Module 7 – Differentiated
DP Journal Week 7
TASK 1

N = need to know more

E = exciting

S = suggestions

W= worrisome
Affirming that students have different learning needs, strengths, styles, interests
E
and preferences
Maintaining a commitment to learning standards and goals for all students
S
Increasing the variety in teaching, learning, and assessment in order to reach more
W
students and respond to their preferences, styles, interests and strengths
Providing high levels of challenge and active engagement in rigorous, relevant and
W
significant learning
Acknowledging what students already know and can do
E
Recognizing that students do not all need to do the same work in the same way
E
Diagnosing student needs and prescribing tasks that create better matches between
E
students and their learning needs, styles and/or preferences
Nurturing students’ ability to make appropriate choices about their learning needs
N
Designing tiered assignments to better respond to students’ specific learning needs
E
Using flexible instructional grouping to provide opportunities for students to learn
E
with others who have similar needs, styles or preferences
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Affirming the importance and value of all students’ work
S
Creating fair and equitable processes for evaluating students’ learning and
N
assigning grades/marks
 Acknowledging what students already know and can do (E)
Assessing prior knowledge is a way of acknowledging what students already know and can do.
To start my lessons, I get an understanding of what students already know through an engaging
activity. It could be in the form of an image, a short video or a quote. Students respond in
discussions or using a KWL chart to demonstrate their prior knowledge of the topic. Assessing
prior knowledge helps me adapt my teaching plan and allows students to construct a connection
between old and new knowledge.
 Designing tiered assignments to better respond to students’ specific learning needs (E)
Tiering assignments is a fair way to differentiate learning. It allows me to meet the needs of all
students while using varying levels of tasks. I have grouped students under different tiers
(Remedial / Consolidation and Enrichment) in my classroom. I structure my tiered assignments
and activities into challenge level, complexity, outcome, process and product. Example for
challenge level;
Group 1: Students who need content reinforcement or practice will complete one activity that
helps build understanding.
Group 2: Students with a firm understanding will complete another activity that extends what
they already know.
 Increasing the variety in teaching, learning, and assessment in order to reach more
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students and respond to their preferences, styles, interests and strengths (W)
I teach students with different learning needs, so this aspect of teaching and learning worries me
a lot in lesson planning. All students have different learning needs, so it’s valuable for teachers to
use different strategies to appeal to the different strengths of learners. During my lesson
planning, I have to use a variety of visual, audio, and tactile learning activities to meet the needs
of different learners, provide opportunities for group activities, and listen to student feedback to
adapt based on what each student needs. Being prepared to utilize a variety of teaching methods
and strategies will help foster a successful diverse classroom.
Assessment helps to identify the strengths and weaknesses of learners, which teachers use
as feedback to improve their performance. It enables students to demonstrate what they have
learnt through various means, such as written assignments or practical demonstrations.
I find varying my assessments challenging due to the different learning needs of my students and
the class size. Providing a variety of assessment types gives students multiple opportunities to
practice and demonstrate learning.
 Providing high levels of challenge and active engagement in rigorous, relevant and
significant learning (W)
Challenge is the core of the growth mindset; without it, students don’t get the opportunities to
take risks, learn to fail and figure out how to pick themselves up again. It is difficult for me to
balance my level of challenging students during a lesson. Sometimes I provide students with an
activity they cannot do rather than a challenging task. It is vital to understand what constitutes a
challenging task versus a task that is just hard.
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Task 2
Unit 4: Marketing
4.1: Introduction to Marketing
Instructional Objectives
Students will:

identify the 4 Ps of marketing

understand the elements of a marketing mix

explain the importance of a marketing plan

evaluate various marketing strategies

create and design a pizza store offering
A. Assessment Task description
Stage 1

In teams (up to 5 teams) – students design a pizza store offering

They give it a name, logo, tag-line

They outline their value proposition = how they are different

They write this up on a whiteboard or a large sheet/poster
Students work collaboratively in this planning stage for their pizza store for at least 30 minutes in
fine-tuning their marketing mix based on their competitive observations of other groups.
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Stage 2
When designing their stores, students need to plan their pizza store with COSTS in mind. Higher
quality designs (e.g. food, service and facilities) have cost implications – just like in real business
life. Students will use an Excel template to help plan out their cost structure.
Stage 3
Students act as customers with token money at each pizza store (except their own). One student
is the shopkeeper per group, while the others are customers and spend their money at other pizza
stores.
At the end of the trading period – when students have spent most/all their money – each store
conducts an inventory of:

