At the conclusion of this today
you will be able to demonstrate
knowledge of:
• Why differentiated instruction is important
• A basic understanding of the key
components of a differentiated classroom
• The rationale for using flexible grouping
• Strategies to try out in your classroom !!!
Brainstorming Activity
1. What is differentiated
instruction?
2. What are the key principles
of differentiated instruction?
Differentiated Instruction defined…
Differentiated instruction is a philosophy that
enables teachers to plan strategically in order
to reach the needs of the diverse learners in
classrooms today. Differentiation is not just a
set of instructional tools but a philosophy that
a teacher and a professional learning
community embrace to reach the unique
needs of every learner.
-Gregory,2003, p. 27,
Differentiated Instructional Strategies in Practice
Differentiated Instruction defined…
Differentiation can be defined as a way of
teaching in which teachers proactively
modify curriculum, teaching methods,
resources, learning activities, and student
products to address the needs of individual
students and/or small groups of students to
maximize the learning opportunity for each
student in the classroom.
-Tomlinson et al., (In press)
Differentiated Instruction…
Provides different avenues to acquiring
content, to processing or making sense
of ideas, and to developing products so
that each student can learn.
Tomlinson, 2001
Differentiated Instruction is…
“Shaking up” what goes on in the
classroom so that students have
multiple options for taking in
information, making sense of ideas, and
expressing what they learn.
Tomlinson, 2001
Key Principles of a
Differentiated Classroom
• Teachers make the difference
• Students differ in learning preferences and need multiple
and varied avenues to learning
• All students can learn what is important for them to learn
• Instruction must be meaningful
• Curriculum, instruction, and assessment are inseparable
• Diversity should be valued and respected
• Differentiating and adapting is critical to the success of
all learners
• Flexibility is the hallmark of a differentiated classroom
Key Principles of a
Differentiated Classroom
• Differentiating instruction and adapting curriculum
must become the rule rather than the exception
• Goals are maximum growth and continued success
• Collaborative planning is essential
• Students and teachers are collaborators in learning
• Curricular adaptation is neither prescriptive
nor precise
• Adaptations should maximize student participation in
typical curriculum and instruction
• Adaptations should maximize student involvement
with school peer groups
• The teacher understands, appreciates, and builds
upon student differences.
What is the rationale behind DI?
Often viewed as in conflict with many
people’s purpose of education. A
paradox exists…
One one hand
Education should focus on teaching
standards and all students master basic
competencies
On the other hand:
Education should focus on maximize
student capabilities and focuses on the
global definition of democracy.
“Seeing the Water”
However, the dominant
paradigm of education
today is standards
based. This paradigm is
historically constructed
and firmly entrenched in
our schools’ cultures.
(i.e., schools have a
common set of
assumptions, rules,
beliefs)
“Struggle for Authenticity”
• The big challenge is for teachers to become
comfortable and confident in their abilities to
differentiate instruction during our current era
of high stakes accountability.
• Simultaneously, educators must find a way to
be true to themselves while being honest and
practical to their students and at least
somewhat agreeable to the powers that be.
(Grimmet-Neufeld, 1994)
Teacher Roles in a
Differentiated Classroom
• In a differentiated classroom, the teacher
proactively plans and carries out varied
approaches to content, process, and
product in anticipation of and response to
students’ differences in readiness, interest,
and learning needs.
- Tomlinson, 2001, p. 7
Teacher Roles in a
Differentiated Classroom
• Teachers must move away from the notion that
they dispense information and knowledge and
move towards seeing themselves as organizers
of learning opportunities.
• While content knowledge is essential, teachers in
differentiated classrooms focus less on “knowing
the correct answers” and more on understanding
their students abilities, learning style, and needs.
• These teachers create ways to learn that both
capture students’ attention and lead to learning.
Differentiated Instruction
is a teacher’s response to learners’ needs
guided by general principles of differentiation
such as:
respectful tasks
clear learning goals
ongoing assessment
and adjustment
flexible grouping
positive learning environment
Teachers can differentiate:
Content
Process
Product
Based on students’
Readiness
Interests
Learning Profile
Flexible Grouping
Students are part of many different groups
(and also work alone) based on the match
of the task to student readiness, interest,
or learning style. Teachers may create
skills – based or interest – based groups
that are heterogeneous or homogeneous
in readiness level. Sometimes students
select work groups, and sometimes
teachers select them. Sometimes student
group assignments are purposeful and
sometimes random.
Flexible Grouping
 Initially use whole group
for instruction
 Divide group for practice
or enrichment
 Not a permanent
arrangement
 Use for hour, day, week,
etc.
