DIFFERENT ROADS TO THE
SAME DESTINATION
Differentiated Instruction at the Secondary Level
Kandy Smith, School Consultant
Tennessee State Improvement Grant
This PowerPoint is available at:
Tennessee State Improvement Grant Website:
http://sig.cls.utk.edu/
Under General Products (for now)
Differentiated Lesson Plan Template
Under 4th-8th Grade Products
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
Offering students a variety of ways to explore
curriculum content
 Providing options
 Providing re-teaching, second chances
 Large group/ small group combination

DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
Does NOT mean expecting different learning
outcomes from different students – we’re expecting
them all to learn the curriculum standards and
more
 Does NOT mean abandoning traditional
assessments

EXPLORATION OF LEARNING DIFFERENCES

Lev Vygotsky
Zone of Proximal
Development

Maria Montessori
Individualized Instruction

Robert Sternberg
Learning Profile Approach

Howard Gardner
Theory of Multiple
Intelligences
VYGOTSKY: ZPD
MONTESSORI: INDIVIDUALIZED INSTRUCTION
Lifelong love
of reading
Community
service
Is competition
necessary?
Teaching peace,
supporting the
inner spirit of
the child
STERNBERG: LEARNING PROFILE APPROACH
GARDNER: THEORY OF MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES
THOUGHTS ABOUT DIFFERENTIATION
“The proportion of the school day allotted to wholeclass instruction is a predictor of a school’s
academic achievement.”
Dr. Richard Allington
University of Tennessee
What Really Matters in
Response to Intervention
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION

Certainly helps us to meet the federal guidelines
(NCLB and IDEA) of providing best practice
instruction for every student

AT THE SAME TIME

We have a pressure to make sure that all students
meet local, state, and national standards.

Do standards require a once-size-fits all approach to
instruction?
CAROL ANN TOMLINSON

“There’s absolutely no contradiction between excellent
standards-based instruction and excellent differentiated
standards-based instruction.”

She argues that most standards are not finite points to
be memorized but consist of skills such as problem
solving, communicating clearly in paragraphs, analyzing
test, or using maps for information purposes.

“Those things can nearly all be accomplished by primary
grade students as well as Ph.D.s – just at different levels
of complexity and with different levels of support.”
HOW CAN HIGH
SCHOOL TEACHERS
PROVIDE DIFFERENT
ROADS FOR
STUDENTS TO REACH
THE SAME
DESTINATIONS?
IT’S CERTAINLY GOING TO INVOLVE…
Less large group direct instruction
 Less “read the chapter and answer the questions at
the end”
 Less (NO!) Round-Robin reading
 Less teacher-centered learning
 More student-centered learning

TEACHER-CENTERED LEARNING

Teacher as content area specialist
Container of knowledge
 Pours it into students’ heads

Standardized Instruction
 More facts-based approach
 Teacher works the hardest

STUDENT-CENTERED
LEARNING
Student choice from options designed by teacher
 Students working in groups with and without the
teacher
 More student work
 More concept-based approach
 More motivating to most kids

WHAT IT DOESN’T MEAN TO THE TEACHER

Time to do other things while kids work
Check email
 Grade papers


Plan the lesson and then assign:
Above-average students do 15
 Average students do 10
 Below-average students do 5
(That’s modification, not differentiation)

LET’S LOOK AT
A SPECIFIC CURRICULUM STANDARD
AND THINK ABOUT
DIFFERENTIATING THE
LEARNING OF THAT STANDARD
DIFFERENTIATION
Maximize the capabilities of all students
 Moving all students toward proficiency in the
knowledge and skills established in state and local
standards
 Based on student readiness, student learning
preferences
 Excludes no child from the learning

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DIFFERENTIATION
Base it on immediate pre-assessment
 Base it on what we know about students as learners

Always be willing to allow students to improve
 Always be willing to support students who may be
experiencing situational struggles

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AN EXAMPLE:
ENGLISH I
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STANDARD

2.3 D Select a logical word or phrase to complete an
analogy.
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•2.3 D Select a logical word or
phrase to complete an analogy.
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Word relationships
Sometimes written in the “blank is to blank as
blank is to blank” format.
Some frequently used analogies
Word relationships assist our learning.
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AS YOU
PLAN ANY LESSON…
Search the internet
 See if there’s something out there you might want to
use “as is” or adapt
 Use ideas, technology games and activities to
support learning

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We will review the term analogy.
We will then do some analogies together.
After we do some analogies together,
we’ll do a quick pre-assessment.
I will then call “class in a class” small
groups and work with students on analogy
activities.
Students will also work in pairs or alone on
some analogy practice.
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Essential questions reside at
the top of Bloom's Taxonomy
(Bloom, 1954). They require
students to EVALUATE (make
a thoughtful choice between
options, with the choice based
upon clearly stated criteria), to
SYNTHESIZE (invent a new or
different version) or to
ANALYZE (develop a thorough
and complex understanding
through skillful questioning).
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Our essential questions
might be:
How do analogies help us think
about relationships?
How do analogies help us to
understand new concepts?
How do they improve our writing?
How do they make the reading
more interesting?
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Why are analogies important
in our lives?
Why would one of the tests
that people take before they
are admitted to graduate
school be a test that consists
of 100 analogies – the
Miller’s Analogy test?
Which might be more helpful
in life and why: knowing the
definition of a word or being
able to use it in an analogy?
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After completing a quick
review and a few analogies
together, students will
complete individually a
practice sheet of analogies.
Teacher collects – Gives
each student his sheet back
when he is called as part of
a group to the small group
table – might use equity
sticks to call groups.
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As students come to the
table, we’ll discuss the sheet
they completed individually.
As we discuss, I’ll make a
note of who’s where in their
knowledge of analogies with
Level one being at the lowest
level.
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I will conduct some informal assessment in the
small group instruction.
At the end of the study, students will complete a formal
assessment concerning analogies.
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Those who don’t seem to get it – we do some more
together, maybe play one of the games, I briefly
repeat what was said in large group
For those who “get it” – maybe provide a few more
difficult, challenging ones – examples from Miller’s
Also – we’ll discuss the essential questions.
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I will maintain a list of analogies that we can work on
as time permits.
Exit cards from time to time concerning analogies
I will also assist students in seeing analogies in
our reading.
Students will be encouraged to employ analogies
in their own writing.
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So that would be how to conduct differentiation by doing a
pre-assessment in the classroom block
In this case, the pre-assessment comes after a quick review
of the topic, not cold
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ANOTHER WAY TO DIFFERENTIATE
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SET GROUPS TO PULL FOR SMALL GROUP