How many pizzas they sold (based on how many pizza tokens they have left versus how
many they had at the start)

How much revenue they took (based upon how many money tokens they have, minus any
change/cash that they may have started with)

Students present their work using charts, graphs, PowerPoint etc. They peer assess each
presentation using a checklist.

I will enter the results into a spreadsheet (five groups X revenue figures and sales figures)
and share the financial results with students.

Students receive feedback on their work and get an opportunity to redesign their store in
the next class based on the feedback
Stage 4 - Assessment for Learning
Students reflect on the activity by answering the following questions in their journals;

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Which elements of the marketing mix were most important?

On what basis did customers choose between the pizza offerings?

How important is it to consider costs when designing your marketing?

If you were to redesign your pizza store, what would you do differently?

Why was the “winning store” the most successful?
B. Describe how you will address these four areas of differentiation within the
unit/assessment task
1. Affirm identity/build self-esteem
Students will design a pizza store for marketing. This activity will target students' preferences,
interests and cultural perspectives in marketing. Students create their pizza store designs using
different marketing mix strategies with a high expectation that their pizza store will win against
that of other students. Having high expectations for the outcome of this activity builds students'
self-esteem.
2. Value Prior Knowledge
Engaging Activity
Students watch a short video clip about the marketing of different brands of the same product to
activate prior marketing knowledge. The purpose is for students to analyze and identify why
people choose one product over another. Students vote for a product using the Mentimeter online
tool. Using the explanation game thinking routine, students reflect on the following questions on
padlet;
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
On what basis did you choose between the product offerings?

How important is it to consider costs when marketing?

Why did more students choose product A than the others?
Students respond to questions while getting familiar with concept terms (analyze, explain,
suggest). Students peer assess each of their work using a peer assessment checklist provided by
the teacher.
3. Scaffold learning
Scaffolding is breaking up the learning into chunks and providing a tool, or structure, with each
piece. I will support students learning throughout the lesson by;
a. Using a graphic organizer
Create the Marketing Mix for a hotel in your area.
Describe the primary Product your hotel offers and the secondary or additional products.
Describe the Place or location for your hotel and why that location was selected. Describe the
price or price range for a night’s stay at your hotel and explain the rationale for that rate. For
Promotion, list all of how your hotel promotes its products and brand. In the middle, describe in
detail the Target Market for your hotel.
b. Differentiated questioning
Assessment for Learning
Students reflect on the activity by answering the following questions in their journals;
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
Which elements of the marketing mix were most important? (AO3)

On what basis did customers choose between the pizza offerings? (A02)

How important is it to consider costs when designing your marketing? (A02)

If you were to redesign your pizza store, what would you do differently? (A03)

Why was the “winning store” the most successful one? (AO2)
c. Encouraging collaborative and group support
Group Activity

In teams (up to 5 teams) – students design a pizza store offering

They give it a name, logo, tag-line

They outline their value proposition = how they are different

They write this up on a whiteboard or a large sheet/poster
Students work collaboratively in this planning stage for their pizza store for at least 30 minutes in
fine-tuning their marketing mix based on their competitive observations of other groups.
4. Extend Learning
In designing a pizza store, students learn by doing, which is a great way to extend learning. The
use of technology is another way of developing and enriching students' learning process during
the lesson. Students share their understanding of the lesson objectives using online tools such as
padlet, Mentimeter and Flipgrid. In addition, I will use a rich and diverse range of teaching
materials such as chart papers, videos, visual aids, flashcards and graphic organizers.
Moreover, providing personalized feedback on students' work helps them to move forward.
Formative feedback that focuses on students' skills helps to identify the areas that need their
attention. For example, if you were to redesign your pizza store, what would you do differently?
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