Differentiating Instruction

Sharing Present Practice:

Give a Few Ideas, Get a Few Ideas

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We are all different. We have different gifts in differing proportions. We are interested in different things. We learn in different ways.

Teachers Differentiate Instruction to structure learning experiences that capitalize on these differences: to engage different interests, to highlight different gifts, and to honour the many different ways of becoming, and coming to know.

Sometimes we walk the same road. And sometimes we take our own path.

What is differentiated instruction? Differentiated Instruction is a FRAMEWORK for all instruction.

Differentiation: The Teachers response to LEARNER NEEDSGuided by these DI principles:Ongoing Assessment &AdjustmentFlexible GroupingRespectful Tasks

Readiness

Learning ProfileInterestsContentProcessProduct

Learning Environment

Teachers can differentiate:According to a students:Adapted by the TDSB from The Differentiated Classroom : Responding to the Needs of All Learners by C.A. Tomlinson, 1999

Students benefit becauseThey know we are honouring how they learn, and how they learn differently.We are putting tools and understandings in their hands: they can control their own learning and take responsibility for it themselves. We are connecting them with like-minded and different others to enrich their thoughts and experiences. We see their strengths and help them see the benefits of continuous efforts.We are enabling them to take risks and to be resilient.

Students benefit from Differentiated Instruction because They see that we care, because we are respecting them for who they really are in the light of all the talents they have, and that we are helping them work actively toward becoming the people they want to be.

What Matters to Adolescents

AffirmationContributionPurposePowerChallenge

AffirmationTeachers relationships with students correlate very strongly with students achievement.Knowing themrecognizing their uniquenesscreating experiences that capitalize on their giftsaffirms their worth as individuals. Knowing that their teachers care about them makes them stay in school and try.

ContributionAdolescents need opportunities to share their talents, ideas and thoughts with others:Opportunities to work with others in partners and small groupsOpportunities to do relevant, original and authentic work

PurposeThey need to discover or know the reasons why they are doing the tasks of school, so they can take responsibility for their actions and their choices.

PowerStudents produce work of significantly better quality when they can make meaningful choices about what they do and how they do it in school.

ChallengeThe work students do must be personally meaningful, and should encourage them to stretch and grow--within the range of the possible.

Differentiation is classroom practice that looks eyeball to eyeball with the reality that kids differ, and the most effective teachers do whatever it takes to hook the whole range of kids on learning.Carol Ann Tomlinson

Differentiated Instruction TDSBDifferentiated Instruction is a teachers response to a learners need. In the TDSB approach to Differentiated Instruction priority is placed upon emphasizing the importance of student individuality with respect to culture, race, language, learning needs, life circumstances as well as learning styles.This is guided by general principles of differentiation such as:Ongoing Assessment and AdjustmentFlexible GroupingRespectful Tasks

Readiness

Learning ProfileInterestsContentProcessProduct

Learning Environment

Teachers can differentiate:According to a students:Adapted by the TDSB from The Differentiated Classroom : Responding to the Needs of All Learners by C.A. Tomlinson, 1999

Knowing Our StudentsDifferentiated instruction requires that we know our studentsreadinessintereststheir learning preferences as they learn new concepts and skills. With this knowledge, we are better able to design and refine instruction and assessment to meet the needs of all learners.

1. Differentiating by Learner Preferences A Learners profile describes the students preferred ways of processing what is to be learned. The profile includes learning styles as well as intelligence and environmental preferences.

Learning Profiles

Learning StylesDescribes how we prefer to acquire, process and remember new information VisualAuditory KinestheticCombination

Intelligence PreferencesBased on the multiple intelligences work of Howard Gardner and the triarchic intelligences work of Robert Sternberg (2001). Intelligences are what Gardner calls the formats in which our mind thinks.

Multiple Intelligences Since our students are stronger in some intelligences than others, it is important to address, when appropriate, their strongest intelligence when teaching new material.

2. Differentiating by Students Readiness

The goal of differentiating by readiness is to foster the GROWTH of the learner.

Students ReadinessReadiness is different from ability.Students readiness depends on:Their prior knowledge of the topicTheir points of connection Their feelings about learning the new materialProvide content and tasks at an appropriate level of challenge for the students readiness.

If we only differentiate for readiness, then students will settle into fixed groupings, which limits studentsgrowth, keeping them on one track within the classroom.BUT

When differentiating for students readiness and interests it is important that teachers recognize student individuality with respect to culture, race, language, learning needs and life circumstances.

3. Differentiating for Students Interests

The goal of differentiating by learner interest is MOTIVATION and ENGAGEMENT.

