Hinge questions
To explore and discuss ways to differentiate curriculum access for different students via the tasks you produce and extension opportunities you provide

Differentiation by ‘Task’ and Extension
 Bronze
 Silver
 Gold int
Objectives:
 All of you will experience ways of differentiating how students access the curriculum in your subject via the tasks you create
 All of you will be aware of how ‘literacy’ fits into the tasks you create day to day
 Most of you will be able to discuss and share ways in which differentiation by task will fit into your school subject
 Some of you will have already used similar strategies and be able to share ideas

 Extra help with tasks such as additional prompts, writing frames, weblinks
 ‘ask a teacher’ chatrooms/ blogs can support pupils. Indeed, differentiation is one of the key strengths of having a VLE such as our
‘RealSmart’
Differentiation is the matching of work to the differing capabilities of individuals or groups of pupils in order to extend their learning.
Ofsted

“Differentiating instruction means creating multiple paths so that students of different abilities, interest or learning needs experience equally appropriate ways to;
 absorb
 use
 develop
 and present concepts as a part of the daily learning process.
It allows students to take greater responsibility and ownership for their own learning, and provides opportunities for peer teaching and cooperative learning .”
Priscilla Theroux (differentiating)

 DfES publications spout about doing it and how it is
SO beneficial, but little advice on what it is or how!
 The categories of differentiation usually mentioned in
DfES publications are differentiation:
By task setting different tasks for pupils of different ability;
By outcome setting open-ended tasks, allowing pupil response at different levels,
By support giving more help (perhaps via an
LSA/TA) to certain pupils within the group.

A differentiated classroom offers a variety of learning options designed to tap into different ready and willingness levels, interests, and learning preferences. In a differentiated class the teacher uses;
1.
a variety of ways for students to explore curriculum content
2.
a variety of sense-making activities or processes through which students can come to understand and
“own” information and ideas, and
3.
a variety of options through which the students can demonstrate or exhibit what they have learned
4.
And it must be STUDENT -CENTRED

‘ All teachers should demonstrate an understanding of and take responsibility for promoting high standards of literacy and the correct use of standard English, whatever the teacher’s specialist subject’
‘the definition of literacy should be taken to include the ability to speak and listen effectively alongside the skills of reading and writing .’

Write a reading objective at the end of this training session for the activities that you have completed

Objectives:
ALL OF YOU will be able to name at least 3 ancient Olympic
Games
MOST OF YOU be able to give me 3 facts on the history of the
Olympic Games
SOME OF YOU will be able to name games first used in the
Olympics as well as 5 facts on the History of the Olympic Games
Differentiated Cascading group task/
Also can be done as a Co-constructors task

Differentiation:
As a homework task
As an AFL tool
As a co-construction tool
As a Kagan Structure

Task 1
• For this task students need to be guided towards reading around the missing word in order to deduce the correct answer. Look for key words, repeated words, words that sound similar – Olympia/Olympics

2. Make up 8 to 10 questions based on the text, awarding marks for each question*
3. Summarise the text in your own words in writing in approx. 50-100 words
*Can you think of further differentiation opportunities within this activity

Now that the text is complete it should be read through for meaning.
Things to consider:-
• Are you going to read the text to the whole class?
• Is a student going to be selected to read the text aloud?
• Could one person in the group read the text aloud?
• Could students take turns reading a paragraph of the text then the person listening could repeat the key points?

When looking for key pieces of information in a text such as this one skimming and scanning is a useful skill to reinforce to students. Students need to be taught to look for key words in order to find the correct information.
This should be reinforced for any research carried out.

You read quickly through the sentences getting a gist of the understanding of the text.

Your eyes dart around a text searching for a specific word/phrase/number.

3.
4.
1.
2.
5.
6.
4. Fill in the grid using the data from the article on the History of the Olympics: (AT LEAST 5)
Symbol Date/ where?
Important/ relevant details

 Gifted and talented pupils can be stretched with extension tasks or more demanding research tasks.
 They can access materials provided for more advanced or older pupils
 They should have access to internet materials/
Teacher Blog Spots/ Wikispaces
 Options of how to approach the task in hand.

Homework/ Extension:
 Plan a play/ piece of drama that you can film with your partner that portrays your understanding of the history of the Olympic Games to be presented to the rest of the class
 Use the following websites to accumulate further information/ pictures/ images/ videos that relate to the History of the Ancient Olympic Games: http://www.olympic.org/ancient-olympic-games http://history1900s.about.com/od/fadsfashion/a/olympicshistory.htm
http://www.nostos.com/olympics/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/ancient_greeks/the_olympic_games/ http://www.london2012.com/games/olympic-torch-relay/history/
 Visit my wikispaces/ teacher blog for further information and video-links on the
History of The Olympic Games
 Create a Powerpoint presentation, a mindmap, a Stixy board, an Rmap or Rcast that presents all the information you need to know about the history of the
Olympic Games

 Gifted and talented pupils can be stretched with presenting information in ‘cascading’ the different information they have learnt from their group tasks
 They can act as peer assessor and play the role of the teacher in ‘cascading’ relevant information