Beginning the Journey of
Differentiated Instruction
Maria Molina
Educational Consultant
Welcome!
Please find a place to sit and then do the following anchor activity.
Complete the Frayer Diagram using key words and phrases.
Definition
Examples
Information
Differentiation
Non-Examples
Make a date!
12:00
6:00
3:00
9:00
Community Agreements
•
•
•
•
Participate Actively
Ask Questions
Learn by Doing
Set your leaning into action!
At its most basic level,
differentiating instruction
means “shaking up” what
goes on in the classroom
so that students have
multiple options for
taking in information,
making sense of ideas,
and expressing
what they learn.
It’s teaching so that “typical”
students; students with disabilities;
students who are gifted; and
students from a range of cultural,
ethnic, and language groups can
learn together, well.
Not just inclusion, but inclusive
teaching.
Based on Peterson, J., & Hitte, M. (2003). Inclusive teaching: Creating effective schools for all learners.
Boston: Allyn & Bacon, p. xix.
It’s making sure each student learns
what he or she should learn by
establishing clear goals, assessing
persistently to see where each student
is relative to the goals,
and adjusting instruction based on
assessment information—
so that each student can learn as much
as possible as efficiently as possible.
Differentiation is not…
•
•
•
•
•
•
New
IEP’s for all; individualized instruction
Tracking
Constant group work
Occasional variation on teaching style
“On the spot”
What are the students saying?
When I feel lost in class…
- I play with my hair
- I wish the teacher would know how I feel and would help me.
- I want to go home and watch TV.
- I get mad.
- I feel scared. Sometimes I try to listen harder but mostly it
doesn’t work.
What does it feel like when classes move too slowly…
- I color my nails with a pen.
- One thing my sister taught me to do is to listen to music in my
head or to think back to a movie, to its funny parts.
Consequences of not Differentiating
•
Socrates was a famous Greek teacher who went around giving people advice.
They killed him. Socrates died from an overdose of wedlock.
•
Bach was the most famous composer in the world, and so was Handel. Handel
was half-German, Half-Italian and half English. He was very large Bach died
from 1750 to the present. Beethoven wrote music even though he was deaf.
He was so deaf he wrote loud music. He took long walks in the forest even
when everyone was calling for him. Beethoven expired in 1827 and later died
for this.
•
I am not sure how clouds get formed. But the clouds know how to do it, and
that is the important thing.
•
Writing at the same time as Shakespeare was Miguel Cervantes. He wrote
Donkey Hote. The next great author was John Milton. Milton wrote
Paradise Lost. Then his wife died and he wrote Paradise regained.
Why should I differentiate?
Differentiation
Is a teacher’s response to learner’s needs
Shaped by mindset & guided by general principles of differentiation
Respectful tasks
Quality Curriculum
Flexible grouping
Continual assessment
Bldg. Community
Teachers can differentiate through
Content
Product
Process
Affect/Environment
According to students’
Readiness
Interest
Learning Profile
Through a variety of instructional strategies such as:
RAFTS…Graphic Organizers…Scaffolding Reading…Cubing…Think-Tac-Toe…Learning
Contracts…Tiering… Learning/Interest Centers… Independent Studies….Intelligence
Preferences…Orbitals…Complex Instruction…4MAT…Web Quests & Web Inquiry…ETC.
Teacher’s can differentiate by…
Content
Process
Product
Content:
Common Ways to Differentiate Content:
What students learn
and the materials or
mechanisms through
which that is
accomplished.






Leveled texts
Same theme; different context topic
Varied math operations
Interest centers; free choice time
Mini lessons on how to …
Books on tape; highlighted text, reading
partners
StricklandASCD
Process
Common Ways to Differentiate Process:
It describes activities
designed to ensure
that students use
key skills to make
sense out of
essential ideas and
information. How
they learn it.






Opportunity to work in pairs or groups
Group roles
Dictated journal entries
Use of technology
Amount or kind of teacher help available
Various types of graphic organizers and
supporting documents
 Varied task directions
 Tiered activities
Strickland ASCD
Product
Common Ways to Differentiate Product
They are vehicles
through which
students
demonstrate and
extend what they
have learned
 Product options
 Tiered products Varied criteria for
success
 Varied timelines
 Varied Audiences
Strickland ASCD
Community Builder: “Four of a Kind”
Differences
Differences
Similarities
(Find four common
similarities)
Differences
Differences
According to the students’…
Readiness
Interest
Learning Style
Readiness refers to a student’s
knowledge, understanding, and skill
related to a particular sequence of
learning. Only when a students works
at a level of difficulty that is both
challenging and attainable for that
student does learning take place.
