Helping Teachers Use Keys for Success
to Differentiate Instruction
Jacque Melin
Grand Valley State University
melinj@gvsu.edu
www.formativedifferentiated.com
Knowing the Learner – Pre-assessment
• Take a few minutes
to answer these
questions
anonymously.
Short Term Anchor Activity
Check Out the DI Brochure
Differentiated
• “AB Each Teach” the Keys for
Differentiating Instruction
Brochure
• From the Anchor Activity Handout
select Option A, B or C
•Complete the Anchor Activity
alone or with another in your
Table Group.
3
A B Each Teach:
Information Processing
PROCESS
• Pairs designate one partner as A and one as B.
• Person A reads one section of text.
• Person B reads another section of text.
• When both are ready, they teach their section to
their partner.
(continue to do this – 2 pages at a time, until you finish
the brochure, then work on the Short Anchor Activity)
Mediated Journal
…an advance organizer in which the page headings
are predetermined or guided by the leader.
Strategies
Mediated Journal
Name:
Strategies
Journal Entry 1
Pre-assessment
A B Each Teach
Short Anchor Activity
Mediated Journal
Journal Entry 2
Cover
Inside
Back
10:2 Rule Promise
• Lecture: Processing Ratio
• The brain needs to socially process
Triple Track Agenda
Track 1 = Using DI strategies to support your learning here in this room.
Track 2 = How you might use DI strategies with adult groups and tips for sharing
them with others.
Track 3 = How you might use DI strategies with students in classrooms.
Working Agreements
•
Standard #2: Learning Differences. The teacher uses understanding of individual differences
and diverse cultures and communities to ensure inclusive learning environments that enable
each learner to meet high standards
•
Standard #6: Assessment. The teacher understands and uses multiple methods of
assessment to engage learners in their own growth, to monitor learner progress, and to
guide the teacher’s and learner’s decision making.
•
Standard #7: Planning for Instruction. The teacher plans instruction that supports every
student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas,
curriculum, cross-disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the
community context.
•
Standard #8: Instructional Strategies. The teacher understands and uses a variety of
instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop deep understanding of content
areas and their connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways.
•
Standard #10: Leadership and Collaboration. The teacher seeks appropriate leadership roles
and opportunities to take responsibility for student learning, to collaborate with learners,
families, colleagues, other school professionals, and community members to ensure learner
growth, and to advance the profession.
Targets for this Workshop
• I can establish or extend my understanding of
differentiated instruction (Standards #2, 6, 7, 8).
• I can articulate a vision with fellow teachers as to
what is means to differentiate instruction for
students in our schools (Standard #10) .
– We must remember that excellent differentiated
classrooms are excellent first and differentiated
second. – Anonymous
From Carol Tomlinson…
FAQ
How is differentiation
different from “good
teaching?”
ANSWER
There is no difference!
Differentiation is just
really good teaching!
Targets for this Workshop
• I can proactively plan instruction that is
responsive to student differences (Standards
#2, 6, 7, 8, 10).
– Differentiated instruction is more anticipatory than reactive in
nature. So really teachers should ask, “Am I planning for
student differences or am I simply reacting to student
failures?” -Taylor Ranch School’s Journey Towards Excellence
From Carol Tomlinson…
FAQ
Isn’t differentiation
something most teachers
already do?
ANSWER
• Very few teachers
proactively and robustly
differentiate
instruction.
• That’s the standard
necessary for academic
diversity.
Targets for this Workshop
• I can coach my colleagues to help them use a variety
of instructional strategies in order to effectively
differentiate instruction (Standards #8, 10).
– This seems simple enough, but surprisingly enough many
educators are so determined to “get through” the curriculum
that they neglect the more important challenge of “getting
through” to the students. -Taylor Ranch School’s Journey Towards Excellence
With the GOAL of…
• Developing our collective identity
and capacity as collaborators and
inquirers (regarding DI) in order
to increase learning for ALL
students.
From Adaptive Schools Garmston & Wellman
Grounding (Small Fires)
• Purpose
– to set a norm for respectful listening,
– to get everyone’s voice into the room,
– to allow people to connect with one another,
to allow for the expressions of hopes and
apprehensions,
– to value thinking and feeling,
– and to elicit agendas that might not otherwise
be heard.
From Adaptive Schools Garmston & Wellman
Grounding (Small Fires)
• Procedure
– Members take turns talking (I will give you the
questions to talk about in just a minute).
– When one member talks, all others are silent.
Full nonverbal attention is given to the
speaker.
– After everyone has talked, the first speaker
will summarize what was said.
– What questions do you have about these
directions?
Grounding (Small Fires)
• Topics
– My name is . . .
– My relationship to this topic (differentiated
instruction) is . . .
– My expectations are . . .
– How I feel about being here is . . .
