DI Participant Materials - Stetson Online€¦ · ü Assign individual roles and responsibilities for successful group work. (Timekeeper, note-taker, etc.) ü Assign group tasks that

Mastering Content, Engaging Learners A Guide to Differentiating Instruction

© 2009, Stetson Online Page 1

Differentiated Instruction Participant Materials



Introduction

This is a two-part course designed to provide educators with a practical, classroom-friendly course that moves from simple definitions and rationales to a model and set of strategies that can be immediately implemented within your own classroom or school.

What is Differentiated Instruction?

Differentiated Instruction is a set of decisions the educator makes to bring learning within the reach of every learner in today’s diverse classroom. More specifically, differentiated instruction is a decision-making process that guides the design of instructional lessons.

Four Points for Rationale

Point 1. We are not alike in our approaches to learning, our strongest learning modalities, our interests, or

motivators. In an often repeated quotation from Howard Gardner (2006), “the biggest mistake of past centuries in teaching has been to treat all children as if they were variants of the same Individual and thus to feel justified in teaching them all the same subjects in the same way.”

Rationale: 2. Legislation such as No Child Left Behind and IDEA 2004 require that all student groups should make adequate

yearly progress. Given the increasingly diverse characteristics of our students, effective practice calls for ways to respond to and engage them in the learning process.

Rationale: 3. Differentiated instruction is also an issue of equity. If we consistently teach the same way to all students and

expect all students to demonstrate their mastery of their learning objectives in exactly the same way when we have all of the evidence we need that today’s student vary significantly across multiple characteristics, we are offering a very narrow window for success for a limited number of students. Certainly for students who struggle with their learning, differentiated instruction offers a lifeline for success.

Rationale: 4. Our final reason for promoting differentiated instruction offers a personal reason for teachers to embrace

the practice. When we differentiate instruction, we not only achieve our mission as educators: to advance the learning of all students – but we also address one of the primary reasons for teacher turnover: boredom.

Rationale:



Instructional Design Tool Learner Objective/Unit Objective (What am I teaching?)

Pre-Assessment Tool/Information: (What do the students know about this learning objective? Their interests? Motivations?)

As

Des

igne

d

Instructional Strategies/Activities Grouping Assessment/Product Whole

Group Individual Partner Small Group

Additional Instructional Decisions: If needed, determine instructional supports for individual students.

Students who Require Instructional Supports:

Instructional Accommodations?

Curricular Modifications?

In-Class Support?

Differentiated Assessment?

Per IEP (�)

1.

2.

3.

4.

Accommodation: A change made to teaching or testing procedures in order to increase the student’s access to information and to create an equal opportunity to demonstrate knowledge and skills. It is “how” instruction is delivered and/or learning is assessed. Modification: A change in what the student is expected to learn and/or demonstrate. It is “what” the student is expected to learn. In-Class Supports: include the use of peer assistants/tutors, paraprofessionals, support facilitators, or co-teachers.

If needed, proceed to this section.



Related Priorities Connection

State Accountability System

Every state must collect and report information about student performance. As a result, your district is also a part of this accountability system and while “teaching to the test” may raise scores in the short term, only research-based instructional strategies will result in solid gains in student achievement in the long run. Differentiated instruction is an essential characteristic of quality instruction.

Closing the Achievement Gap The “one-size-fits-all” approach has not worked for millions of students for more than two decades. The only viable alternative is a re-commitment to differentiating instruction that responds to cultural and linguistic differences and the support needs of students with disabilities.

Student Engagement It is no longer acceptable for students to be passive participants in their own learning process, but to be actively engaged in organizing for learning and for advocating and creating their most effective learning environments. A hallmark of effective differentiated classrooms is student choice and student accountability.

Adequate Yearly Progress

If every student from every subgroup in American schools is to demonstrate adequate yearly progress, instruction must be responsive to the strengths and needs for every student. With differentiated instruction, this challenging mandate can be met. The reason-differentiated instruction is a systematic planning and delivery process that focuses on individual students rather than on class-wide characteristics.

Meta-cognition Self-Responsibility

A critical aspect of successful schooling for students in today’s society is the development of students’ responsibility for their own learning. In DI classrooms, teachers often assume the role of facilitator while students direct their own learning. These classrooms also provide frequent opportunities for student s to engage in meta-cognition, activities that require them to “think how they think and learn the best.”

Culturally Responsive Instruction In differentiated classrooms, teachers develop authentic relationships with each student and integrate a knowledge of each child’s culture into the instructional strategies and learning environment of the classroom.

Response to Intervention (RtI) RtI is designed to provide early, effective academic and/or behavioral interventions to student who are having difficulty in school. This is a three-tiered intervention model that begins in Tier 1 with an expectation that quality instruction is a necessary characteristic of every classroom.