Planning for Grouping
•
•
•
•
How does flexible grouping benefit students?
When does grouping facilitate instruction?
How do you determine group membership?
Which activities lend themselves to group
work?
How does flexible grouping benefit students?
• Gives students and
teachers a voice in
work arrangements.
• Allows students to work
with a variety of peers.
• Keeps students from
being “pegged” as
advanced or struggling.
Group Membership
Can be determined by:
• Readiness
• Interest
• Reading Level
• Skill Level
• Background Knowledge
• Social Skills
How to determine group membership?
Form Teams
• Remember
– SKILL LEVEL USING FORMATIVE DATA
• (H, HM, LM, L)
–
–
–
–
GENDER
ETHNICITY
ESOL/ESE
DISCIPLINE ISSUES
Activities to Use in Groups
Cooperative Learning Structures
• Structures are tools you can use in your classroom to
build community, engage students, and make
learning fun
• Some example structures are incorporated using:
–
–
–
–
–
Timed Pair Share
Rally Robin
Round Robin
Roundtable
Shoulder and face partners
TAPS
•
•
•
•
Total Group
Alone
Partner
Small Group
Effective instruction embeds each of these
grouping methods into lessons to assist
with student learning.
Differentiated Instruction
is a teacher’s response to learners’ needs
guided by general principles of differentiation
such as:
respectful tasks
clear learning goals
ongoing assessment
and adjustment
flexible grouping
positive learning environment
Teachers can differentiate:
Content
Process
Product
Based on students’
Readiness
Interests
Learning Profile
According to students’
Readiness Refers to readiness for a given skill,
concept, or way of thinking.
Interests and Attitudes Have to do with those things that learners find
relevant, fascinating, or worthy of their time.
Learning Profile & Need Refer to things such as learning style, intelligence
preferences, how the student processes
information, and how the learner sees himself in
relation to the rest of the world.
Readiness
A task that’s a good match for student readiness
extends that student’s knowledge, understanding, and
skills beyond what the student can do independently…it
pushes the student beyond their comfort zone and
provides support in bridging the gap between the known
and unknown.
Encourage your students to “work up” - that is, be ready
to match students to tasks that will stretch them.
Examples include - varied texts, varied scaffolding,
supplemental materials.
Interests and Attitudes
Planning engaging lessons that “hook” students
on the topic at hand by:
1.
2.
3.
Helping students realize a match between school
and their desires
Using skills or ideas familiar to students to bridge
ideas and skills less familiar to them
Enhancing student motivation to learn
Examples include - interest centers or groups,
exploratory studies (jigsaw, literature circles,
webquests, etc.) using different modes of
expression (oral, written, design/build, artistic, etc.)
Learning Profile
Learning profile refers to ways in which we learn best
as individuals. Be a student of your students and also
help your students understand their own learning
preferences.
Categories include - learning style preferences,
intelligences preferences, culture influenced
preferences, gender based preferences.
Examples include - varying teacher presentation
(auditory, visual, kinesthetic, whole-to-part, part-towhole), multiple modes of assessment
Laugh and Graph
Awesome
Quite Nice
I Get By
Not So Hot
Dismal
Learn best
with quiet.
I need to eat
while I learn.
I like to act.
I learn best
by reading.
Drawing
pictures and
diagrams
help me to
learn.
Once I hear
the information, I
know it.
Putting
together
models and
projects
helps me to
learn.
Laugh and Graph
Awesome
Quite
Nice
I Get By
Not So
Hot
Dismal
Learn best
with quiet.
I need to
eat while I
learn.
I like to act.
I learn best
by reading.
Drawing
pictures
and
diagrams
help me to
learn.
Once I
hear the
information, I
know it.
Putting
together
models and
projects
helps me to
learn.
Differentiated Instruction
is a teacher’s response to learners’ needs
guided by general principles of differentiation
such as:
respectful tasks
clear learning goals
ongoing assessment
and adjustment
flexible grouping
positive learning environment
Teachers can differentiate:
Content
Process
Product
Based on students’
Readiness
Interests
Learning Profile
Ways to Differentiate:
Content:
What is taught
Process:
How it is taught
Product:
How learning is assessed
to Differentiate Content
• Reading Partners / Reading Buddies
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Read/Summarize
Read/Question/Answer
Visual Organizer/Summarizer
Parallel Reading with Teacher Prompt
Choral Reading/Antiphonal Reading
Flip Books
Split Journals (Double Entry – Triple Entry)
Books on Tape
Highlights on Tape
Digests/ “Cliff Notes”
Notetaking Organizers
Varied Texts
Varied Supplementary Materials
Highlighted Texts
Think-Pair-Share/Preview-Midview-Postview
Tomlinson – ‘00
TO DIFFERENTIATE
PROCESS
• Fun & Games
• RAFTs
• Cubing, Think Dots
• Choices (Intelligences)
• Centers
• Tiered lessons
• Contracts
RAFT
RAFT is an acronym that stands for
Role of the student.