-Tomlinson
2003
Target For
Challenge
Too Overpowering
Perspiring
task
Paralyzing
task
Too
Comfortable
Zone of Proximal
Development
and Flow
PANIC
PANIC
PANIC
Appropriate
Challenge
Known
task
Karen Lelli Austin
If we assume that students can do more than we
think they can and plan to prove our assumption
is correct, it most likely will be.
The most powerful differentiation will always
occur when we ask ourselves the questions,
“What are the essential understandings and skills
that serve as a baseline for my most able students?”
and “How can I plan to support all my students in
achieving those baselines?”
Always scaffold up. Never dumb down!!
READINESS VS. ABILITY
Tiered
Tasks
A readiness-based approach designed to help all learners
work with the same essential information, ideas, and
skills, but at a degree of difficulty “just a little too hard”
for that learner.
Criteria for Effective Tiering
• All tasks are focused on the same essential knowledge,
understanding and skill
• All tasks at a high level of thinking
• All tasks equally engaging
Many Approaches Can Be Tiered
Activities, labs, centers, journal prompts, homework,
products, tests/assessments, discussion questions . . .
C. Tomlinson
Developing a Tiered Activity
1
Select the activity organizer
•concept
Essential to building
•generalization
a framework of
2
• readiness range
• interests
• learning profile
• talents
understanding
3
Create an activity that is
• interesting
• high level
• causes students to use
key skill(s) to understand
a key idea
Think about your students/use assessments
skills
reading
thinking
information
4
Chart the
complexity of
the activity
High skill/
Complexity
Low skill/
complexity
5
Clone the activity along the ladder as
needed to ensure challenge and success
for your students, in
•
materials – basic to advanced
•
•
•
form of expression – from familiar to
unfamiliar
from personal experience to removed
from personal experience
equalizer
6
Match task to student based on
student profile and task
requirements
Tiered Lesson Planning Sheet
Tiering is a readiness response, and usually differentiates the skill levels of students. The skills are the “Do” part of the
learning goals, the verbs. Sometimes, though, the content level or the difficulty/complexity of the problem or task is the
differentiating element in a tiered lesson.
1) Learning goals of
lesson:
What should students
KNOW (facts)
What should students
be able to DO (verbs)
What should students
UNDERSTAND
(statement)
2) If you have taught
this lesson or activity
before, what group of
students would most
benefit from a
modification to this
version? How will
you preassess and
find this group?
1) Describe the grade
level activity for the
lesson.
1)What element(s) should be changed 1)If time permits, what might be
to make the activity more appropriate a second cloned version that
in challenge to the defined group? Use would benefit a different group
the Equalizer to analyze the lesson
of learners?
and determine how you might
improve the lesson for the defined
group of learners. Write that first
cloned version here.
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Tiered Lesson on Sequence
The teacher will assign the student the sequence task of most appropriate challenge
based on pre-assessment. Students may work alone or with a skill-alike partner. Students
may present to teacher individually, or they may present to another student who has
done a different sequence.
Learning Goals: Place items in order of occurrence. Use vocabulary teacher has
introduced (first, next, last; or first, second, third; or before and after)
1.
2.
Using 3 simple pictures, a student will put them in order of
occurrence. (Example: Man blowing up balloon. Child with balloon in
hand, smiling. Child with sad face and balloon popping.) Student will
then explain aloud to another student and teacher, describing the
action sequence. Remind student to use either first, next, last; or
before and after.
Using 4-5 pictures, a student will put them in order of occurrence.
(Example: Photo of bread on plate and person unscrewing peanut
butter jar. Photo of peanut butter being spread on bread. Photo of
second slice of bread being placed on top. Photo of knife being used
to cut sandwich into diagonals. Photo of child eating sandwich.)
Student will then explain aloud to another student and teacher,
describing the actionSandra
sequence.
Remind student to use either first,
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second, third; or before and919/929-0681
after.
Make a Pizza: a tiered Pre-K reading lesson
Learning Goals: Students will organize ideas, create a list, and
learn
to recognize
initial
consonant
sounds
in words,
The teacher
prepares
a plastic
baggy
for every
student.
Inside each
baggy are photos/pictures of food items and the names of those
sounds
for Group
items.
Students
willB.sort the items onto a paper plate (labeled
Dough) and will place the names of the items on a blank sheet of
paper (labeled List.)
Every student will have a baggy, a Dough plate, and a blank List.
Each student will have 8 pictures. Choices of pictures might include:
Cheese, Carrots, Peppers, Pears, Pineapple, Pickles, Fish, Meat,
Mustard, Tomatoes, Trix cereal, Salt, Sauce, Sugar, etc. Some
items should be yucky or funny.
The initial letters in each word should be ones that you have
recently practiced or want the students to review. The word
choices will vary with the readiness of the student, choosing
easier initial letter sounds for Group A and harder words and
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initial letter sounds for Group
B.
