Sharon Walpole
Michael C. McKenna
Zoi A. Philippakos
Goals
 Introduce differentiation for upper-
elementary teachers
 Offer resources to guide decisions
 Relevant research
 Instructional templates
 Relevant assessments
In your school . . .
 How are your 4th- and 5th-grade teams
similar to and different from your K-3
teams?
Assumptions about Curriculum
Vertically-Articulated
Goals and standards at each grade level, in each aspect
of literacy, must be progressively more challenging.
Teachers must have a deep understanding of how their
own grade level extends knowledge, skills, and
strategies from the previous one and how it lays the
groundwork for the challenges of the next one.
Assumptions about Curriculum
Differentiated
Classroom teachers can plan for both grade-level
instruction (heterogeneous by achievement) and
small-group instruction (homogeneous by
achievement) every day.
Instruction for a small number of students with
extensive needs in the areas of word recognition
and fluency may demand intensive interventions
outside of the classroom curriculum.
Assumptions about Curriculum
Collaborative
Grade-level teams can and should work
together to decide exactly how to use the
resources they have:
time, curriculum materials, classroom libraries.
Data on student achievement should influence
teacher collaborations and inform their
reflection on the success of their work.
Assumptions about Children
In the upper elementary,
Authentic children’s literature, read aloud, provides essential
language-building and knowledge-building experiences.
Children can easily read and write to build comprehension and
vocabulary and sentence structures and text structures –
without any worksheets or workbooks.
Peer discussions and collaborations are important avenues for
learning.
For upper-elementary children, it is very simple to differentiate
their reading practice.
Plan Tier I (Grade-level) Instruction
Evaluate the extent to which classroom
instructional materials inform and support
explicit, systematic, challenging instructional
tasks.
FCRR’s Guidelines for Reviewing a Reading Program
provides a succinct summary of research to
inform instruction through grade 6.
The process of reviewing a reading program
provides meaningful professional development
for grade-level teams.
Look at the 4th- and 5th-grade templates
What do you see as similar to the K-3
plan you have at your school?
What is different?
A Stairway to Proficiency
Vocabulary & Comprehension
Fluency and Comprehension
Word Recognition and Fluency
PA and Word Recognition
Make a General Template for Time
 Consider the total time that you have
for reading instruction.
 Divide that time into grade-level and
differentiated time.
 Consider ways that an interactive readaloud can provide avenues for children
to engage in meaningful reading and
writing.
Tier I
45-60
min?
Tier II
45-60
min?
Grade-Level Instruction
Interactive Read-Aloud
Written
Response
WR & F
Reading
Practice
F&C
Reading
Practice
Written
Response
Written
Response
Literature
Circle
V&C
Where’s the teacher?
Tier I
45-60
min?
Tier II
45-60
min?
Grade-Level Instruction
Interactive Read-Aloud
Written
Response
WR & F
Reading
Practice
F&C
Reading
Practice
Written
Response
Written
Response
Literature
Circle
V&C
Make a General Template for
Grade-Level Instruction
 Core programs typically have a story of the
week, with many choices for skill work.
 It is possible to plan instruction that uses
that grade-level story as the anchor, but
simplifies the instructional planning and
routines.
 The trick is to have a “story introduction”
schedule (lasting one or two days) and then
a “rest-of-the-week” schedule.
“Story Intro” Schedule
5 min
Strategy
introduction
Teacher explains a focal comprehension strategy or
text structure.
15 min
Interactive
read-aloud
3 min
Introduce
written
response
Vocabulary
Teacher reads aloud from a piece of authentic literature
and stops when needed to model the use of the
comprehension strategy or text structure.
Teacher provides the students with a higher-order
question or prompt to engage their thinking about the
read-aloud.
Teacher introduces basal vocabulary for the week.
10 min
12 min Choral reading Students and teacher read the selection together. The
of the story
teacher stops when needed to monitor and develop
comprehension. If the story is long, this same procedure
“Rest-of-the-Week” Schedule
2 min
Strategy
Introduction
Teacher reviews a focal comprehension strategy or
text structure.
10 min
Interactive
Read-aloud
10 min
Vocabulary
Review
Teacher reads aloud from a piece of authentic literature
and stops when needed to model the use of the
comprehension strategy or text structure.
Teacher reviews or extends basal vocabulary for the
week
10 min
Choral
Reading
10 min
Partner
Reading
Students and teacher read the selection together. The
teacher stops when needed to monitor and develop
comprehension.
Students reread with a partner and purpose – to improve
their expression and their understanding.
3 min
Introduce
Written
Teacher provides the students with a question that they
are to answer by applying the taught strategy. The
How do you think your 4th- and 5th-grade
teams would respond to this?
Identify Your Students’ Needs
Screen all in fluency
Identify Benchmark
students
Plan to extend comprehension and
vocabulary – no diagnostic
assessment is necessary
Use an informal measure of
multisyllabic decoding to
investigate word recognition
For students with strong word
recognition and weak fluency,
plan to build comprehension
and fluency
For students with weak word
recognition and weak fluency,
plan to build multisyllabic
word recognition and fluency
For students who do not
respond to this instruction,
consider intensive decoding
interventions
This is a lot!
 Pace yourselves! Reviewing the
instructional program, planning Tier I
instruction, and assessing and grouping
for Tier II will take time.
 But get started! A routine for
management of groups and tasks is an
essential prerequisite to differentiation.
Teacher Reflection
 We have been working with teams of
third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade teachers
to plan differentiation for upperelementary students.
 Lilli Fendell, a third-grade teacher,
recently reflected on some of the
successes and challenges she and the
other teachers on her grade-level team
have experienced.
Management of Groups
Read-Aloud Books
Collaboration
To what extent does this case reflect your
current understanding of grade-level
collaboration?