What is the student’s role: reporter, observer,
eyewitness, object?
Audience.
Who will be addressed by this raft: the teacher, other
students, a parent, people in the community, an editor, another object?
Format.
What is the best way to present this information: in a letter, an
article, a report, a poem, a monologue, a picture, a song?
Topic.
Who or what is the subject of this writing: a famous
mathematician, a prehistoric cave dweller, a reaction to a specific
event?
RAFT Activities
Role
Audience
Format
Topic
Semicolon
Middle Schoolers
Diary entry
I Wish You Really
Understood Where I Belong
N.Y.Times
public
Op Ed piece
How our Language Defines
Who We Are
Huck Finn
Tom Sawyer
Note hidden in a tree
knot
A Few Things You Should
Know
Rain Drop
Future Droplets
Advice Column
The Beauty of Cycles
Lung
Owner
Owner’s Guide
To Maximize Product Life
Rain Forest
John Q. Citizen
Paste Up “Ransom” Note
Before It’s Too Late
Reporter
Public
Obituary
Hitler is Dead
Martin Luther
King
TV audience of 2010
Speech
The Dream Revisited
Thomas
Jefferson
Current Residents of
Virginia
Full page Newspaper Ad
If I Could Talk to You Now
Fractions
Whole Numbers
Petition
To Be Considered A Part of
the Family
A word problem
Students in your class
Set of Directions
How to Get to Know Me
Format based on the work of Doug Buehl cited in Teaching Reading in the Content Areas: If Not Me Then Who?
Billmeyer and Martin, 1998
to Differentiate Product
• Choices based on readiness, interest, and
learning profile
• Clear expectations
• Timelines
• Agreements
• Product Guides
• Rubrics
• Evaluation
Map
Diagram
Sculpture
Discussion
Demonstration
Poem
Chart
Dance
Campaign
Cassette
Quiz Show
Banner
Brochure
Debate
Flow Chart
Puppet Show
Tour
Lecture
Editorial
Painting
Costume
Blueprint
Catalogue
Dialogue
Newspaper
Scrapbook
Questionnaire
Flag
Scrapbook
Graph
Debate
Museum
Learning Center
Advertisement
Book List
Calendar
Coloring Book
Game
Research Project
TV Show
Song
Dictionary
Film
Collection
Trial
Machine
Mural
Award
Recipe
Test
Puzzle
Model
Timeline
Article
Diary
Poster
Magazine
Photographs
Terrarium
Petition
Drive
Prototype
Speech
Cartoon
Biography
Review
Invention
for
Interest – Readiness – Learning Profile
by
Self – Peers - Teachers
THINKING ABOUT
ON-GOING ASSESSMENT
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
STUDENT DATA
SOURCES
Journal entry
Short answer test
Open response test
Home learning
Notebook
Oral response
Portfolio entry
Exhibition
Culminating product
Question writing
Problem solving
TEACHER DATA
MECHANISMS
1. Anecdotal records
2. Observation by checklist
3. Skills checklist
4. Class discussion
5. Small group interaction
6. Teacher – student
conference
7. Assessment stations
8. Exit cards
9. Problem posing
10. Performance tasks and
rubrics
Assessment Idea
Exit Cards
Exit Cards (AKA “Tickets Out The Door”) are used to
gather information on student readiness levels, interests,
and/or learning profiles.
The teacher hands out index cards to students at the
end of an instructional sequence or class period. The
teacher asks the students to respond to a predetermined prompt on their index cards and then turn
them in as they leave the classroom or transition to
another subject.
The teacher reviews the student responses and
separates the cards into instructional groups based on
preset criteria.
Timed Pair Share
• Work with a single partner who is sitting next to you
• The person with the most recent birthday will begin
and will be “Person A”
• Person A will share for one minute while Person B
listens respectfully. Person B cannot talk, but can ask
a single question if he/she needs clarification.
• At the signal, reverse roles. Person B will speak for
one minute while Person A listens respectfully.
• Topic is: “Share your learning preferences from your
laugh graph.”
Gambits
• Person A, turn to Person B, and say,
“Thanks for participating.”
