Differentiated Instruction in the Classroom the

First Steps!

Angela Christie-Romanowski, Principal

Trillium Academy

Impacts on Student Achievement

According to the McREL research study on Balanced Leadership…

• School Practices• Teacher Practices• Student Characteristics

School PracticesWhich influence Student

Achievement• Guaranteed and Viable

Curriculum• Challenging Goals and

Effective Feedback• Parent and Community

Involvement• Safe and Orderly

Environment• Collegiality and

Professionalism

Teacher PracticesWhich influence student

AchievementInstructional Strategies

Classroom ManagementClassroom Curriculum Design

Student CharacteristicsWhich influence student

achievement• Home Environment• Learned Intelligence and

Background Knowledge• Student Motivation

What is the overall impact on student

achievement?Talk with your partner and write down the

percent of impact you think each category has on student achievement.

School Practices, Teacher Practices, Student characteristics

• 7% School Practices• 13% Teacher Practices• 80% Student Characteristics

80% of Student Achievement is based on Student Characteristics?!!

Home Environment – I can’t change this, But I can be empathetic and supportive!

Learned Intelligence and Background Knowledge – I can’t change this, but I can provide DIFFERENTIATED material at the student’s developmental level and real life experience and information to provide background knowledge!

Student Motivation – I can’t change this, but I can take time to find out student interests and learning styles and provide learning opportunities based upon their motivations.

I can make a difference through…

• Instead of expecting students to adapt to teacher guidelines it is important for the teachers to adapt to the students needs.

• The teacher must provide the missing links!!!!!

…differentiated instruction!

The Link between student and teacher!

Differentiated instruction is the process of manipulating the implementation of curriculum to meet individual student needs.

Differentiated Instruction IS…

• Giving students whatever they need to learn and be successful!

• Being FAIR not necessarily equal! • Matching a student’s readiness, interest and learning

style to develop a learning profile by using pre-assessment and multiple assessment tools.

• Offering Choices in completion of assignments, activities, and groupings.

• Using multiple intelligences, student interests, strengths, weaknesses and prior experiences when designing lessons.

One D.I. GURU says…“Teachers begin where students are, not

the front of a curriculum guide. They accept and build upon the premise that learners differ in important ways, engage students in instruction through different learning modalities, by appealing to different interests, and by using varied rates of instruction along with varied degrees of complexity.” (Tomlinson)

Take it to the classroom!

Start small!!!Don’t expect to Don’t expect to differentiate your entire differentiate your entire curriculum for every student right away.for every student right away.

Just like students, teachers have different comfort levels and prior experiences. There are simple low level strategies and it builds from there. Do what you can and make adjustments as needed.

Low-Prep Strategies examples;

• Graphic Organizers• Journals or Learning Logs• Flexible Seating• Reading Buddies• Mini Lessons • Exploration by Interest

Graphic Organizers• KWL charts• Vocabulary Maps• Venn Diagrams• Webs• Flow Charts• Story Maps

Journals or Learning Logs

• Journaling can be used across the curriculum as assessment instead of a “formal” unit or chapter test.“Draw and label OR write and describe the parts of a flower.”

Flexible Seating• Give students opportunity to

choose where to sit and whether to work alone, in pairs or in small groups (occasionally).

• Allows the student to discover how they work best.

Reading Buddies• Pairing up readers with others in the

classroom for pleasure and study reading.• BE CAREFUL! Gifted Learners may become

bored if always placed in the “teacher” role.• Struggling learners may become intimidated

and/or resentful.• Give students the choice when doing “buddy

reading”, instead of assigning pairs.• AND/OR utilize your Mid-range students to flex

back and forth.

Mini Lessons• Either individual or small group• Quick!• Reteach a skill not grasped OR• Offer support to all levels of

learners

Exploration By Interest• Use interest survey’s to design lessons that can be interest based.• Useful for motivating the unmotivated child.• Can be utilized across the curriculum in many ways.

Sample Interest survey and multiple intelligences survey in your packet. Let’s turn to our M. I. survey and complete it. What are some examples of ways that this pre-assessment can be used with your students…

High Prep Strategies examples;

• Homogenous and Heterogeneous group activities

• Literature Circles• Multiple texts on same topic• Activity Menus• Learning centers choices

Grouping• Homogenous- same ability level• Heterogeneous- mixed ability levels• Not static- groups change based on students needs and

interests. • Again – be flexible “utilize your Mid-range students to

flex back and forth.”• To choose groups use an assessment tool such as

running records to determine individual reading levels. Assess throughout the year to show each child’s progress.

• Can choose groups based on interest, multiple intelligences, choice.

Literature Circles

• Offer choices to topics sometimes.• Offer choices according to the

groups ability level sometimes.• Change groups periodically.• Model, Model, Model!

Multiple texts• When exploring a theme or topic as a whole

class, have a multitude of resources available including many levels of reading from magazines, picture books, textbooks, etc.

• Example: Rainforest

Activity Menus• Students are given a myriad of choices

to fulfill learning requirements. • In your packet there is sample menu,

let’s look at the criteria within it…• On the next page there is a blank menu,

in group of three or four which you can choose yourselves, please choose a topic and objective and list activities that the students will be able to choose from.

Learning Centers• Have options for students to

choose at each center OR• Assign specific assignments at

certain centers.• Utilize flexible ability grouping and

differentiate for small groups when planning center instruction.

Differentiation in context

Differentiation is important for all students and is designed to ensure concrete learning foundations and success for all learners.

Your Plan!• Either individually or with a partner pick one subject and topic

that you know you will be teaching in the next two weeks. What is the “big picture” objective your students need to learn?

• Consider the students in your class and the needs that you have witnessed thus far.

• Choose at least two types of pre-assessment that you will administer to plan out the implementation of curriculum you chose.

• Using the examples we discussed, choose three activities that you will use to teach the objective and list all of the necessary components for it.

• Plan your final assessment options with reflection on the pre-assessment and your “big picture” objective.

20-30 Minutes to work. Please ask questions if you need assistance.

Discuss your planFrom the interest survey’s we did earlier, please raise

your hand if you are a visual learner, you are all red’s; Auditory learner, you are all orange’s; …etc.

Now I would like you to get in rainbow groups, one of each color, and discuss your plans.

1. Discuss the elements of your plans and offer suggestions and redirection for group members to bring success to all learners.

2. Choose three best, unique, or effective strategies or teaching points to share with the whole group.

3. Spokes person from each group will share with the whole group.

Your Goals and IdeasPlease take 5-8 minutes to fill out the

following survey, individually.• What can you take away from this

break out session to use in your classroom immediately?

• What is your first step?• What other ideas can you offer?• Questions and/or comments?

For further information• http://www.sde.com/Conferences/Differentiated-Instruct

ion/DIResources.htm

• On Their Side: Helping Children Take Charge of Their Learning BY: B. Strachota

• A Practical Guide to Alternative Assessment BY: J. Herman, P. Aschbacher, & L. Winters

• Local ISD or ESA

References

• Tomlinson, Carol Ann. How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms.

• Waters, Tim. Ed.D., Marzano, Robert. Ph.D., McNulty, Brian. Ph.D. Mid-Continent Research on Education & Learning (McREL). “Balanced Leadership”

• Koski, Lisa. Michigan Charter School Teacher of Year 05/06.