Welcome to Differentiating Instruction

An Overview

Here’s ToThe Kids Who Are Different!

Lillie Stone

Director of Special Education Instruction

Linda Blankenhorn

Coordinator, SETRC

present

“Here’s ToThe Kids Who Are Different!”

“Stop asking me if we’re almost there!We’re nomads, for crying out loud!”

What kinds of thingsdo you do to

maximizestudent learning?

Do you...• practice ongoing assessment?• use assessment data to form flexible groups?• use assessment data to develop respectful

activities for all students?• provide options for student learning?• provide feedback that helps students set

learning goals?• use assessment data to determine student

readiness, interests, and learning profile?• reflect on your own teaching practices?

The absurdity of one-size fits all education is that….

It doesn’t work!!

We Know That…. Students of the same age,

in the same grade

differ in their readiness to learn,

their interests, their styles of learning

and their life circumstances.

The differences in students make a major impact on what students need to learn, the pace at which they need to learn it and the support they need from teachers and others to learn it.

Students learn best when they are challenged slightly beyond where they can work without assistance.

Zone of Proximal Development –

Vygotsky

Students learn best when they can make a connection between their interests and life experiences.

Concept Based Instruction – Erikson

Teaching for Understanding by Design – Wiggins & McTighe

Students learn best when learning opportunities are natural, meaningful, and context-laden.

Concept-Based Instruction

Lynn Erikson

Students learn best when classrooms and schools create a sense of community in which students feel significant and respected.

Students learn best when classrooms and schools create a sense of community in which students feel significant and respected.

The most important job schools

have is to maximize the

capacity of each student.

Cooking an Indian Meal

Why Differentiate?• “One size fits all”

instruction does not address the needs of many students.

• Kids come in different shapes and sizes as well as interests, learning profiles, and readiness levels.

Providing A “Rack of Learning Options”

• We need to do more than “tailor the same suit of clothes.”

• Differentiation requires thoughtful planning and proactive approaches.

Average Retention Rates

Lecture

Practice by doing

Reading

Audio-visual

Discussion

Teacher

demonstration

• Based on the work of William Glasser• Adapted from research by the National Training Laboratories, Methel, ME

5%

10%

20%

30%

50%

75%

90%

When a teacher tries to teach something to the entire class at the same time, chances are one-third of the kids already know it; one-third will get it; and the remaining third won’t. So two-thirds of the children are wasting their time.

Lillian Katz

Differentiated Instruction

• Is Not. . .

A new idea or an instructional strategy

Is . . .A way of thinking about and organizing teaching and learning.

Differentiated Instruction

• Is Not. . . Individualized

instruction

• Is … All students are

exposed to key concepts, but at differing levels of complexity and depth.

Differentiated Instruction

• Is Not . . .Tests at the end of the chapter to see “who got it”.

Teacher as primary provider of information.

• Is . . .On-going assessment and adjustment of instruction.

Teacher guiding the exploration of a subject; teacher as coordinator of time, space and materials.

Differentiated Instruction

• Is Not…Fragmented teaching of

unrelated skills.

One size fits all instruction.

• Is . . . Learning organized

around key concepts, themes, common elements.

Multiple approaches to content, process and product designed to encourage maximal growth in all students

Differentiated Instruction

• Is Not. . . Giving some students

“watered” down tasks and others more of the same work to do.

A way to track students or make homogeneous groups.

• Is. . . All students engaged in

challenging and respectful tasks.

Flexible grouping including working alone, in pairs, student-selected groups, whole class, cooperative groups.

Differentiated Instruction

• Is Not. . . Every student

completing the same work at the same time in the same way.

• Is. . . Designing learning

experiences based on student readiness, interest and learning profile.

“In differentiated classrooms, teachers begin wherestudents are, not the front of a curriculum guide.”

Teachers in differentiatedclassrooms are studentsof their students.

Carol Tomlinson

Differentiation of Instructionis a teacher’s response to learners’ needs

guided by general principles of differentiationsuch as:

respectful tasks flexible grouping ongoing assessmentand adjustment

teachers can differentiate

Content Process Product

according to students’

Readiness Interests Learning Profile

through a range of instructional and management strategiessuch as:

Strategies That Support Differentiation

Maxi-Strategies Mini-Strategies

• Assessment & Diagnosis• Flexible Grouping• Tiered Activities• Anchor Activities• Differentiated Learning Centers• Curriculum Compacting• Learning Contracts• Adjusting Questions• Independent Study

• Reading & Study Buddies• Student or Adult Mentors• Exit Cards• Task Cards• Student Expert Desks• Three Before Me• The Dr. Is In• Mini-Lessons• Multiple Texts• Interest Surveys

“Creating a differentiated classroom is not a yes/no proposition but rather a

continuum along which teachers move as they develop skills of

responsive teaching.”

Carol Ann Tomlinson

• Assessment & Diagnosis

• Flexible Grouping

• Tiered Activities

• Anchor Activities

• Differentiated Centers

• Curriculum Compacting

• Learning Contracts

• Adjusting Questions

• Independent Study

Not Differentiated Fully DifferentiatedReactiveFixedClosed

ProactiveFluidOpen

“One size fits all.”

Key Principles of a Differentiated Classroom

• The teacher is clear about what matters in the content area.

• The teacher understands, appreciates, and builds upon student differences.

• Assessment & instruction are inseparable.

• All students participate in respectful work.

• Students and teachers are collaborators in learning.

Key Principles of a Differentiated Classroom

• The teacher adjusts content, process, & product in response to student readiness, interests, and learning profile.

• Goals are maximum growth and continued success.

• Flexibility is the hallmark of a differentiated classroom.

For more information:

• Gardner, H. (1991). The unschooled mind. How children think and how school should teach. New York:Basic Books.

• Gardner, H (1993). Multiple intelligences: The theory in practice. New York:Basic Books.

• Tomlinson,C. (1995). Deciding to differentiate instruction in the middle school: One school’s journey. Gifted Child Quarterly, 39,77-87.

• Tomlinson, C. (1995). How to differentiate instruction in mixed ability classrooms. Alexandria, VA:ASCD.

• Tomlinson, C. (1996). Differentiating Instruction for mixed-ability classrooms. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

• Tomlinson, C. (1997). Differentiating Instruction: Facilitator’s guide. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

• Tomlinson, C. (1999). The differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners. Alexandria, VA:ASCD

Late Bloomers

• Beethoven: music teacher noted that, “as a composer, he is hopeless”.

• Issac Newton: elementary work described as “rather poor”.

• Albert Einstein: couldn’t speak until age 4; couldn’t read until age 7

• Thomas Edison: 4th grade teacher said that he was unable to learn.

Late Bloomers

• F.W. Woolworth: employer refused to allow him to help customers, because he “didn’t have enough sense”.

• Louisa May Alcott: told by an editor that her writing would never appeal to the public.

Here’s To the Kids Who Are Different….

Here’s to the kids who are differentThe kids who don’t always get A’sThe kids who have earsNot at all like their peers,Or make noise to go on for days.

Here’s to the kids who are different,The kids who are just out of step,The kids they all teaseWho have cuts on their knees,And whose sneakers are constantly wet.

Here’s to the kids who are different,The kids with a mischievious streakFor when they are grownAs history has shown,It’s their difference that makes them unique.

Author Unknown

In Closing….

Students will learn in spite of what we do.

Students will learn because of what we do.

Make every child a cause.