Students InterestsCapitalizing on students interests ignites their motivation to learn.Tasks and topics become relevant when they connect to something the student knows and cares about.When new ideas are personally relevant, students are engaged, and meaningful learning happens. Tomlinson

Brain ResearchCurrent research on the brain suggests that we learn best when we are engaged in meaningful classroom learning experiences that help us discover and develop our strengths and talents.

Differentiating by Interest: Your Choice of Readings Choose one of these readings: Teaching Beyond the BookThe Silver Cup of Differentiated Instruction Radically Redefining Literacy InstructionMultiple Intelligences Meets Blooms TaxonomyHelp Us Care Enough to LearnIf Only Theyd Do Their HomeworkPromoting Respectful Learning (math)

Differentiating Curriculum: The ContentThe same for all students: the overall expectations (the Big Ideas) that students are demonstrating How they access the content can differ: Different levels of text, same topic/contentDifferent text forms (print), same contentDifferent text forms (media), same contentWhat they access can differ:Different content/topicsDifferent points of view, same content

Differentiating Curriculum: The ProcessThe same: they all process the content/acquire understandingWhat may differ: how they process the contentIndividually, or in a group, at various stagesHow they do research (read, interview)Tiered questions/activitiesPacing and time requiredProcess according to preferred intelligence

Differentiating Curriculum: The ProductThe same: they all demonstrate understanding of the same overall expectations and Big IdeasWhat may differ: how they demonstrate understanding:Individual or group effortThe text formComplexity/simplicity of the understandingModality/means of presentationForm of intelligence used to demonstrate

GRASP (Goal, Role, Audience, Scenario, Product)A GRASP task is one which engages students in creative and meaningful tasksa way to encourage students to: assume a role consider their audience examine a topic from a relevant perspective present a product in different forma chance for students to explore content from new perspectives, thereby deepening their understanding

This tool helps to understand what a grasp task is all about.

Sample Grasp Task for Gr 9 Chemistry:Goal: To understand the pros and cons between the use of copper wiring in electrical circuits versus aluminum wiringRole: Representative from Electrical Contractors AssociationAudience: Realtors of first time home buyers in the GTAScenario: the resale of homes built in the decade of 1970 is now reaching its peak. The ECA representative sends out a message of caution about homes built in the era. An emphasis is placed on the use of aluminum wiring in homes built in the time frame.Product: A letter of caution that will outline the following:historical reasoning for Al wirePros and cons to Al wiring in houses compared to Copper wiringCost benefit analysis of the conversion to copper wiring.

Choice BoardsTo activate multiple intelligences

Knowing our Students: Establishing and Maintainingrelationships (assessment)

(finding out) (keeping track & checking-up (making sure)Pre-testGraphing MeInventoryKLWChecklistObservationSelf-evaluationQuestioningConferenceExit CardPeer evaluationPortfolio Check3-minute pauseObservationJournal EntryJournal promptSelf-evaluationQuestioning Quick-quizUnit TestPerformance TaskProduct/ExhibitDemonstrationPortfolio Review

The teachers attitude can make all the difference.Teachers who showed the greatest ability to move toward differentiated classrooms were inquirers about students and saw school as an organic enterprise in which disequilibrium or disturbance was a catalyst for growth

Carol Ann Tomlinson

What Differentiated Instruction is NOTtreating everyone equallyhaving high expectations for some, and lesser expectations for othersindividualizing for every studentaccelerating some, leaving others behindgiving those whove mastered it more of the same

The Difference that Teachers MakeTeachers that differentiate instructionmove away from seeing themselves as keepers and dispensers of knowledge and move towards seeing themselves as organizers of learning opportunities that allow students to construct understanding themselves.

Carol Ann Tomlinson

Checking in with youComplete this statement, matching your experience to one of the following photos:

The way I see Differentiated Instruction right now.

iceberg

playground

fireworks

rollercoaster

the stars by daylight

a box of doughnuts

Change produces uncertainty and feelings of incompetence --- uncertainty because were caused to deal with the unfamiliar, incompetence because we dont know how to do what weve never done before.

In the face of fear and feelings of incompetence, people seek security --- and the greatest security they know is found in the status quo. They therefore look for every reason they can find to justify their preference for the old and their resistance to the new. Phil Schlecty

Its about helping all students succeedone student at a time. Whatever it takes.

This helps students to see that school is part of the wider world; that what they are learning is related to life in the world and that they have a chance to contribute to the world.We can do this if weve been assessing, observing and coaching all along. That is why formative assessment is so key to improving student learning.