One Size Does Not Fit All:
An Introduction to Differentiated Instruction
Workshop 1
Take Care of Business
Introductions
 Expectations
 Graduate Credit
 Service Agreements & Vouchers
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How well do YOU know the
people around you?
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3 Facts & a Fib
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Write 3 facts about yourself
Write 1 fib about yourself
Circulate & talk to 5 people
If they do not correctly
identify the fib, they must
sign your postcard
Workshop Outcomes
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Increased understanding of what Differentiated
Instruction IS & IS NOT
 Add to our Instructional Strategies Toolbox
 Increased understanding of theories of
multiple intelligence/learning styles
 Begin planning a differentiated lesson/unit for
your own classroom
“If students don't learn the
way we teach them, we must
teach them the way they
learn.”
- Marcia Tate, Developing Minds Inc., Conyers, GA
What Is Your North Star?
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Peter H. Reynolds
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Listen to the story online
 http://www.fablevision.com/place/r
adio/ns.html
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Read it online
http://www.fablevision.com/northst
ar/index.html
Differentiation IS NOT . . .
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The same as an IEP for every student
Just another way to group kids
Expecting less of struggling learners than of
typical learners
A substitute for specialized services
Chaotic
New
Good Differentiation IS . . .
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Varied avenues to content, process, product
Respectful of all learners
Proactive
Student-centered
A blend of whole class, small group, and
individual instruction
Based on students’ readiness, interests,
and/or learning profile
Essential Questions
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Who are the students in our
classrooms?
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What diversity impacts and
influences curriculum and
instruction?
Diversity in the Classroom
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ADD
ADHD
Gifted/Talented
LD
Vision Impaired
Hearing Impaired
Maturity
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Autistic
Physically Disabled
Multiple
Handicapped
English Language
Learners
Social Status
Economic Status
3 Keys to Differentiated Instruction
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Content
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Process
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What we teach students
Materials and methods used
Activities
Calls on students to use key skills
Product
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How students show what they have learned
Should also allow students to extend what they learned
Key #1 – Adapt Content
Refers to both materials & methods
 Accommodate students’ different
starting points
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Some students ready for more complex or
abstract levels
 Some students ready for independent work
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Content Differentiation Examples
Multiple versions of texts
 Variety of texts to support concept
 Interest centers
 Learning contracts
 Support systems
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Audiotapes
 Mentors
 Study partners
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Key #2 – Adapt Process
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Students use key skills
Bloom’s Taxonomy
 Multiple Intelligence Theories
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Common focus
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Vary student activities
Teacher uses a variety of methods
Process Differentiation Examples
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Tiered Assignments
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Layered Curriculum (Nunley)
Learning Centers
 Jig Saw Assignments
 Learning Logs
 Graphic Organizers
 Modify their environment (fidgets)
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Key #3 – Adapt Product
Culminating learning experience that
occurs after many days or weeks of
study
 Demonstration and extension of what
they know, understand, and are able
to do
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Product Differentiation Examples
Variety of assessment types
 Tiered Assignments
 Independent Study
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Variables to Consider
Readiness – in reading, math, & beyond
 Complexity & Challenge of both process
& product
 Pace of learning and production
 Grouping practices
 Use of assessment results to inform
teaching and learning
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Guidelines for the DI Classroom
Focus on essentials
 Attend to student differences
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NO strategy works on ALL students
Assess often and use it to make
adjustments/modifications
 Mutual respect
 Be flexible
 Doesn’t happen 100% of the time!!!!
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Simple Ways to Start
Add an interdisciplinary element to a
favorite unit
 Collaborate with other teachers
 Offer students a variety of presentation
options
 Apply Multiple Intelligence thinking to
group/individual projects
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Time For a Break
A Few Fun Strategies
Teach In Color!
Creature Comforts!
Music!
