The What, Why, and How
By Pamela Busch
SPED Dept Head, CRMS
Feb. 5, 2010

What is Differentiated Instruction?
• Providing students with different
avenues to acquire content ; to processing, constructing, or making sense of ideas; and to developing teaching materials so that all students within a classroom can learn effectively, regardless of differences in ability.” - Wikipedia
• Considering student’s varying background knowledge and preferences in lesson development.

What is Differentiated Instruction?
• “Even though students may learn in many ways, the essential skills and content they learn can remain steady . Students can take different roads to the same destination .”
– Carol Ann Tomlinson

• Lev Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist, proved that individuals learn best in accordance with their readiness to do so (Allan &
Tomlinson, 2008). This theoretical influence provides a concrete foundation for differentiated instruction. The readiness of the individual should match what a student learns, how they learn it and how the student demonstrates what they learned when using differentiated instruction.

The Philosophy Behind It….
The philosophical idea that interest based options seize on intrinsic motivation, supports the key element of differentiated instruction, student interest . According to Jerome Bruner
(as cited by Allan & Tomlinson, 2000), when interest is tapped, learning is more likely to be rewarding and the student becomes a more autonomous learner .
An American psychologist, Howard Gardner, developed the theory of multiple intelligences. His theory states that people have different intelligences and learn in many different ways .

Differentiated Instruction Looks
Like…
• Learning centers …yes- even in secondary school.
• Whole group, small group, facilitating , workshops , acting, singing, moving, drawing, reading, writing, calculating , etc..….
• Student choices in the types of assignments they do.
• Keeping data on skill mastery and re-teaching those who need it, while challenging those who don’t.
• Different types of delivery, processing, student output, and grading,
• Student’s are receiving feedback on a regular basis
(systematic approaches).
• Cooperative learning.

Differentiated Instruction does not look like….
• Teaching the same way everyday.
• Using the same tools everyday.
• Moving forward and never reteaching.
• Only data kept is a grade book.
• Only feedback students get is the grade on the paper.
• All students are doing the same assignment.

Why do we differentiate instruction?
• Because it’s what’s good for kids!
• Because it’s the law and intent behind RTI .
– RTI came out of SPED law, although a regular education function, for the following reasons:
• The “wait to fail” discrepancy model does not take care of the root of a
SPED diagnosis.
• Students have been segregated for far too long.
• The problem has been placed on the student rather than on effective teaching.

Why do we differentiate instruction?
• Because we are here to ensure ALL students excel.
• Because we are not making AYP .
• To ensure that RTI implementations are truly different than what we have previously been doing.

Why do we differentiate instruction?
• To accommodate the BRAIN !
• Because people’s brains work differently .
– Balances in active, settling, and passive learning.
– TPR.
• And on top of having different brains, some of those brains also have disabilities .
• Let’s check that out….

• Assign each person a role
– Briefer
– Questioner
– Connector
Briefer : Give main ideas of the video.
Questioner : Pose questions based on your reflections or on unclear ideas.
Connector (Presenter) : Summarize the main ideas, reflections, and questions/answers.

• Differentiating is us bending and finding different avenues to reach kids. It’s not expecting kids to have the equal abilities to do what we want them to do the way we want them to do it .

• Three considerations:
Content Process Product
Based on student:
Readiness, Interest, and Learning Profile

• Modifications (vs. accommodations)
• Need to know vs. Nice to know
• IEP Goals and Objectives
• Based on reading levels
• Curriculum/tools

• Curriculum/Tools
• Auditory/Visual/Kinesthetic
• Whole group/small group/ cooperative learning
• Re-teaching/ in the moment assessing / preventing misconceptions
• Questioning
• Re-wording
• Pacing
• Allowing for student processing
• Practice , and level of support through practice
• Participation
• High-Yield Strategies
• Centers

• Quantity
• Time allotment
• Level of difficulty
• Not letting barriers determine mastery.
• Student choice in demonstrating mastery of concept.
• Multi-modal assessing.
• Based on readiness (at level to remember, understand all the way to evaluating and creating).

Work as a group to match the accommodations to the component of D.I.
D.I. happens across
ALL areas (content, process, AND product).
- It is a state-of-mind!
- How do we help teachers make this shift?

• Use data to find baselines
– Curriculum/SKILL assessments
– Short Cycle Assessment
– MAP
– NMSBA
– Track specific skills
– Ensure mastery of those skills
– Continue to practice and embed skills within new skills

Once a year?
Four times a year?
Every week?
Once we define our system requirements, how often should improvements take place?

• If students in SPED are going give us the data/test scores we want, we have to ensure they are:
– Use those IEP’s to guide you!
• PLOP and Goals/Objectives.
• Fill in those HOLES!
– In the reg ed setting as much as possible
– Successful in the regular education setting

CHAPTER TEST
DATA
How do you align the classroom assessment system with the
School’s Quarterly Assessment System?
9-4 9-16 9-18 10-17 10-28

GOAL
80%
How many did we get right on our math test?
#10
DATA on SCA in math. SCA covers
ALL essential learning standards.
Dots represent how many questions students got correct on the test.

SCA DATA
#2. Example of using an item analysis to identify student performance gaps

Differentiated Instruction in Action
Think-Tac-Toes
Create a survey and graph the results.
Research a person and present to the class.
Write a rap/song and perform to class.
Write a letter to the editor.
Create a hypothesis and through research prove/deny.
Design a power point.
Make a comparison/ contrast poster.
Write a skit with two others and act out.
Create a test with correct answers.

Assigning roles to student strength areas
– Main Idea Finder/Concept
Manager
– Detail Person
– Question Asker
– Key Word Finder
– Designer (of charts, graphs)
– Resource gatherer

Q.A.R.-
Questions/Answers/Relationships
• Level 1- In the book questions are “right there.”
• Level 2- In the book questions to “think, search, and find.”
• Level 3- In my head questions, “author and me.”
• Level 4- In my head questions, “on my own.”

• Each side of cube, rolled by students, has a task:
– Describe (knowledge level)
– Explain (comprehension level)
– Develop (application level)
– Classify (analysis level)
– Create a new (synthesis level)
– In your opinion (evaluation level)

• Think alouds.
• Modeling
• Practice, feedback, practice again.
• Homework
• Setting specific objectives and students self- charting success .
• Graphic organizers
• Cues and questions
• Allowing for processing time
• Student PDSA’s

• What new strategies/approaches can you implement in your school (or to support schools) to ensure ALL teachers are trained on
differentiating instruction?
• How does Tier 3 in your school truly differ from Tiers
1 and 2 in the regular education classroom?

How do we be EVEN MORE
EFFECTIVE?
• Build relationships with students.
• Make them feel safe taking risks .
• The more students are engaged and busy , feeling important, the less negative behaviors.
• Set them up to experience successes so that they want more!
• Recognize achievements.
• Have students repeat back directions, concepts, to assist with processing delays.
• Give immediate and corrected feedback to students!

• http://www.uhseport.net/published/k/sh/ks haw/collection/1/
• www.studentprogress.org
• www.k8accesscenter.org
• www.disciplinehelp.com
• How to Differentiate in the Mixed Ability
Classroom . By Carol Ann Tomlinson.
• Making Differentiation a Habit . By Diane
Heacox
• Differentiating Instruction in a Whole Group
Setting . By Betty Hollas.
• Teaching with the Brain in Mind . By Eric
Jensen.