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Group A
Tiering: Make a pizza, continued
Group B
Eight pictures and 8 words are
Place 8 easier words and pictures in
separately placed in a baggy. The
baggy. Each picture will have a
words may have more difficult
box below it with the word typed
initial sounds. Students will
in easy to read font.
match pictures to words, first. To
The students must choose items
do this, they may either sound out
that they will want on their
the word or look for the picture
and word in a picture dictionary or
pizza. Each student will cut
teacher made reference list.
apart the picture and word and
The student chooses items that they
paste the word on the blank List
want on their pizza. They paste
and paste the picture on the
the picture on the blank Dough
blank Dough plate. They must
plate. (Again, they may color on
choose at least 3 items from the
the plate, if you wish, to show red
baggy.
sauce. Do this before or after
Using a red crayon, they may color
pasting pictures.)
on sauce (if you wish, do this
The student will then copy/write
before pasting).
the words onto the blank list &
read aloud the items to make that
The student will read and point to
pizza. If writing is too difficult for
the list the items that they
must
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some, student may paste words.
buy to make their pizza.
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Varying Journal Prompting
A. Create a fortune
lines visual (with
narration) that shows
the emotional state of
the little prince at
what you believe are
the 8-10 most
important points in
the book. Explain
why you selected
these events.
B. Create a fortune lines visual
(with narration) that shows
the emotional state of the
little prince at what you
believe are the 8-10 most
important points in the book.
Be sure to arrange them in
the order in which they
happened rather than the
order they are written about
in the book. Defend your
selection of events and your
chronology.
Tiered Activity
Subject: Science
Concepts: Density & Buoyancy
Introduction: All students take part in an
introductory discussion, read the chapter, and
watch a lab activity on floating toys.
Activities Common to All Three Groups
•
•
•
•
•
•
Explore the relationship between density and buoyancy
Determine density
Conduct an experiment
Write a lab report
Work at a high level of thinking
Share findings with the class
The Soda Group
• Given four cans of different kinds of soda,
students determined whether each would
float by measuring the density of each can.
• They completed a lab procedure form by
stating the materials, procedures, and
conclusions. In an analysis section, they
included an explanation of why the cans
floated and sank, and stated the
relationship between density and
buoyancy.
The Brine &
Egg Group
• Students developed a prescribed procedure
for measuring salt, heating water, dissolving
the salt in the water, cooling the brine,
determining the mass of water, determining
the mass of an egg, recording all data in a
data table, pouring the egg on the cool
mixture, stirring the solution and observing.
• They answered questions about their
procedures and observations, as well as
questions about why a person can float in
water, whether it is easier to float in fresh or
seawater, why a helium filled balloon floats in
air, and the relationship between density and
buoyancy.
The Boat Group
• Students first wrote advice to college students building
concrete boats to enter in a boat race.
• They then determined the density of a ball of clay, drew a
boat design for a clay boat, noting its dimensions and its
density.
• They used cylinders of aluminum, brass, and steel as well
as aluminum nails for cargo, and determined the
maximum amount of cargo their boat could hold.
• They built and tested the boat and its projected load.
• They wrote a descriptive lab report to include explanations
of why the clay ball sank, and the boat was able to float,
the relationship between density and buoyancy, and how
freighters made of steel can carry iron ore and other
metal cargo.
Adding Fractions
Green Group
Use Cuisinaire rods or fraction circles
to model simple fraction addition
problems. Begin with common
denominators and work up to
denominators with common factors
such as 3 and 6.
Explain the pitfalls and hurrahs of
adding fractions by making a
picture book.
Red Group
Use Venn diagrams to model LCMs.
Explain how this process can be
used to find common
denominators. Use the method on
more challenging addition
problems.
Write a manual on how to add
fractions. It must include why a
common denominator is needed,
and at least three different ways
to find it.
Blue Group
Manipulatives such as Cuisinaire
rods and fraction circles will be
available as a resource for the
group. Students use factor trees
and lists of multiples to find
common denominators. Using
this approach, pairs and triplets
of fractions are rewritten using
common denominators. End by
adding several different problem
of increasing challenge and
length.
Suzie says that adding fractions is
like a game: you just need to
know the rules. Write game
instructions explaining the rules
of adding fractions.
Interest refers to those topics or
pursuits that evoke curiosity and
passion in a learner. Thus, highly
effective teachers attend both to
developing interests and as yet
undiscovered interests in their students.
- Tomlinson 2003
Reading Homework Choice Board
You will have 3 reading assignments this week. You must choose to do an option to
respond to each reading as homework, and choose 3 different options total.
Complete a set of notes or
make an outline of the key
ideas
Create a Net-Knowledge Page
by using the Internet to gather
hyperlinks for URLs of websites
related to the topic, key ideas,
and images to support the
reading.
Rewrite the reading as a
newspaper article. Use the 5
W’s, and include details to
support your main ideas.