Color Increases Understanding
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Using color for key
concepts can
increase memory
retention up to 25%
Experiment
Memorize the Pattern
30 seconds
Orange
Orange
Red
Red
Yellow
Yellow
Purple
Purple
Pink
Pink
Orange
Orange
Yellow
Yellow
Blue
Blue
Black
Black
Red
Red
Blue
Blue
Green
Green
Memorize the Colors Used
30 seconds
Purple
Purple
Orange
Orange
Yellow
Yellow
Blue
Blue
Red
Red
Orange
Orange
Yellow
Yellow
Green
Green
Blue
Blue
Purple
Purple
Green
Green
Orange
Orange
Memorize the Pattern
30 seconds
Orange
Orange
Blue
Green
Green
Purple
Purple
Purple
Purple
Yellow
Pink
Pink
Red
Red
Red
Red
Orange
Blue
Blue
Green
Green
Teach in Color
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Color Code
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Key Concepts
Colored Pens
Color with Sunshine
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Painted Essay
 Colored Acetate
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Number chart
Sliding mask
Highlighting tape
Scotopic Sensitivity
Syndrome
A Quick Start
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“Color Code” key concepts
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Easy in modern classrooms
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White boards, Smart Boards, & computer software
Key terms in all content areas
Math (parts of equations)
Language arts (parts of speech, important
vocabulary, editing)
Correct “with sunshine”
 Students do their own color coding
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Highlighting Tape
Colored pens/pencils/highlighters
Word Walls in Color
CALEB GATTEGNO
Correct “With Sunshine”
Use yellow highlighter to identify
incorrect answers
 Give student option to correct and
receive partial (or whole) credit
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Key to success – require students to explain
in writing what they did wrong and how they
corrected the problem
Use Colored Pens/Pencils
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In writing for peer editing
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Each member of group gets a different color
Can instantly see if everyone has contributed
 Option – students use colored pen for their own
editing/revising
For language study of verbs
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Color code the different tenses
Color code the verb endings
Color code roots/prefixes/suffixes
Skier
(to ski)
 Je
skie
 Tu skies
 Il/elle/on skie
 Nous
skions
 Vous skiez
 Ils/elles skient
The Painted Essay
Peripherals
Post key concepts or terms on walls
 Use bright colored paper
 At test time . . .
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Leave it up in same place
 Cover the concept with the same color
paper
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Memory trigger for visual learners
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They can “picture” the words.
Vision & Learning
“25% of students in grades k-6 have
visual problems that are serious
enough to impede learning.”
(American Public Health Association)
 “It is estimated that 80% of children
with a learning disability have an
undiagnosed vision problem.” (Vision
Council of America)
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20/20 does not mean that vision is perfect!
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The 20/20 vision test does not test how well
you see at reading distance. In fact, the 20/20
test fails to evaluate many other important
aspects of normal vision such as:
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Eye focusing
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Eye coordination
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Eye teaming (binocular vision)
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Eye movement
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Visual perceptual skills
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Color vision
Simple Tools
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Sliding Masks & Focus Frames
Provides for a narrower focus
 Add colored acetate
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Book Marks & Sticky Flags
Provides focus
 Add colored acetate
 Coded Bookmarks
 Sticky Flags
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Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome
12% of population
 Contrast problems (only 1 symptom)
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Black text on bright white paper
 Striped patterns on carpet clothes seem to
move
 Vertical/horizontal blinds
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Leads to classroom difficulties
Restlessness
 Difficulty staying on task
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Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome
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Contrast problems (only 1 symptom)
 Strategies
Use dull colored paper for writing
 Use colored acetate over black text on white paper
 Use a bookmark when reading to avoid losing place
http://www.hale.ndo.co.uk/scotopic/
http://www.irlen.com/sss_main.htm
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Creature Comforts
Grades K-12
Tolerance for sitting will ALWAYS be at
different levels for different people.
 Even adults benefit from Fidgets or
Movement
 Set ground rules in the classroom.
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Remove “it” if/when it becomes a toy or
distraction
Tactile Fidgets
Grades K-12
Paper clip
 Cellophane tape rolled backwards
around a finger
 Pipe cleaners
 Stress balls
 Pocket Fidget (small item kept in the
child’s pocket)
 Carpet square under desk
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Visual Fidgets
Grades K-12
Lava lamp
 Fish tank
 Mobile
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Nomadic Learners
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“If we build in enough movement during
the class period, students will be less
likely to move on their own.”
