Differentiated Instruction. Without diversity, there is no creativity.

Differentiated Instruction

Without diversity,there is no creativity.

What’s Fair

Daniel was born with legs that won’t carry him.What’s fair about that?

Juan’s dad doesn’t smile because his back is too tired

from picking beans or apples or whatever is growing

in somebody’s field in the next place.Roy doesn’t have a dad, smiling or not.What’s fair about that?

Elise doesn’t talk. She doesn’t know the language of the

lunchroom table, so she has no voice. No friends.Lavon doesn’t talk because he is afraid. His mom is sick

and maybe won’t get well.He is silent but his eyes get darker every day.

Jessie has a head full of ideas that should make himhappy and probably would if there were someone totalk to about them.

All those ideas make a wall between him and the peoplewho step back when he talks.

Matthias is sixteen now. He’s been an indentured servantto the alphabet for over a decade.

There is no end to his bondage in his view.

“The conversation between the fox and The Little Prince is so simple, so basic. Yet it is the root systemof responsive or ‘differentiated’ teaching, because it is the core of high-quality teaching – and high-qualityteaching and responsive teaching are really one and the same. It rests on this. What is essential in learners is difficult for teachers to see. Teachers accept responsibility for students about whom they genuinelycare.”

Carol Ann Tomlinson

They Are All So Different…

Children come to us in a variety of shapes, sizes, intellectual abilities, creative abilities, inter/intra personal skills, and a myriad more characteristics that makes each child we deal with unique and special.

Carol Ann Tomlinson

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.

Howard Gardner

What is Differentiation?

“In a way, it’s just shaking up the classroom so it’s a better fit for

more kids.”

Carol Ann Tomlinson

What is Differentiation?

“Differentiation is a philosophy – not a bag of tricks!”

Differentiation

Curriculum tells us what to teach. Differentiation shows

us how.

Differentiation is not new! It occurred in the one room school house and before:

“The real teacher teaches all the children.”

Confucius

“Educate the child according to his way.”

Jewish saying

“Teach each one according to his abilities.”

Mohammed

Differentiated Instruction

What Differentiated Instruction…

•Differentiated instruction is more QUALITATIVE than quantitative.

•Differentiated instruction provides MULTIPLE approaches to content, process, and product.

•Differentiated instruction is STUDENT CENTERED.

•Differentiated instruction is a BLEND of whole-class, group and individual instruction.

•Differentiated instruction is “ORGANIC.”

•Individualized instruction

•Chaotic

•Just another way to provide homogeneous instruction (inflexible grouping)

•Just modifying grading systems and reducing workloads

•More work for the “good” students and less and different for the “poor” students

IS IS NOT

Tame the Foxes

High QualityCurriculum

Flexible Use of AppropriateInstructional Strategies

Differentiation

Is a teacher’s response to learner’s needs

Guided by general principles of differentiation

Respectful tasks Flexible grouping Continual Assessment

Teachers Can Differentiate Through

Content Process Product Environment

According to Students’

Readiness Interest Learning Profile

Through a range of strategies such as:

Adjusting Questions... Reading Buddies… Graphic Organizers…RAFTS…Compacting… Cubing… Flexible grouping…

Learning Centers

Differentiating Instruction: Rules of Thumb

• Be clear on the key concepts, principles, and generalizations that give meaning and structure to the topic, chapter, unit, or lesson you are planning.

• Lessons for all students should emphasize critical thinking.

• Lessons for all students should be engaging and respectful.

• In a differentiated classroom, there should be a balance between student-selected and teacher-assigned tasks and working arrangements.

Differentiation of Instructionis a teacher’s response to learners’ needs

guided by general principles of differentiation, such as

respectful tasks ongoing assessment and adjustment

flexible grouping

clarity of learning goals appropriate challenge

Key Principles of a Differentiated Classroom

• The teacher is clear about what matters in subject matter.

• The teacher understands, appreciates, and builds upon student differences.

• Assessment and instruction are inseparable.

• All students participate in respectful work.

• Students and teachers are collaborators in learning.

• Flexibility is the hallmark of a differentiated classroom.

• Goals of a differentiated classroom are maximum growth and individual success.

• The teacher adjusts content, process, and product in response to student readiness, interests, and learning profile.

Source: Carol A. Tomlinson

Differentiation

What does it look like?