Go VISUAL
• 1st – Visual
• 2nd – Kinesthetic
• 3rd - Auditory
From Adaptive Schools Garmston & Wellman
Partners
1. Flexible Learning Groups
3. Respectful Tasks
2. Choice
4. Shared Responsibility
for Learning
Short Term
Anchor Activity Debrief
With your Flexible Learning Groups Partner…
• Discuss:
1. how have the tasks so far been differentiated
2. what were the learning outcomes for each of the choices for
the Anchor Activity
3. the option you selected and your reasons
Long Term Anchor
Tic Tac Toe
• Identify nine activities related to learning targets.
Make some of the activities more challenging than
others. I like to set up the activities so that the more
challenging are down the middle and across the
middle.
Basic
More
challenging
Basic
More
challenging
More
challenging
More
challenging
Basic
More
challenging
Basic
In this class we are
never finished.
Learning is a process
that never ends.”
- Carol Ann Tomlinson
Long Term Anchor
Tic Tac Toe
Key Underlying Principles
Knowledge of Students required
to differentiate instruction:
Readiness
Interests
Learning Profile (e.g., styles,
intelligences, environmental
1. Knowing the Learner
assessment for learning
Aspects of the teaching/learning
process that can be differentiated
Content (learning materials)
Process (how we help students
learn)
Product (how students
demonstrate their learning)
Learning Environment
(conditions for learning)
2. Responding by Differentiating
Assessment for Learning – Closed Sort
On your own:
• List (on paper) the many strategies that you have
used or observed teachers using to differentiate
instruction for students (e.g., extra time to complete
a test, choice of questions, etc.)
As a table group:
• Share your strategies and write each strategy on a
separate sticky note – have 2 recorders at your
table and write each strategy twice (on sticky
notes that are 2 different colors).
Closed Sort
Knowing the Students
Using one set of sticky notes, sort the
examples on your sticky notes by placing each
note under one of the headings on a chart
with these headings…
INTEREST
READINESS
LEARNER
PREFERENCES
26
Sort with the other set of sticky notes:
Responding by Differentiating
Using the other set of sticky notes, sort the
strategies you have listed under each of these four
headings on a new chart.
CONTENT
PROCESS
PRODUCT
LEARNING
ENVIRONMENT
27
Closed Sort - Activity Debrief
Discussion Questions – Table Group
• Under which headings do we have the most/least
ideas?
• Why do we see the patterns we see here?
• What might be some next steps suggested by the
results of this sort?
Stir the Classroom
Today’s Standards Demand That We…
Do….
• encourage students to
understand what they
are learning
• apply and transfer what
they learn.
Do Not…
• Have students
memorize and repeat
information
Challenge of Today’s Standards
• demand “deep” learning
from more than just the
“smart” or “advanced”
kids.
• require virtually ALL
learners to think in
complex and creative
ways
• students must be able to
use what they learn in
contexts beyond those
practiced in class.
Planning to “Teach Up”
“Teaching up” is rooted in
what Carol Dweck (2006)
labels a “growth mindset”
Teachers with growth
mindsets believe that the
brain is malleable and that the
more we teach students as
though they are smart, the
more likely they are to
become smart.
Teaching Up…
• means planning instruction for the
broadest possible range of learners.
• aiming high
• then building scaffolding that helps all
students reach those heights,
including the students who may not
have seen themselves as capable of
making the climb.
Teaching up…
begins with the teacher asking…
“What is the most thought-provoking,
interesting, and engaging lesson(or unit)
I can design to ensure that students will
want to invest energy in complex
questions, address significant issues,
and master skills necessary for success
with critical content?”
Not “Harder” Curriculum,
but More “Rigorous”
“Hard” curriculum is taxing, burdensome, and
demotivating;
“Rigorous” curriculum is energizing, enlivening,
and motivating.
From Carol Tomlinson…
FAQ
Doesn’t differentiation
lower expectations for
students – “mollycoddle”
them and cause them to
be dependent?
ANSWER
• Defensible
differentiation always
“teaches up.” It’s never
a way out of rigor – but
rather a support to
achieve rigor. It guides
students in becoming
independent.
EFFECTS ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT OF
SCHOOL AND TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS WITH
STUDENT ENTERING SCHOOL AT THE 50th PERCENTILE
5th Grade Math
Standardized Test
Percentile Entering
Average School
Average Teacher
50th
Highly Ineffective School
Highly Ineffective Teacher
50th
Highly Effective School
Highly Ineffective Teacher
50th
Highly Ineffective School
Highly Effective Teacher
50th
Highly Effective School
Highly Effective Teacher
50th
Highly Effective School
Average Teacher
50th
Achievement Percentile
After Two Years
50th
3rd
37th
63rd
96th
78th
Teachers were highly effective in instructional strategies, classroom management,
and classroom curricular design.