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Motion resources
Minds in Motion
 Learning on Their Feet
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http://doe.sd.gov/oess/schoolhealth/mindsinmotion/index.asp
Ideas for the Nomadic Learner
Mini Field Trip
 A Home Away From Home
 Music Stand Learning
 Rocking Chair Reversal
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Act It Out – Visual Clues
Grades 4-12
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Vocabulary strategy for the Kinesthetic
Learner
Place students into groups
 Provide 60 seconds to figure out how to Act
Out a vocabulary word
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Example – PERIMETER (walking around edge
of room)
perimeter
area
Involve the Senses
See
 Hear
 Taste
 Smell
 Touch
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The Role of Music
Why Music?
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Stimulates the brain
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Right side for creativity
Activates thinking parts of the brain
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Creates a sound curtain to isolate groups
 Increases attentiveness
 Effects emotions, heart rate, mood, mental
images of listener
 Embeds learning faster
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Alphabet song
http://www.school-house-rock.com/Prea.html
Time For Lunch
Multiple Intelligences
Begin With the Brain
Dots on Grids
A
B
C
D
Brain Principles
The brain is a complex adaptive system.
 The brain is social.
 The search for meaning is innate.
 The search for meaning occurs through
patterning.
 Emotions are critical to patterning.
 Every brain simultaneously perceives
and creates parts.
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More Brain Principles
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Learning involves both focused attention and
peripheral perception.
Learning always involves conscious and
unconscious processes.
We have at least 2 ways of organizing
memory.
Learning is developmental.
Complex learning is enhanced by challenge
and inhibited by threat.
Every brain is uniquely organized.
Simple Learning Styles
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Auditory
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Visual
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Learns best from listening
Learns best from seeing
Kinesthetic/Tactile
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Learns best from doing
Why Visual Literacy?
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Average youth today
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By age 18 - 22,000 hours watching TV
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By age 14 has seen 12,000 murders on network
TV programming!!!!
By 18 – 12,500 hours in school
Average vocabulary of 14-year-olds is
shrinking
In 1950 – 25,000 words
 In 1999 – 10,000 words
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Visual Learner
Images go directly to long-term memory
in brain
 Humans process visuals 60,000 times
faster than text
 Words processed sequentially
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Keyboard
Images processed simultaneously
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Camera
Turn Your Paper Sideways
Grades 2-7 (or higher if needed)
 A trick for lining up numbers when
working with multi-digit numbers in
columns
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TURN THE PAPER SIDEWAYS & use the
lines as column guides
 Also provides novelty (brain trigger)
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Jig-Saw Book
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Good tool for kinesthetic learners
 They can manipulate the content
Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences
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Logical/Mathematical
 Visual/Spatial
 Musical/Rhythmic
 Bodily/Kinesthetic
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Naturalist
 Interpersonal
 Intrapersonal
 Verbal/Linguistic
Sternberg Intelligences
 Analytical
 Practical
 Creative
Time For a Break
Writing Intelligence Preference
Lesson Plans
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As a result of the lesson, students
should
Know what?
 Understand what?
 Be able to do what?
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What range of learner needs in your
class relate to the topic?
Difficulty vs Rigor
“ We must be careful not to assign
more difficult tasks (tasks requiring
more effort or time) when what we
mean to do is challenge students with
more rigorous tasks (tasks requiring
more complex thought).”
Judith Dodge - Differentiation in Action
Assignments for Next Time
Try a new strategy & report back to the
group about the experience
 Begin the planning process for a lesson
using intelligence preference
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Choose a standard (or standards) to teach
 Identify student goals for that standard
 Choose possible strategies
 Be prepared to share with the group
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He Was Me
Resource - Nunley Website
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HOT TOPIC # 1: When counting, gestures help. Researchers discovered
that when students have to count things, those that could point, nod or
otherwise make body gestures, were faster and more accurate than those
who were not allowed to gesture. The gesture apparently adds rhythm
which makes counting more accurate and also aids the brain in maintaining
place. Carlson, R. et al. (2007). Journal of Experimental Psychology:
Learning, Memory & Cognition, Vol 33, 4
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Teacher Tip # 2: We use music for transition times in class and between
class periods. I ask for student volunteers to bring in a CD of their choice
for us to use for the week. No name, workshop participant, Midland,
Michigan.
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Facilitated By
Sara Fridley & Kathleen West
Region 3 Education Service Agency
sara.fridley@k12.sd.us
kathleen.a.west@k12.sd.us
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