Introduction to Differentiated Teaching

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Introduction to Differentiated Teaching

• Maria M. Carreira, Ph.D.
• NHLRC, Co-Director
• Professor, California State University, Long Beach

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• Which reading is better suited to your teaching
  situation? Why?
• But are all your learners alike?

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My experience in the astronomy program
Motivation
Me
High
Low
The class
Me
Ability/Preparation
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My experience in the German class
Motivation
Me
High
Low
The class
Me
Ability/Preparation
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Dealing with these scenarios

• Ignore difference and work within the
  one-size-fits-all instructional paradigm (most
  common approach)
• Attend to differences and work within a
  learner-centered - differentiated - instructional
  paradigm

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Differentiated Teaching (DT)

• In differentiated classrooms, teachers begin
  where students
• are, not the front of a curriculum guide. They
  accept and build
• upon the premise that learners differ in
  important waysIn
• differentiated classrooms, teachers provide
  specific ways for
• each individual to learn as deeply as possible
  and as quickly
• and possible, without assuming one students
  roadmap for
• learning is identical to anyone else (Tomlinson,
  20002).

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The learner-centered classroom
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What can you differentiate?

• Content
• Process (how you gain mastery of the material)
• Product (how you demonstrate mastery of the
  material)
• Pacing
• According to students
• Readiness, strengths/weaknesses
• Interests, affective needs, goals
• Learning profile

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• Its too much work!
• What am I, a psychic? How I am supposed to know
  about the needs of my students?
• If everyone is doing something different, how do
  I keep track of students work and progress?
• So now I have to discard everything Ive been
  doing for years and start something new?

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Quick answers

• Its too much work! When done right,
  differentiation actually decreases the amount of
  work done by the instructor.
• What am I, psychic? How I am supposed to know
  about the needs of my students?
• If everyone is doing something different, how do
  I keep track of students work and progress?
• So now I have to discard everything Ive been
  doing for years and start something new?

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Quick answers

• Its too much work!
• What am I, psychic? How I am supposed to know
  about the needs of my students? Use ongoing
  assessment (formative assessment).
• If everyone is doing something different, how do
  I keep track of students work and progress?
• So now I have to discard everything Ive been
  doing for years and start something new?

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Quick answers

• Its too much work!
• What am I, psychic? How I am supposed to know
  about the needs of my students?
• If everyone is doing something different, how do
  I keep track of students work and progress? Hold
  the students accountable for keeping track of
  their own learning.
• So now I have to discard everything Ive been
  doing for years and start something new?

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Quick answers

• Its too much work!
• What am I, psychic? How I am supposed to know
  about the needs of my students?
• If everyone is doing something different, how do
  I keep track of students work and progress?
• So now I have to discard everything Ive been
  doing for years and start something new? No, many
  of the strategies of DT are familiar to teachers
  and are part of the best practices of language
  teaching.

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Activities
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Key to dealing with concerns
Teaching the routine Knowing what to
differentiate Knowing when to differentiate
Knowing how to differentiate
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Key to dealing with concerns
Teaching the routine Knowing what to
differentiate Knowing when to differentiate
Knowing how to differentiate
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Dealing with concerns

• Think of travelers at an airport
• Insist on shared responsibility and preparedness
• Pre-teach the routine
• Discuss potential problems (use scenarios)

• Teaching the routine
• Knowing what to differentiate
• Knowing when to differentiate
• Knowing how to differentiate

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Dealing with concerns

• Dont differentiate all the time only when
  needed
• What happens if you differentiate all the time?

• Teaching the routine
• Knowing what to differentiate
• Knowing when to differentiate
• Knowing how to differentiate

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Dealing with concerns

• Master a small number of
• instructional tools
• Templates
• Centers
• Agendas
• Flexible grouping

• Teaching the routine
• Knowing what to differentiate
• Knowing when to differentiate
• Knowing how to differentiate

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The tools of differentiation

• Templates
• The dialectal journal,
• The text-to-X connection,
• The Sum it up card,
• The exit card
• Centers
• Agendas
• Flexible grouping

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The Dialectal Journal (Dodge 2006 67)

• In this column, record In this
  column
• a passage write a reaction
• a main idea discuss its significance
• an important event make an inference

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Text-to-self connections(Harvey and Goudvis
2000266)
Passage from the text
This reminds me of
Passage from the text
I agree or disagree because
Expression from the text
I find this interesting because
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Text-to-world connections(Harvey and Goudvis
2000267)
Passage from the text
This reminds me of
Character from the text
This character reminds me of
A theme of the text
This reminds me of
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Text-to-text connections(Harvey and Goudvis
2000267)
Passage from the text
This reminds me of
Character from the text
This character reminds me of
Vocabulary/grammatical forms from the texts
This reminds me of
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• How do the Dialectal Journal and the Text-to-x
  connection fit into a differentiated framework?

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What can you differentiate?