Create a set of five
newspaper headlines
representing key ideas
Find 25 important words or
phrases in the reading. Group
the terms and create your own
concept map or graphic
organizer to illustrate your
understanding of the reading.
Create a visual timeline with
captions to highlight key
events or actions in the
reading.
Create a top ten list of
things you should
understand about the
reading. Prepare the list on
an overhead transparency
to present to your peers.
Draw 3 pictures with captions
that illustrate three important
ideas.
Visit a teacher-recommended
website related to the
reading and summarize your
findings. Be sure to relate
the reading to the website.
This contract gives students choices that appeal to learning preferences. Don’t feel you
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bookpage@nc.rr.com
must grade or go over every homework
Ask students which of these response
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techniques helped them best understand the reading.
Differentiation By Interest
Social Studies
Mrs. Schlim and her students were studying the
Civil War. During the unit, they did many things
-- read and discussed the text, looked at many
primary documents (including letters from
soldiers, diaries of slaves), had guest speakers,
visited a battlefield, etc.
As the unit began, Mrs. Schlim reminded her
students that they would be looking for
examples and principles related to
culture, conflict change and
interdependence.
Differentiation By Interest
Social Studies
(cont’d)
She asked her students to list topics they
liked thinking and learning about in their
own world. Among those listed were:
music
reading
sports/recreation
mysteries
cartoons
teenagers
people
food
books
transportation travel
heroes/ villains
families
humor
medicine
clothing
Differentiation By Interest
Social Studies (cont’d)
Students had as supports for their work:
- a planning calendar
- criteria for quality
- check-in dates
- options for expressing what they learned
- data gathering matrix (optional)
- class discussions on findings, progress,
snags
-mini-lessons on research (optional)
40
Reading Center Choice Board:
You must read 3 things in a column, a row, or a diagonal to get a bingo this
week.
Read Highlights or
Sesame Street magazine
Listening Center: Listen
to a story on tape
Read a Map in the
reading center.
Draw three or more
pictures to tell a story.
Use the computer story
program to read a story
and answer questions.
Read a picture book
from the classroom
library.
Read a story or book
with an adult or a 2nd
grade student.
Build a model using
Use Leapfrog to read a
blocks or clay or draw
story aloud.
an animal, a person, or a
place in a story that you
have read.
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Learning profile refers to how
students learn best. Those include
learning style, intelligence preference,
culture, and gender. If classrooms can
offer and support different modes of
learning, it is likely that more students
will learn effectively and efficiently.
- Tomlinson 2003
Sternberg’s Three
Intelligences
Analytical
Creative
Practical
Primary Measuring: Sternberg Tasks
A
P
C
Use a ribbon to
measure and
find 7 things
that are the
same length
Which of these
five items will fit
into the box?
You must find a
way to measure
the items and
the box
BEFORE you
try each item to
see if it fits
Use the strip of
red paper I give
you. Find some
things (like the
crayon as I
demo-ed) and
measure the
strip of paper
with each item.
How many
each _ lengths
is the red strip?
Children explore and discover simple ways to
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measure. [HSCOF-3.3.4, 4.2.3]919/929-0681
[GLCE-
Primary Transportation by learning modality continued
Kinesthetic
construct/build a
vehicle using classroom
materials
demonstrate how it
goes; use vocab words
to describe
Visual
draw a picture of a
vehicle and label its parts
show how you made
your vehicle and how it
goes by making a poster
Oral
identify a vehicle and
its parts as you tell a story
describe what makes it
move and how it goes;
use vocab
Auditory
identify a vehicle
through the sound that it
makes using sound
effects tape; use vocab
use a sound or song
with a vehicle to show
how it moves and goes
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Using Learning Modalities in Reading
Practice with Sight Words
Kinesthetic
• word puzzles (building sight words with form-fitting pieces)
• building words with magnetic letters, letter cards, Elkonin boxes
• clapping letters and/or rhymes of words
Oral
• flashcard practice with partner
• saying/reading aloud sentence/book containing sight words
• singing song with sight words (Humpty Dumpty – Humpty Dumpty
had to go, Humpty Dumpty then said ‘NO’!
Visual
• use tree map to sort sight words by 2, 3, 4,etc. letters
• locate sight words within a text
• word wall activities (rhyming, riddles, etc.)
• cloze activity of placing sight words within a sentence
Auditory
• read words with an emotion (in – scary voice, the – happy voice)
• echo reading of sight words or sentence using sight words
• listen to story with text
present
and sight words highlighted
Sandra
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Window Forecasting
Learning Profile Science Activity
Meteorologist:
You are a meteorologist working for Channel 29
News. The show will “air” in 10 minutes with the
weekend’s forecast, but all the equipment is failing.
Look out your “windows” and use the clouds to
predict the weather forecast for the local community.