Three Macro-Decisions

Student Learner Characteristics

1. _____________ refers to a student’s entry point relative to a particular understanding or skill. 2. Things that learners find relevant, intriguing or worth of their time are called ______________. 3. Primary learning modalities, multiple intelligences or how the student processes information is called a

student’s ________________________.

Where can I get the information I need?

Area Tool Links

Readiness Levels Cloze Readability Test Student Profile

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloze_test http://www.englishlearner.com/tests/teach.html http://www.webcrawler.com http://www.transparent.com/tlquiz/proftest/english/tlengtest.htm

Interests Hobbies

Motivators

Elementary Student Interest Survey Secondary Student Interest Survey

Self-Management Checklist of Self-Management Skills

http://www.athealth.com/Consumer?dsorders/ChildSocialSkills.html http://www.myadhd.com/socialself-6185.pdf http://www.laxfamilyresources.org/social_skills_checklist.htm http://illinoisearlylearning.org/tipsheets/checklist.htm

Learner Characteristics

How am I Smart? How do I learn? (elementary)

Learning Styles Inventory (secondary)

Identify Student Learning

Characteristics

Design a Specific Differentiated

Lesson

Create a Differentaited

Classroom

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloze_test

http://www.englishlearner.com/tests/teach.html

http://www.webcrawler.com/

http://www.transparent.com/tlquiz/proftest/english/tlengtest.htm

http://www.transparent.com/tlquiz/proftest/english/tlengtest.htm

http://www.athealth.com/Consumer?dsorders/ChildSocialSkills.html

http://www.athealth.com/Consumer?dsorders/ChildSocialSkills.html

http://www.myadhd.com/socialself-6185.pdf

http://www.laxfamilyresources.org/social_skills_checklist.htm

http://www.laxfamilyresources.org/social_skills_checklist.htm

http://illinoisearlylearning.org/tipsheets/checklist.htm



How do I organize the information? Create your own version of a student profile.



How can I use this process when I teach up to 150 students a day? ü Select the learner characteristics that are most important to you.

ü Work with your teachers and divide the labor.

Reflection 1. How can I improve my current use of information about the learning characteristics of my students?

2. Name two actions educators can implement to improve their use of information regarding student-learning characteristics.

Learning Styles Reading Level Career GoalSelf-

Management Skills

State Test Scores Mathematics Level Home Language Organizational

Skills

Interpersonal Skills

Group Leading Skills



Whole Group

• Strength

• Drawback

Small Group

• Strength

• Drawback

Individualized

• Strength

• Drawback

Paired

• Strength

• Drawback

Flexible Grouping Benefits of Flexible Grouping ü Increased attention span and increased learning because individual interests and needs are met ü Improved instruction and learning ü Equitable learning opportunities

List the strengths and drawbacks of the four flexible grouping types.



Tips for Managing Groups ü Make sure everyone understands your instructions before starting the group activity. ü Explicitly teach the desired behaviors of students in small groups. ü Establish the rules and guidelines for group work in advance and refer to them as often as necessary. ü Protect academic learning time by teaching the students to move quickly into the group activity. ü Create the physical space needed for quick movement into and out of small groups. ü Assign individual roles and responsibilities for successful group work. (Timekeeper, note-taker, etc.) ü Assign group tasks that will actively involve all members, not just a few. ü Establish a time frame for the work of the group. ü Recognize and reward academic accomplishments as well as social/interpersonal skill. ü Do not overuse small group instruction.

Reflection 1. How is teacher use of flexible grouping connected to equitable learning opportunities for all students? What am I Teaching?

Scaffolding is especially important for students who have had gaps in their learning or for some struggling students.



Pre-Assessment Pre-Assessment is an important feature of effective instruction because it enables the teacher to specifically target the instructional content to be taught.

List three common pre-assessment strategies and examples of each.

1 2 3



Instructional Design Tool Learner Objective/Unit Objective (What am I teaching?)

Pre-Assessment Tool/Information: (What do the students know about this learning objective? Their interests? Motivations?)

As

Des

igne

d

Instructional Strategies/Activities Grouping Assessment/Product Whole

Group Individual Partner Small Group

Additional Instructional Decisions: If needed, determine instructional supports for individual students.

Students who Require Instructional Supports:

Instructional Accommodations?

Curricular Modifications?

In-Class Support?

Differentiated Assessment?

Per IEP (�)

1.

2.

3.

4.

Accommodation: A change made to teaching or testing procedures in order to increase the student’s access to information and to create an equal opportunity to demonstrate knowledge and skills. It is “how” instruction is delivered and/or learning is assessed. Modification: A change in what the student is expected to learn and/or demonstrate. It is “what” the student is expected to learn. In-Class Supports: include the use of peer assistants/tutors, paraprofessionals, support facilitators, or co-teachers.