Base it on what we know about students as learners
Always be willing to allow students to improve
 Always be willing to support students who may be
experiencing situational struggles
 Always try to mix this with the other type of group
where you can just call five at a time – don’t want a
“low” group if we can help it

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ENGLISH III
THE CRUCIBLE
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SO MY LESSON PLAN LOOKS LIKE THIS

Large group instruction
Discuss Arthur Miller briefly
 Discuss Salem Witch Trials briefly
 Discuss setting, characters

Listen to part of recording or watch introduction of
movie
 20 or 30 minutes maximum

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SMALL GROUP INSTRUCTION
I
call my “struggling readers” to the group
 We read together and stop and discuss, possibly
using a graphic organizer or note-taking
technique to support their learning.


Teacher think alouds, preview the vocabulary
Student discussion gives teacher information
concerning student understanding
 These
students leave the table with a reading
assignment – could include listening to a CD,
must include a support (graphic organizer,
character chart, plot summary chart, etc.) 55
SMALL GROUP INSTRUCTION
I call my “average” readers to the group
 Their assignment while I was with the struggling
group was to read.
 We discuss what they have read, clearing up any
questions
 Same as “struggling group” – would offer support
as they leave to go read alone

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SMALL GROUP INSTRUCTION
I
call my “above average” readers to the group
 Their assignment while I was with the struggling
group was to read.
 We discuss what they have read, clearing up any
questions
 We also discuss more in depth Arthur Miller, his
works, the implications of The Crucible to
McCarthyism, when the government blacklisted
accused communists. (Miller himself was
questioned by the House of Representatives'
Committee on Un-American Activities in 1956. )
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TWO STRUCTURES
FOR
DIFFERENTIATION
STRUCTURE

OF
LESSON
Large group instruction
Teacher direct instruction
 Student practice
 Student pre-assessment (or not)


Small group instruction
Student pre-assessment used (or not)
 Teacher ready to supplement


Work station practice
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CLASSROOM WOULD
LOOK LIKE THIS…
Teacher sits where he
can see all students
Works with a few at a time
Student desks
computers
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SECOND OPTION:
STRUCTURE OF LESSON

Large group instruction
Teacher direct instruction
 Student practice
 Student pre-assessment


Work station practice

Teacher overseeing each group, pair, individual during
practice
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CLASSROOM WOULD
LOOK LIKE THIS…
After direct instruction, students are “practicing” teacher is monitoring, assisting, supporting.
Student desks
computers
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MANY TIMES IN HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH
Classes are “tracked” because of scheduling
 So, many times classes are full of college-bound
students, etc.
 Differentiation for college-bound students

Top ten, grades
 Preparing for college

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SO DIFFERENTIATION MAY BE
BY ENTIRE CLASSES
What I do with my first period college-bound group
might not be the same as what I do with my non-collegebound students
 BUT – standards and curriculum should be the same
 Instruction will be differentiated

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IN CONTENT AREA SUBJECTS
If there are mixed ability levels, then differentiation is
needed.
 Main issues:


Student reading abilities
Teacher help with decoding part so that student abilities are left for
comprehension
 CDs with textbooks

Vocabulary
 Text difficulty


If there can be less difficult text for students to read and still gain
content curriculum standards, great.
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BEST PRACTICE BULLETIN: DIFFERENTIATED
INSTRUCTION: SECONDARY
ONE BIG TEACHER

Classroom management:


CONCERN
What if students have a conversation about something
else while I’m teaching at the small group table and
they’re supposed to be working in pairs or groups?
Has to be stronger than ever; at the same time,
students have to be treated with respect, allowed to
make choices
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Closing thoughts
NOT JUST ABOUT NCLB AND IDEA
Students who are in school at the present time will
need to be able to read in order to function as
members of society
 Really, that’s already true:

Think about the last time you voted
 Think about the FAFSA form that we have to complete
for our kids

ADMINISTRATIVE ROLE
IN DIFFERENTIATED
INSTRUCTION
“Keeper of the Vision”
 “Person who uses the pulpit of leadership to help
teachers reflect on the need to meet students where
they are.”

QUESTIONS, COMMENTS
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REFERENCES
Allington, R. L. (2009). What really matters in response to intervention:
Research-based designs. Boston: Pearson.
Rakow, S. (2007). All mean ALL: Classrooms that work for advanced
learners . Middle Ground
Tomlinson, C. A. (2005). Differentiating instruction: Why bother? Middle
Ground, 9 (1), 12-14.
Tomlinson, C.A. (2000). Focus on differentiated instruction [Electronic
version]. Curriculum/Technology Quarterly, 9(3).
doi:http://webserver3.ascd.org/handbook/demo/ctq/8spr00.html