You can either write your script for the news show
explaining your prediction and your reasons for the
prediction, create a poster or prop for the news show
that shows the audience what you think the weather
will do and why, or role-play the part of the
meteorologist and verbally present your forecast
predictions to the audience.
Cindy Strickland 08
Learner Cards
Jamala Fisher
3
Front
Rdg Level
+321 – 123-
LP
Q/N
V/A/K
G/S
A/P/C
P/W
Nanci Smith ‘03
Int
Soccer
Mysteries
Video Games
Sch.Affil
+
-
S/P
ELL
Back
Key Principles of
Differentiated
Instruction
D
I
FCommunity
F
E
R
E
N
T
I
A
T
I
O
N
Community
• Teacher-Student
Connections
• Safe Environment
• Shared Partnership
Curriculum
Instruction
Assessment
• Essential KUDs
• Engagement
• Teaching Up
• Addressing R, I,
LP
• Flexible Grouping
• Multiple
Strategies
• Flexible
Management
•Pre-assessment
•On-going Assessment to
Inform Instruction
•3-P Grading
Key Principle #1: All students participate in respectful
work in a respectful environment.
Respectful learning environment is:
Welcoming
Respectful of differences
Safe
Emphasis on growth
Success- oriented
Fair
Collaborative
Keys to Connecting with Kids
(Tomlinson 2008)
• Start class with kid
talk
• Go to student
events
• Keep student data
cards
• Share own interests
• Attend
extracurricular
activities
• Take notes during
class
• Ask for student
input
Keys to Connecting with Kids
(Tomlinson 2008)
• Talk at the door
• Early interest
assessments
• Small group
instruction
• Dialogue journals
• Student conferences
• Use Socratic or
student-led
discussions
• Share your own
stories
• Listen
• Seek varied
perspectives
RECIPE OF ME!
DATE DUE:_______________
You're a one-of-a-kind design made up of a unique blend of ingredients.
For example you may be a mix of strength, eight hours of sleep, and
determination combined with your size (long or short legs,etc.) your
coloring (hair,eyes,etc.) and other characteristics to make a complete
recipe of you.
Think carefully about your personality, values, what makes you happy,
what makes you special, favorite foods, hobbies, or any other
characteristics that make up you. Use strong adjectives to describe you.
Brainstorm first and write down you ideas.
REQUIRED MATERIALS:
•Recipe or lined index card(s) (enough for your recipe)
•One small picture from home (These will be put in a class recipe book
for the class, so pictures will not be returned. If you don't want to give
away a photo, draw a self-portrait instead.)
•All of the above mounted on a 9"x12" piece of construction paper with a
border drawn by hand or computer.
RECIPE OF ME!
DATE DUE:_______________
DIRECTIONS:
Using food recipe measurements, list the ingredients that make
YOU at the top of the index card in recipe format. Then skip
some lines and give directions on how to mix the ingredients
together. Tell whether there is a cooking time and temperature.
Give your recipe a name.
EXTRA POINTS:
If the name of your recipe uses alliteration (words beginning with
the same letter), you will receive bonus points.
Pair & Share
With your 3:00 o’clock partner answer the
following questions…..
Ask Yourself about Your Classroom
Community . . .
 How do we begin and end our time together?
 In what ways do students assume ownership of the
classroom?
 How do we understand and celebrate our similarities?
Our differences?
 How do I know that each student feels included in the
community? What action do I take to ensure this?
58
Key Principle #2: High Quality
Curriculum
“We have to know where we want to end
up before we start out – and plan to get
there”
Carol Ann Tomlinson
Planning a Focused Curriculum
Means Clarity About What
Students Should …
KNOW
• UNDERSTAND
– Principles/
generalizations
– Big ideas of the
discipline
– Facts
– Vocabulary
– Definitions
• BE ABLE TO DO
– Processes
– Skills
non-negotiables of differentiation
Mindset
on-going assessment (pre-assessment, formative, summative)
flexible grouping
respectful tasks
readiness, interest, learning profile
teaching up
Know-Understand-Do (KUD)
instructional strategies for differentiation
Differentiation is a philosophy (more than a set of strategies) designed to
maximize the capacity of each learner.
Mindset shapes teaching and learning.
Teacher connection with kids opens them up to the risk of learning.
Community multiplies support for students & the teacher.
On-going assessment guides quality differentiation.
The quality of what we teach contributes to the impact of how we
teach-- & vice versa.
Clarity of learning goals (KUDs)
engagement & understanding
Differentiation professionalizes teachers.
Reflect on your philosophy and practice.
Analyze & critique differentiated tasks using key principles & vocabulary
Define differentiation
Determine next steps in implementing differentiation in your work
Transportation Pre-K/Kindergarten
using Learning Modality Preferences
Know:
Different Forms of Transportation
Understand: Transportation/vehicles helps us move
from here to there.
Do:
Students will describe a vehicle using
the vocabulary and knowledge learned
on what makes things move and go.