If needed, proceed to this section.



Instructional Strategies What’s in your repertoire?

Graphic Organizers are visual representations of content that enable the students to process, organize, remember and demonstrate their understanding of the information.

ü Typically a one-page form with blank areas or shapes for the student to fill in with related information ü Can be global or very detailed ü May be completed with pictures, words, and/or simple connectors that illustrate the relationship of the

various parts ü Should be explicitly taught to students and modeled by teachers ü Naturally increase in complexity as the subject matter becomes more complex List four types of Graphic Organizers.

1.

2.

3.

4.



Differentiated Lecture

Advantages to Large Group Instruction Teachers can move fairly quickly through new concepts and skills. Fewer procedures are needed. Monitoring is easier. Less student movement. Checking and feedback are easier. Teacher preparation is reduced. Facilitates in-depth learning and application. In a differentiated lecture, the instructor provides information through a lecture that is divided into several “mini-lectures.” After each mini-lecture, students are directed to take a minute or two to respond to a prompt provided by the teacher. Sometimes, the best way to learn a teaching strategy is to _________________________!

What was your favorite strategy used in the mini-lecture, and why?



Tiered Instruction

Content varied by… Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

Background knowledge Complexity Readiness

On grade-level but with significant scaffolding

On grade-level with minimal to no scaffolding

Challenging or above grade-level learner expectations

Student Interests Probability taught in context of sports examples

Probability taught in context of housing market

Probability taught in context of popular card game

Learning style Visual learners Auditory Learners Tactile/Kinesthetic Learners

Steps for Creating a Tiered Lesson 1. Identify the grade level and subject for the lesson. 2. Identify the standard you are targeting. 3. Identify the concept and any generalizations you are teaching. 4. Determine what you are going to tier: the curriculum content, the instructional strategy, or the

assessment process/product. 5. Determine the type of tiers you will create by: complexity, student interest, or learning style. 6. Based on your decisions for Steps 4 and 5, determine how many tiers you will need. 7. Develop the lesson.

Tier 1Tier 2Tier 3



Tiered Instruction Planning Format

Grade Level Subject

Learner Objective or Standard:

Concept/Generalizations to be Taught:

Tiered by: ___ Content On the basis of: ___ Complexity

___ Instructional strategy ___ Student Interest

___ Assessment or product ___ Learning Style

Tiers Needed:



Jigsaw

Jigsaw is an activity that allows students to work in small groups, yet cover a body of information on different topics. Jigsaw is a natural format for:

• Differentiating readiness levels, learning styles and student interest; and,

• Encouraging collaboration and cooperative learning.

Explain how to avoid potential problems with the jigsaw technique with the following students: The Dominant Student The Slow Student

Bright Student Becoming Bored Competitive Students



Define the following Instructional Strategies

Direct Instruction Indirect Instruction Experiential Learning Independent Study Interactive Instruction Instructional Skills Jigsaw for upper grade level and undergraduate classes 1. Divide topic into four parts

2. Assign part to each team

3. Assign homework question

4. Turn in homework and join expert groups

5. Return to home groups to teach

6. Team synthesis activity





Individual Student Support Decisions

Think of the students in your classroom. Are there any you think might need additional support? Why?

True/False

Question True False

1. The Instructional Design Tool must be completed for every day you teach.

2. The Instructional Design Tool is required by education legislation.

3. The IDT structures instructional decision to provide the appropriate level of challenge and support for each student.

4. Effective practice research supports the use of differentiated lesson planning formats that facilitate teacher decision-making.

5. If we design our lesson with differentiation built into it, we will probably not need to make as many individual student support decisions later.

6. If we use labels to describe students and their capabilities, we will accurately predict their individual support needs.

7. If a student’s IEP indicates a specific accommodation, modification, personal support, or adjustment or assessment, it must be implemented in the classroom as described.



Classroom norms for both independent work and small group work are collaboratively developed by teacher and students, are posted and frequently reviewed.Rules and routines for moving into and out of small group work are explicitly taught.Study and organizational skills are taught and integrated into instructional tasks.The classroom set-up allows for desks and chairs to be configured into a variety of arrangements.

Materials and other resources are readily available to students.Appropriate tasks are assigned to students to take full advantage of time between instructional activities, such as journal writing, independent reading, and work on assigned projects.

Differentiated Classroom There are six strategies every teacher should apply to create a differentiated classroom.

Documents

DI Participant Materials - Stetson Online€¦ · ü Assign individual roles and responsibilities for successful group work. (Timekeeper, note-taker, etc.) ü Assign group tasks that