Marzano, Meta-analysis, 2001
Plan a 30 Second Speech
What are some of your thoughts about Teaching Up?
Tiered ThinkDots:
Reflecting on Differentiation
• Version A (1): You have some knowledge of
the definition, vocabulary and principles of
differentiation.
• Version B (2): You are new to differentiation.
Tiered ThinkDots: Reflecting on DI
Journal 1
• What makes this a good activity?
• What concerns do you have?
• How might you use this activity in your
classroom?
Mediated Journal
Strategies
Pre-assessment
A B Each Teach
Short Anchor Activity
Mediated Journal
10:2
Working Agreement
Grounding (Small Fires)
Go Visual
Key Partners
Long Term Anchor
Closed Sort
Stir the Classroom
30 Second Speech
Tiered Think Dots
Journaling
Tiny events can disrupt a pattern.
Key Features of a DI Classroom
• Flexible grouping
• Choice
• Respectful tasks based on curriculum
• Shared responsibility for learning
43
Spend a Buck
PROCESS
• Read the handouts about the Key Features: Flexible
grouping, Choice, Respectful tasks based on curriculum, and
Shared responsibility for learning
• You have 100 imaginary pennies you can distribute among
four options.
• You decide how many pennies you will spend on each
option (use up the entire dollar) – based on, from greatest to
least, which you want to learn about more deeply.
• I will explain what to do next.
Looking for DI
Before Viewing
With your Choices Partner
• Each select two key features to explore (so
that you are observing for all 4 key features)
Individually
• Read about your key featurez:
– Pages : KEY FEATURES
45
Video Segment
During Viewing
• Record evidence of your key
features on the Looking for DI
Handout
After Viewing
• Explain your key features to
your partner and share your
evidence
SS/L-18ITEB 2010 Differentiated
Instruction Summer Program
View Videos
First Grade Classroom
Fifth Grade Classroom
47
Pack
and
Stack
Salsa Line Up
Strategies Jigsaw
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Learning Menus as Anchor Activities
RAFT and Trimind
The Profiler and Show/Tell
Structured Academic Controversy
Tiering
Strategies Jigsaw
1. With your “Expert
Partner” – from
another group, fill out
the response chart for
your strategy(ies).
2. “Experts” determine
what ideas you will
share and how you
will share the ideas in
your “Home Groups”.
Strategies Jigsaw
• Sharing in “Home Groups.”
–
Go in order – starting with
#1.
–
Fill out your response chart
as each “Expert” shares.
–
Appoint a timer – each
“Expert” should devote 7-8
minutes to their
strategy(ies).
–
Anchor Activity – work on
one of these if you finish
early.
Tiering = Taking a solid, “baseline” assignment
that has worked well in the past (for most
students), and then trouble-shooting it to
convert it into different versions (to connect to
all students).
Tiering is…
 A form of
differentiation
 Differentiation
according to readiness
 Based upon students’
readiness for a
particular task
 Driven by preassessment
 NOT the only kind of
differentiation, though
it is foundational
 NOT locking students
into “ability boxes” -groups are flexible and
vary according to the
task
 NOT more work or
“better” work for some
levels – tasks are
equitable
S
H
A
P
E
Jacque Melin’s Differentiation Diner
Mediated Journal
Strategies
Pre-assessment
A B Each Teach
Short Anchor Activity
Mediated Journal
10:2
Working Agreement
Grounding (Small Fires)
Go Visual
Key Partners
Long Term Anchor
Closed Sort
Stir the Classroom
30 Second Speech
Tiered Think Dots
Journaling
Strategies
Spend a Buck
Guided Viewing
Pack and Stack
Salsa Lineup
Jigsaw
Learning Menus
RAFT
Trimind
Profiler
Show and Tell
Tiering
Structured Academic Controversy
From Carol Tomlinson…
FAQ
• Differentiation is too
complicated.
• It asks too much of teachers.
Isn’t it unrealistic in its
expectations?
ANSWER
• Teaching is complicated or at
least high quality teaching is.
• Differentiation doesn’t ask us
to do everything at once, but it
does ask us to work steadily
toward understanding how we
can use each classroom
element separately and in an
interrelated way to support
student success. It asks us to
grow in our craft. That ought
to be quite reasonable.
Tiny events can disrupt a pattern.
Proactively Planning
with Differentiation in Mind
Think about learner variance that recurs from year to
year, such as…..
• weak readers,
• students missing important prerequisite knowledge,
• English language learners,
• advanced learners,
• students who approach learning in a variety of ways,
• and students with weak academic vocabularies.
Proactively Planning
with Differentiation in Mind
Plan with the Key Features of Differentiation in
mind….