Vocabulary: wings, wheels, pedal, sail, pull, push,
float, sink
air, water, land, space
fast, slow
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Please Complete the Task with the Color that Best Fits Your Role
Specialists in special ed., reading, ELL
Teachers who have taught low-end classes
Teachers who have taught high end classes/clusters
General ed. Teachers/prospective teachers, & administrators
University faculty/administrators
RAFT:
ROLE
AUDIENCE
FORMAT
TOPIC
Discouraged
Math Student
Teacher
Note Left on Her
Desk
Here’s why I can’t
do math
New Teacher
A Colleague
True Confession
When I see that
low level class
coming…
A Smart Kid
Himself
Droodles
This class is too
hard…
A Kid with David
Letterman Genes
Audience of other Top Ten List
Kids
How you can tell
who the smart
kids (or dumb
kids) are in
school
Professor
Student Teachers
Watch out for
those subliminal
messages about
ability
Chart
EQ: How do perceptions of ability affect teaching and learning?
Pair & Share
With your 12:00 o’clock partner share your
RAFT activity
R.A.F.T.
Role
Audience
Format
Topic
RAFT:
ROLE
AUDIENCE
FORMAT
TOPIC
Sample RAFT Strips
Math
History
Science
Language Arts
Role
Audience
Format
Topic
Middle School
Diary Entry
I Wish You Really Understood
Where I Belong
N.Y. Times
Public
Op Ed piece
How our Language Defines
Who We Are
Huck Finn
Tom Sawyer
Note hidden in a tree
knot
A Few Things You Should
Know
Rain Drop
Future Droplets
Advice Column
The Beauty of Cycles
Lung
Owner
Owner’s Guide
To Maximize Product Life
Rain Forest
John Q. Citizen
Paste Up “Ransom”
Note
Before It’s Too Late
Reporter
Public
Obituary
Hitler is Dead
Martin Luther King
TV audience of 2010
Speech
The Dream Revisited
Thomas Jefferson
Current Residents of
Virginia
Full page newspaper
ad
If I could Talk to You Now
Fractions
Whole numbers
Petition
To Be Considered A Part of the
Family
A word problem
Students in your
class
Set of directions
How to Get to Know Me
Semicolon
Format based on the work of Doug Buehl cited in Teaching Reading in the Content Areas: If Not Me Then Who?, Billmeyer and Martin, 1998
Sample RAFT Strips
Role
Audience
Format
Topic
Our Class
Oral Response
I never should have listened
to the fox
Squanto
Other Native
Americans
Pictographs
I can help the inept settlers
Band Member
Other Band
Members
Demo Tape
Here’s how it goes
Positive Numbers
Negative Numbers
Dating Ad
Opposites Attract
Rational Numbers
Irrational Numbers
Song
Must you go on forever?
Decimals
Fractions
Poem
Don’t you get my point?
Perimeter
Area
Diary Entry
How your shape affects me
Monet
Van Gogh
Letter
I wish you’d shed more light
on the subject!
Joan of Arc
Self
Soliloquy
To recant, or not to recant;
that is the question
Tree
Urban Sprawl
Editorial
My life is worth saving
Thoreau
Public of his day
Letter to the
Editor
Why I moved to the pond
Young Chromosome
Experienced
Chromosome
Children’s Book
What becomes of us in
mitosis?
First Grader
Kindergartner
Ad
What’s best about 1st grade?
Gingerbread Man
•Success comes from being
smart
• Genetics, environment
determine what we can do
•Some kids are smart—some
aren’t
•Teachers can’t override
students’ profiles
•Success comes from effort
•With hard work, most students
can do most things
•Teachers can override students’
profiles
•A key role of the teacher is to set
high goals, provide high support,
ensure student focus—to find
the thing that makes school
work for a student
Creating common learning goals
We have to know
where we want all
students to end up
before we can think
intelligently about
how we want them
to get there!
The teacher may vary the KNOWS & DOs
with caution and based on evidence
that a student needs to learn backwards
as well as forward to catch up—or that a
student needs to move ahead in order
to keep learning.
The UNDERSTANDS are the constant fulcrum
on which effective differentiation pivots
for all students.
New World Explorers
KNOW
• Names of New World Explorers
• Key events of contribution
UNDERSTAND
• Exploration involves
– risk
– costs and benefits
– success and failure
Do
• Use resource materials to illustrate
& support ideas
New World Explorers
Using a teacher-provided
list of resources and list
of product options,
show how 2 key
explorers took chances,
experienced success
and failure, and brought
about both positive and
negative change.
Provide proof/evidence.
Using reliable and
defensible
research, develop a
way to show how
New World
Explorers were
paradoxes. Include
and go beyond the
unit principles
An Assignment-Based Question
Elementary
• What challenges does
it (might it) present
for you to create &
teach w/
understandings on
center stage?
