Differentiated Instruction

Rodney Robinson, Dept Head.Armstrong High School

AP US History and GovernmentVA/US History

www.mrrobinsonahs.wikispaces.com@RodRobinsonRPS on TwitterMrRobinsonAHS@yahoo.comrrobins4@richmond.k1.va.us

Differentiated instruction is an approach to teaching and learning for students with different abilities in the same classroom.

The teacher consistently and proactively create different pathways to help all your students be successful.

The theory behind differentiated instruction is that teachers should vary and adapt their approaches to fit the vast diversity of students in the classroom.

What is DI?

Teachers who differentiate instruction recognize that students differ in many ways, including prior knowledge and experiences, readiness, language, culture, learning preferences, and interests.

They realize they must change the way they teach in order to reach all students. Through differentiated instruction, students will get to the same place, but take different paths

What is DI?

Reaches out to Multiple Learning styles Increases Student Engagement Promotes Solid Social Behavior Creates a Positive Environment for Learning Promotes Self Discipline and Control

Advantages of DI

Creates a culturally responsive education system grounded in the belief that all culturally and linguistically diverse students can excel in school when their culture, language, heritage and experiences are valued and used to facilitate their learning and development

Advantages of DI

When assignments are the same for all learners, but the level of difficulty of assignments is varied for certain students than others, and students who finish early play games for enrichment – the class is not differentiated (Tomlinson 1995).

Differentiated instruction has nothing to do with “dumbing down” or “watering down” instruction or the standards to make it easier for some students.

Differentiated instruction also is not individualized instruction, which proposes to design materials and tasks for the particular needs of each student. Differentiated instruction suggests teachers look at “zones” in which students cluster so they can offer three or four routes to a goal on a given day

What is NOT DI?

Student Engagement Questioning Flexible Grouping Assessments

4 Necessities of DI

Student engagement is the most important piece of Differentiated Instruction

The purpose of differentiating instruction is for the student to take an active roll in his or her learning

Teachers can control how a student is engaged by controlling the 4 elements in a classroom

Student Engagement

Content – what the student needs to learn or how the student will get access to the information

Process – activities in which the student engages in order to make sense of or master the content

Products – projects that ask the student to demonstrate what he or she has learned in a unit

Learning Environment - the way the classroom works and feels.

Teacher controls in Student Engagement

Questioning

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Questions should be varied and prepared in advance according to Bloom’s Taxonomy

All Answers are provisional and deserve respect

The higher the levels of questioning, the more wait time is needed for response

Give all students the opportunity to engage and activate prior knowledge before questioning

Ask students to generate their own questions

5 Characteristics of Quality Questioning

Flexible Grouping

Grouping students according to their learning needs and the goals of the particular lesson

Once the needs of all learners are met, the group dissolves and students move on

Groups are formed and reformed as appropriate for particular activities

Flexible Grouping

Whole Groups◦ Most effective for new concepts, leading a

discussion, having a debate, or demonstrating a how to assignment

Small Group – Heterogenous◦ Most Effective when students need to work

collaboratively to learn from one another

Types of Groups

Small Group – Homogenous◦ Most Effective when students have similar levels

of readiness in a skill or subject Independent Work

◦ Most effective for summative assessments, projects, or papers

Types of Grouping

Assessments

3 Types◦ Pre, Formative, Summative

Pre Assessments◦ Activates a students prior knowledge of a

particular subject and gives teachers blueprints of what he/she must teach

Assessments

Formative Assessments◦ Tracks student progress and gives them

opportunity to track their own growth◦ Used to create a student’s learner profile – how

an individual student learns best◦ Process is On going and daily◦ Helps teacher plan differentiation

Summative Assessment◦ Making sure students have reached the goals set

by teacher/division/state dept of ed

Assessments

Lesson Examples

21 Questions

Get with your 9 o clock appointment Each Group will be handed a Famous Picture

from US History Examining the picture, groups need to

figure out what time period the picture was taken.

Student must form 21 questions to answer about the picture using various levels of blooms taxonomy

Each section of blooms must have at least three questions

21 Questions

Civil War Experience

Students get 2 minutes to read their letter. Each student will get 1 minute to share the

content of their letter with other members of the group

Students will then form new homogenous groups of the same letter

Civil War

In Homogenous groups, students will write ten adjectives to describe the letter

In Homogenous groups, students will write ten facts from the letter

Students will share out with the class. Get with your 3 o clock appointment and

write a response to their letter using your knowledge of the war.

Civil War