZ
Did every student do it? NO
Should every student do it? NO
Could every student do it? NO
Would every student want to do it? NO
Did the student do it willingly and zestfully? YES
Did the student use authentic resources and methodology? YES
Was it done for an audience other than (or in addition to) the teacher? YES
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Avoid the Management Nightmare
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The Learning Environment

• The physical classroom
• (3 basic settings)
• Whole class meeting
• Independent stations
• Teacher-directed small group work

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The Learning Environment

• The working environment
• Provide opportunities for self-directed
  exploration of materials
• Establish guidelines for cooperative groups
• Make groups inclusive
• Ask students to reflect on their performance
• Intervene when necessary
• Establish a classroom conducive to student
  risk-taking

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Learning Contracts

• An agreement between teacher and student
• An opportunity for a student to work somewhat
  independently
• Increases student responsibility for their own
  learning
• Provides some freedom for the student in
  acquiring skills and understandings

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Learning Contracts Include

• A skills component
• A content component
• A time line
• Specification of expectations
• Behavior
• Criteria for successful completion and quality
• Signatures of agreement to terms (Student and
  Teacher)
• ACSD (1997)
• Tomlinson (1995)

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Consequences

• Learning contracts set positive consequences
• Example continued freedom
• They also set negative consequences
• Example teacher sets work parameters

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Flexible Grouping

• Employs several organizational patterns for
  instruction
• Students are grouped and regrouped according to
• Specific goals
• Activities
• Individual needs
• Interests
• Desired outcomes (products)
• http//www.eduplace.com/science/profdev/articles/v
  alentino.html

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Grouping Options

• Teacher-Led Groups
• Whole class
• Small group
• Individual
• Student-Led Groups
• Collaborative
• Performance-based
• Dyad (Pairs)
• http//www.eduplace.com/science/profdev/articles/v
  alentino.html

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More Grouping Options

• Within Class Grouping
• Ability
• Interest
• Question-Based
• Readiness
• Learning Style
• Beyond Class Grouping
• Across-Class
• Multi-Age
• Team Regrouping
• Renzulli Reis (1997)
• Tomlinson (1995)

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Ways to Differentiate Content in Groups

• Varied Texts
• Varied Supplementary Materials
• Varied Graphic Organizers
• Independent Study
• Tiered Questions/Assignments
• Interest Development Centers

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Anchor Activities

• Self-paced, purposeful, content-driven activities
  that students can work on independently
• Can be done over the course of a unit, grading
  period, or longer
• Activities that are meaningful, ongoing, and
  appropriate to students learning needs
• http//wblrd.sk.ca/bestpractice/anchor/

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The Question of Equity

• Equity, the quality of being fair, is not
  about offering the exact same thing to every
  student, it is providing individuals with
  suitable challenges and experiences that will
  enable them to be successful and grow beyond
  where they are now or where they have been before.

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Questions?
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References and Resources

• Association for Supervision and Curriculum
  Development (Producer). (1997). Differentiating
  instruction Instructional and Management
  Strategies Motion picture. (Available from the
  Association for Supervision and Curriculum
  Development, 1250 N. Pitt Street, Alexandria, VA,
  22314-1453)
• Fogarty, E. (2005). Differentiation as the key
  to successful grouping. Presented at Confratute,
  University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut.
• Renzulli, J. S. Reis, S. M. (1997). The
  schoolwide enrichment model. Connecticut
  Creative Learning Press.
• Strictland, C. A. (2005). Differentiation of
  Instruction. Presented at Newark, Delaware
  Public Schools.
• Tomlinson, C. A. (1995). The differentiated
  classroom. Virginia Association for Supervision
  and Curriculum Development.
• http//wblrd.sk.ca/bestpractice/anchor/
• http//www.eduplace.com/science/profdev/articles/
  valentino.html