• What benefits might
occur for students
who studied your
curriculum organized
by KUDS?
Secondary
• Which do you feel is
(will be) the greater
challenge for you:
teaching for
engagement or
teaching for
understanding?
• What beliefs or
attitudes might
secondary teachers
need to alter in order to
teach for both
Key Principle #3: Commit to
Ongoing Assessments
“The teacher who emphasizes assessment
to inform instruction understands that
only by staying close to student
progress can he or she guide students
success”.
Tomlinson, 2008
WHAT CAN BE ASSESSED?
READINESS
Skills
Content
Knowledge
Concepts/Principles
INTEREST
• Current
Interests
• Potential
Interests
• Talents/Passions
LEARNING
PROFILE
• Areas of Strength
and Weakness
• Learning
Preferences
• Self Awareness
On-going Assessment:
A Diagnostic Continuum
Feedback and Goal Setting
Pre-assessment
(Finding Out)
Pre-test
Graphing for Greatness
Inventory
KWL
Checklist
Observation
Self-evaluation
Questioning
Formative Assessment
(Keeping Track & Checking-Up)
Summative Assessment
(Making sure)
Small group check
Exit Cards
Peer evaluation
Portfolio Check
3-minute pause
Quiz
Observation
Journal Entry
Talk-aroundSelf-evaluation
Questioning
Windshield Check
Remember to check for prerequisite skills
Unit Test
Performance Task
Product/Exhibit
Demonstration
Portfolio Review
MATH INVENTORY
NAME
DATE
1. How do you feel about math?
2. Do you think you are good in math? Why?
3. What are your best areas in math?
4. What are your weakest areas in math?
5. Do you think it is important to be good in math? Why?
6. What do you think are characteristics of students who are good in math? Why?
7. What do you do when you come to a math problem you can’t solve?
8. How do you use math outside of class?
9. What do you usually do after school when you get home?
10. Do you most like to do when you have free time? Why?
11. What else should I know about you to teach you effectively this year?
Jo Gusman (2005), Practical Strategies for Accelerating the Literacy Skills & Content Learning of Your
English Language Learners. New Horizons
At My Best…
Thinking about your strengths and best features, please answer the following:
1. A positive thing people say about me is:
2. When I’m feeling great at school, it’s probably because:
3. A dream I have for myself is:
4. A thing I like spending time on is:
5. Something that captures my imagination is:
6. The best thing about my family is:
7. My strength as a learner is:
8. What I can contribute to the classroom is:
9. A thing I wish people knew about me is:
10. I’m proud of:
Strength-Based Assessments
Strength-Based Assessment
Typical Assessment Info. • Likes mechanical things
• Average IQ
• Reads magazines about
motorcycles
• Average reading
achievement
• Wants to learn more
about computers
• Above average math
computation
• Seen as a big brother to
neighborhood kids
• Missed 10 days of
school this quarter
• Wants to travel some day
• 2 in-school
• Likes to talk about ideas
suspensions this
quarter
Based on idea from Sousa & Bender (2008). How the Brain Influences Behavior:
Management Strategies for Every Classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Directions: Complete the chart to show what
you know about ________.
Write as much as you can.
Information
Definition
Examples
Fractions
NonExamples
Useful for pre-assessment & formative assessment of readiness in many grades & subjects
Directions: Complete the chart to show what
you know about Jazz. Write as much as you
can.
Definition
Information
Jazz
Performers/
Composers
Personal
Experience
EXIT CARDS
On your exit card--Explain the difference
between simile and
metaphor. Give some
examples of each as
part of your explanation.
on-going assessment of readiness
EXIT CARDS - Learning
Preferences
We used the following
learning strategies in this
lesson:
3 minute pause
T-P-S
Visualizing
What learning strategy or
strategies seemed to work best
for you? Why?
on-going assessment of learning profile
3-2-1 Card
Name:
• 3 things I learned from the friction
lab…
• 2 questions I still have about
friction…
• 1 thing way I see friction working in
the world around me….
on-going assessment of readiness
1-2-3 Summarizer
After reading over my rough draft--1 thing I really like about my first draft
2 resources I can use to help improve
my draft.
3 revisions I can make to improve
my draft.
on-going assessment of to help student
self-awareness and planning
An Example of Pre-assessing Student Readiness in a Primary Classroom
High School Unit on
The Agricultural Revolution
•Major Emphasis to Lay
Groundwork for Rest of Year
•Reading, Lecture, Videos,
Journal Entries, Homework,
etc.
•Three Weeks into the Unit…
“So…what’s agriculture?”
“Differentiation is making sure that
the right students get the right
learning tasks at the right time. Once
you have a sense of what each
student holds as ‘given’ or ‘known’
and what he or she needs in order to
learn, differentiation is no longer an
option; it is an obvious response.”