• Content
• Process (how you gain mastery of the material)
• Product (how you demonstrate mastery of the
  material)
• Pacing
• According to students
• Readiness, strengths/weaknesses
• Interests, affective needs, goals
• Learning profile

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The tools of differentiation

• Templates
• The dialectal journal,
• The text-to-X connection,
• The Sum it up card,
• The Exit card
• Centers
• Agendas
• Flexible grouping

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Sum it up! (Dodge 2006)
Topic/question/sentence Date
What I already knew. What I could already do.
What I learned. What I can do now.
What I still need to figure out. What I would like to be able to do.
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The exit card (Dodge 2006)
Describe an aha! moment
Formulate a question about a point that remains unclear. Describe one or two strategies that you will use to answer this question.
Compare and contrast ____________
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• How do exit cards and sum it up cards fit into a
  differentiated framework?

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Templates/activities to review the material

• The exit card
• Sum-it-up!

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Other uses

• For assigning an attendance/participation grade
• For formative assessment

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Assessment

• Diagnostic (pre-instruction)
• Formative (during instruction)
• Summative (post instruction)

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Assessment

• Diagnostic (pre-instruction)
• Formative (during instruction)
• Summative (post instruction)

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Formative assessment
Formative assessment Summative assessment
Purpose To improve instruction and provide feedback to students To measure student competency
When administered Ongoing, throughout unit End of unit or course
How students use results To self-monitor understanding, Identity gaps in understanding and strengths To monitor grades and progress toward benchmarks
How teachers use results To check for understanding, modify their own teaching to enhance learning For grades, promotion
How programs use results To modify the curriculum and program To report to external entities
Adapted from Checking for Understanding.
Formative Assessment Techniques for Your
Classroom by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey, ASCD,
2007
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Why do we need formative assessment?

• For instructors Provides the knowledge base for
  good teaching, differentiation, curriculum
  design, and school and program reform
• For students Fosters learning by encouraging
  metacognition and independence, offering multiple
  representations of knowledge, previewing
  summative assessment, lowering the stakes of
  testing. Allows students to see where they are
  relative to where they need to be.

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How to do formative assessment

• Almost any pedagogical activity can function as
  formative
• assessment
• Templates
• The aha moment, exit card
• The visual check
• The group quiz/test

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Formative assessment help learners reach the
endpoint
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Back to the tools of differentiation

• Templates
• The dialectal journal,
• The text-to-X connection,
• The Sum it up card,
• The exit card
• Centers
• Agendas
• Flexible grouping

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Tools

• Templates
• Centers A place where students find resources
  that help them master the material. Centers vary
  the process, increase access, and support
  independent learning.
• Agendas
• Flexible grouping

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What else can you put in a center?
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How I use centers Online exercises

• Virtual spaces (Blackboard)
• Computer graded
• Can be repeated for a better grade
• Is done outside of class, independently by
  students
• Is self-paced
• Previews, reviews and expands upon material from
  other modules (homework, quizzes, tests)
• (the workbook can also be a source of center
  activities)

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Today

• Templates
• Centers
• Agendas A list of activities students must
  complete in a given time. Agendas, vary the pace
  and product and support self-directed learning
  and effective classroom management.
• Group work
• Contracts

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Sample agenda from my class

• Date due (usually in 1-2 weeks)
• Work to be completed
• Workbook 7, 8, 9, 10 (HOMEWORK)
• Textbook, read xxxxx and answer questions
• 1-7. Use a spell check. (HOMEWORK)
• Prepare a Sum it up card for this unit.
  (HOMEWORK)
• Blackboard, 1, 2. Must be completed with a
• grade of 90 or better. (ONLINE EXERCISES,
  CENTER)

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• How do agendas cards fit into a differentiated
  framework?

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Basic tools

• Templates Vary instruction according students
  interests and affective needs. Hold students
  accountable for their own learning
• Centers Vary the process. Increase access.
  Support independent learning.
• Agendas A list of activities students must
  complete in a given time. Vary the pace and
  product. Support self-directed learning and
  effective classroom management.

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Flexible groupings
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Types of groups

• Learning partners (1/1)
• Small groups (3-5)
• Half-class/half-class

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Learning partners (1/)

• For accuracy checks
• For reading aloud
• For peer editing
• For peer teaching

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Types of groups

• Learning partners (1/1)
• Small groups (3-5)
• Half-class/half-class

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Use agendas to break up the class into two groups

• Group 1 works with the instructor
• Group 2 works on their agenda (a list of
  activities students must complete in a given
  time. Vary the pace and product. Support
  self-directed learning and effective classroom
  management)

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Types of groups

• Learning partners (1/1)
• Small groups (3-5)
• Half-class/half-class

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Grouping strategies
By ability By interest By learning style By
student choice By chance/proximity
Flexible
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Grouping strategies
By ability By interest By learning style By
student choice By chance/proximity
Flexible
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Forming small groupsThe Jigsaw Sequence (Dodge,
2006118)

• Home base group

1 2
3 4
1 2
3 4
1 2
3 4
1 2
3 4
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Activities for a jigsaw sequence

• Post reading activities
• Answer comprehension questions
• Reduce the text
• Expand the text
• Summarize the information
• Represent the information
• Answer inference and opinion questions
• Re-write the text

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Summary Differentiation
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A final word on workload

• Dont go cold turkey. Aim to introduce a
  differentiated activity every week or two. Build
  up a bank of activities over time
• Work with colleagues to design differentiated
  activities
• Take advantage of templates
• Dont try to differentiate every aspect of
  instruction. Use differentiation only when
  needed
• Press on. This will be difficult at first but the
  results are well worth it.