• Person B, turn to Person A and say,
“Thanks for participating.”
Nine Types of Adaptations
Input
Output
Size
Time
Difficulty
Level of
Support
Degree of
Participation
Modified Goals
Substitute
Curriculum
Input
• Strategies used to facilitate student learning.
–
–
–
–
–
Using highlighted text (Human Highlighter)
Using graphic and advance organizers/guided notes
Providing audiotapes of textbooks
Using amplification
Eye Cue/Lend me an Ear
National Training
Laboratories
Bethel, Maine
Output
• The ways learners demonstrate
understanding and knowledge.
– Alternative ways to demonstrate mastery (Oral
or dictated responses, pictures, role plays,
semantic maps or webs, response cards, KWL,
Venn diagrams, etc.)
– Using highlighted tape
– Unless testing reading comprehension, consider
reading test items to students or allowing them
to read aloud
Output Example:
Response Cards vs. Traditional Hand Raising
Time Used
Response
Cards
Hand Raising
30 minutes
22 responses
per child
1.5 responses
per child
180 days
3700
270 responses
responses per
per child
child
Additionally, ALL students scored higher on the quiz and the
end of the unit test.
Hewett, Gardner III, Cavanaugh, Courson, Grassi, and Barbetta,
Teaching Exceptional Children, 1996.
A B
C D
Response Cards
True False
Cause Effect
+
x
-
Size
• The length of an assignment,
demonstration or performance
learners are expected to complete.
– Flexible Folder
– Reduce the length of a report, number
of math problems, spelling words, etc…
Time
• The flexible time needed for student
learning
– Timeline for assignment completion
(NAT)
– More time for tests
– Human Billboard
– Do-Due Board
Difficulty
• The varied skill levels, conceptual levels and processes
involved in learning.
– Tier the assignment so the outcome is the same but
with varying degrees of concreteness and complexity
(Think-Tack-Toe)
– Use alternative worksheets that require minimal writing
– Sequence steps in a task
– Break testing into smaller sections over more days
Think-Tack-Toe
Complete a
character analysis
for the main
character from the
story
Complete a
character report
card from the book
Name and draw a
person who is like
one of the
characters from the
story
Build a miniature
stage setting from
the book
Draw a picture
describing at least
3 settings from the
story
Make up a limerick
or poem about the
setting of the book
Use a sequence
Write a new
chart or timeline to beginning or ending
describe at least 7
to the story
events from the
book
Make a board
game about the
story’s key events
Level of Support
• The amount of assistance to the learner.
– Consider calculators / spell check /
times tables charts… think about what
you are REALLY assessing
– Use of manipulatives, visual aids, peer
supports, etc. (Book it)
– Reading books provided at a lower level.
Degree of Participation
• The extent to which the learner is
actively involved in tasks.
Examples:
– Alternative goal within an activity:
participating in a small group rather than
completing the same task as others
Modified Goals
• The adapted outcome expectations
within the content of a general
education curriculum.
Examples:
– Student focuses more on writing letters
and words rather than composing
sentences and paragraphs.
– Partial completion of SSS/Benchmarks.
Substitute Curriculum
The significantly differentiated instruction
and materials to meet a learner’s identified
goals.
– Magnet programs and schools
– Gifted and Talented Programs
– Life Skills Programs for students with
multiple and severe disabilities (ESE
SSS Standards and Benchmarks)
What Research Tells Us
 Focus on the essentials
 Use explicit strategies
 Provide temporary support
 Make linkages obvious and explicit
 Prime background knowledge
 Review for fluency and
generalization
Pages 9 – 18 Accommodations
However, in learning to differentiate,
teachers may need help with . . .
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
A rationale for differentiation
Pre-assessing student readiness
Effective work with classroom groups
Flexible grouping
Resolving issues regarding grading / report cards
Role of the teacher in a differentiated classroom
Appropriate use of varied instructional strategies
Using concept-based instruction
Develop carefully focused tasks and products
Knowing how to teach struggling learners without
“remedial expectations”
Carol Tomlinson
In sum…
Differentiation suggests it is feasible to
develop classrooms where realities of student
variance can be addressed along with
curricular realities…It challenges us to draw
our best knowledge about teaching and
learning. It suggests there is room for both
equity and excellence…it is complex. It calls
on us to question, change, reflect, and
change some more.
Tomlinson, 2001, pg. vi
But it is important to remember that any
method of differentiating instruction must use
the FSU principle
Or they will not be successful for
teachers or students!
Even with that said we still realize
and know that…
the Gators RULE!!!