Assessment as Learning: Using Classroom Assessment to Maximize Student Learning
Lorna M. Earl
Corwin Press, Inc. – 2003 – pp. 86-87
It’s about guiding students, not judging them.
It’s about informing instruction, not filling grade books.
It’s about before, during, & after—not just after.
It’s about teaching for success—not gotcha teaching.
Work with a group of 3 to develop three ways to express
the role of assessment in differentiation.
You may work collaboratively or in parallel fashion to
develop your 3 expressions.
Please be ready to share your 3 expressions with
another group.
Heterogeneous Learning Profile Group
Defensible Differentiation:
•Teaches
Always Up
•Waters
Never down
Key Principle #4: Flexible Grouping
• Flexible grouping ensures that all students
learn to work independently, cooperatively
and collaboratively in a variety of settings
and working with a variety of peers.
• Increases chance that learning activities
will match more student’s needs more of
the time, leading to faster, better, deeper
learning…without tracking.
Teaching
Time
Materials
& Tasks
Groups
Provide notes
for students
who struggle
with taking
them
Allow students
to move
ahead in texts
& with skills
Provide
reading & web
material at
different levels
Meet with
students in
small groups to
re-teach or
extend
Provide
space for
peer
collaboration
Stop often for
student
sharing and
questions
Provide 2nd
opportunities
for mastery
Use contracts, Use
tiering, miniheterogeneous
workshops,
review groups
etc.
Use cue
walls, help
boards, word
walls
Use past
student work
as models
Allow drafts to
be turned in
early for
teacher review
Use computer
programs for
review &
extension
Provide
space for
learning &/or
enrichment
centers
Use
homogeneous
work groups
(esp. for adv.
learners)
To Address Readiness
Space
Teaching
Time
Materials
& Tasks
Groups
Space
Attach key
understandings
to student
interests
Use some
time in each
unit for
relevance
Use interestbased
materials
Use interestalike groups
Devote some
space in the
room to
student
inquiry
Share your
interests & how
key ideas &
skills relate to
them
Make time for
studentgenerated
inquiry (e.g.
Orbitals)
Focus RAFTs
journal
prompts, perf.
tasks, etc. on
interests
Use student
expert-groups
Make space
available for
student
collaboration
Invite students
to co-teach on
interests
Conclude
lessons with
“so what” time
Use biography Use Jigsaw
&
groups
autobiography
To Address Interests
Use interest
centers or
boards
Teaching
Time
Materials
& Tasks
Groups
Present in
multiple modes
(visual,
auditory,
demonstration)
Provide time
to work alone
and time to
work with
peers
Use Analytical,
Creative, &
Practical
Applications
Use Complex
Instruction
groups
Have quiet
space
available
Give students
advance
signals/cues to
prompt
thinking
Honor
student pace
of working
when
possible
Provide both
competition &
collaboration
Use similar &
mixed learning
profile groups as
part of flexible
grouping
Ensure places
to work
without visual
distractions
Use examples
related to both
genders &
many cultures
Honor cultural Help students
perspectives use auditory
on time
vs. visual
preferences
Use synthesis
groups to
express ideas in
varied modes
Use an
“independent
study area”
To Address Learning Profile
Space
…to ensure
…with each
that you
student in
connect
your class?
essential
content…
Talk with someone whose role is similar to
Flexible Grouping
Bluebirds
Buzzards
Wombats
Intentional teacher movement of students
within a relatively short period of time
among a variety of contexts
related to student readiness, interests,
& learning preferences
with the intent to “audition” students
in varied settings,
allowing both students and teacher
to see other students
and themselves through fresh eyes.
WHOLE
GROUP
INDIVIDUAL
SMALL
GROUP
PAIRS
Flexible Grouping Options
By Readiness, Interest,
and Learning Profile
By Group or Make up (student
similarities, size, variance)
By Teacher Choice, Student
Choice, or at Random
Classroom Instructional Arrangements
Whole Class Activities
Pre-assessment
Readiness/interest
Troubleshooting
Planning
Discussing
Introducing
Sharing
Wrap-up of
Explorations
Small Group Activities (pairs, triads; quads) Whole Class Activities
Sense-Making
Investigation
Directed Reading
Teaching Skills
Planning
Individualized Activities
Compacting
Practice &
Apply Skills
Sense-Making
Interest Centers
Homework
Products
Independent
Study
Testing
Student – Teacher Conferences
Guiding
Assessment
Tailoring &
Planning
Evaluation
Evaluating your Experience
Below is a link to ASCD’s online
Professional Development Feedback
Survey. We encourage all participants to
complete the online evaluation within the
next ten (10) days. All responses will be
anonymously reported to ASCD.
http://surveys.ascd.org/wsb.dll/4/capacity_
building.htm
Thank you for taking the time to
honestly evaluate the program. The results
we receive help us to improve the quality
of services you receive