• Flexible grouping (F)
• Choice (C)
• Respectful tasks based on curriculum (R)
• Shared responsibility for learning (S)
Model: What would I do…
Besides paying attention to F,C,R,S
• Use Scaffolding – Create an environment where
students bump into success
–
–
–
–
–
Help students set, monitor, and adjust goals
Offer multiple modes of activities or assessments
Providing graphic organizers or templates
Ensure planned opportunities for needed practice
Provide advanced students with another opportunity to
express their knowledge/skills
– Use small-group instruction to provide targeted
instruction or practice
– Use technology to support student reading, writing,
speaking, hearing, or movement
– Use peer brainstorming groups to prime thinking and
planning
What would I do…
Paying attention to F,C,R,S
Work with your Shared Responsibility for
Student Learning Partner
We want to Increase Student Learning
In order to do this…..how Adaptive are we?
Adaptive Definition:
Changing form (practice) while changing identity.
Focusing Questions:
Who are we? Who do we need to be?
Why are we doing this?
Why are we doing this this way?
From Adaptive Schools Garmston & Wellman
Adapted or Adaptive?
Companies that are adaptive…(or not)
• Adaptive
• Not
• Target
• Blockbuster
• Google
• Sears
• 3M
• Amazon
• Apple
Apple
Dilts Nested Levels of Learning
One level impacts the other…
Identity
Beliefs, Values, Assumptions
Capabilities
Behaviors
Environment
WHO?
WHY?
HOW?
WHAT?
WHERE?
“All the good work in schools is
just tinkering unless we clarify
our identities as collaborators
and inquirers.”
- Michael Fullan
Vision for School Change
The Elements of Professional Community
1.
Compelling
purpose
and
academic
focus
4.
Deprivatized
practice
2. Collective efficacy
and shared responsibility
for student learning
5.
Relational trust in
one another
3.
Collaborative
culture
6. Individual and
group learning
based on ongoing
assessment and
feedback
From Adaptive Schools Garmston & Wellman
Collaboration
Collaboration does not happen by chance; it
has to be taught, practiced and learned.
Developing collaborative cultures is the work
of leaders who realize that a collection of
superstar teachers working in isolation
cannot produce the same results as
interdependent colleagues who share and
develop professional practices together.
- Garmston and Wellman
Outcomes
for this part of the workshop
• Gain an emerging understanding of
the benefits of Cognitive Coaching℠
• Examine skills needed to be a
proficient collaborator
• Explore a communication tool that
supports collaboration
From Cognitive Coaching ℠ Costa and Garmston
Model
• List what you
observe about:
– The interaction
– The coach’s behavior
– The coachee’s thinking
From Cognitive Coaching ℠ Costa and Garmston
Mission Statement
• The mission of Cognitive Coaching℠ is to produce selfdirected persons with the cognitive capacity for high
performance both independently and as members of a
learning community.
• The metaphor of a stagecoach is one used to understand
what a coach does—convey a valued person from where
s/he is to where s/he wants to be.
From Cognitive Coaching ℠ Costa and Garmston
How Proficient Collaborators
Think and Act
• Which of these strategies
do you use? Does your
staff use?
• Which of these strategies
might need to be modeled
and practiced to encourage
students/adults to use?
From Cognitive Coaching ℠ Costa and Garmston
Positive Presuppositions
• “Given our shared
• Instead of asking,
concern about student
“Does any body here
achievement, let’s
know why the kids
examine our
aren’t learning?
assumptions about
what might be causing
the gaps in learning.”
From Cognitive Coaching ℠ Costa and Garmston
Positive Presuppositions
•
•
•
•
•
As you reflect upon the lesson,
As you examine the data,
Based upon past successful experiences,
As an experienced educator,
As a successful teacher,
From Cognitive Coaching ℠ Costa and Garmston
Pausing
• Wait time.
From Cognitive Coaching ℠ Costa and Garmston
Paraphrasing/Listening Set Asides
Paraphrasing
Listening Set Asides
• Attend fully
• Capture the essence
of the message
• Paraphrase before
asking a question
• Use the pronoun
“you” instead of “I”.
• Autobiographical
• Inquisitive
• Solution
From Cognitive Coaching ℠ Costa and Garmston
Principals of Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing sends three messages
1. I am listening
2. I am interested/I care
3. I understand you (or I am trying to)
From Cognitive Coaching ℠ Costa and Garmston
Planning Conversation
• Occurs before a colleague conducts or
participates in an event, resolves a challenge,
or attempts a task. The coach may or may not
be present during the event or available for
follow-up conversation.
You try (with your
Flexible Groupings Partner)…
Other Resources
• Strategies for Struggling Readers:
• http://www.peterpappas.com/blogs/read-blog/nonreader-complete.pdf
• Websites and Apps that Support DI
• http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/curriculum/cali
/di_websites_chart.pdf
• Inclusion Activities, Group Processing Activities, etc.
• https://rowman.com/WebDocs/CD%204x6%20Cards.p
df
Journal 2
• Armed with all of the information
from this workshop, what are YOUR
next steps?