RAFTs

RAFT

Role

Audience

Format

Topic

RAFT: “My Mistress’ Eyes” (MS)

ROLE AUDIENCE FORMAT TOPICMistress Herself Diary Entry How that poem

made me feel…

You Fifth Graders Illustrated Children’s Book

“My Mistress’ Eyes…”

Shakespeare Young people Letter What true love REALLY means

Mistress Shakespeare Poem Your breath isn’t so hot, either…

Oprah Mistress Talk Show Interview

Willy: Love him or lose him?

RAFT: “My Mistress’ Eyes” (HS)ROLE AUDIENCE FORMAT TOPIC

Shakespeare Mistress Sonnet In plain English, this is what I mean…

Mistress Shakespeare Sonnet Your breath isn’t so hot, either…

Romeo Mistress Sonnet The sonnet you deserve…

Speaker of “Mistress…”

Romeo Sonnet My love goes deeper than yours…

Free Choice Free Choice Free Choice Free Choice

RAFT: Love that Dog & Poetic Form

ROLE AUDIENCE FORMAT TOPIC

You Jack Tribute poem Love that ---, too

Sky Jack Concrete poem Jack

Jack Police Rhyming poem

Run-away drivers

Miss Stretch-berry

Next year’s class

Haiku This boy I taught…

Free-verse poetry

Rhyming poem

Free-verse poem

Who’s harder to write?

CREATE YOUR OWN!

CREATE YOUR OWN!

CREATE YOUR OWN!

CREATE YOUR OWN!

RAFT: Romeo & JulietROLE AUDIENC

EFORMAT TOPIC

Love The Capulets and Montagues

Collage of words and images

I am stronger than hate

Juliet Self Diary entry Was Romeo really worth it?

Friar Lawrence People of Mantua Apology letter I’ve let you down

Traveling minstrel Whomever will listen

Ballad The sad story of Romeo and Juliet

Psychologist Conference Attendees

Conference Presentation

Romeo & Juliet: True love? Or teenage rebellion?

Prince of Mantua People of Mantua Speech Civic responsibility vs, private desires

Romeo His family Shakespearean monologue

What I learned

Learning Centers

Learning Contracts

Make a Clear Distinction Between

Good Curriculum and Instruction

and Differentiated Curriculum and

Instruction

Practice Improves Practice Improves PlayPlay

Low-Prep Differentiation High-Prep Differentiation

• Choices of books

• Homework options

• Use of reading buddies

• Varied journal prompts

• Varied pacing with anchor options

• Student-teacher goal setting

• Flexible grouping (WG-SG-I-WG)

• Varied supplementary materials

• Strategies by readiness, interest, learning profile

• Open-ended activities

• Negotiated criteria

• Explorations by interest

• Multiple levels of questions

• Mini-lessons

• Tiered activities and labs

• Tiered products

• Independent studies

• Multiple texts

• Alternative assessment

• Multiple-intelligence options

• Compacting

• Varying graphic organizers

• Tiered learning centers

• Literature Circles

• Choice Boards

• Graduated rubrics

• Personal agendas

• Stations by readiness, interest, learning profile

Source: Carol A. Tomlinson

Why Differentiation?

• Increased diversity in classrooms• High stakes testing and related

expectations• More inclusive education models

(e.g. special education, gifted education)

• Others?

Roadblocks to Differentiation• Complacency

• Lack of Understanding (i.e. good instruction vs. differentiated instruction)

• Fear• Lack of Patience• Poor Coaching• One-Size-Fits-All Staff

Development

Differentiation of instruction is a teacher’s response to a learner’s needs

Guided by general principles of differentiation, such as

Respectful tasks are learning experiences matched to the needs of the student. Tasks that are respectful of the

learner honor the differences among students’ readiness levels (appropriately rigorous), areas of interest (engage the learner), and learning profile (attends to

learner processing).

Ongoing assessment and adjustment involves the use of pre-, ongoing, and post-assessment data on learner readiness, areas of

interest, and learning profile to make adjustments in curriculum and

instruction.

Flexible grouping is characterized by the combination of whole group, small group, and independent work. Learners’

readiness, interests, and learning profiles serve as the basis for groups.

Student groups remain flexible because they are responsive to changes in students’ readiness, interests, and

learning profile. With high quality curriculum for all learners as the foundation, teachers can differentiate

ContentContent is the what. Content is defined by the Virginia Beach Instructional Objectives and the Virginia Standards of Learning. The content is what students will know, understand, and be able to do as a result of the sequence of teaching and learning.

ProcessProcess is the how. Process is how students will make sense of the content. The process is made up of the strategies and methods that form the sequence of teaching and learning.

ProductProducts are the vehicles by which students demonstrate their knowledge, understanding, and skills. They are the tools teachers use to assess student progress toward the content goals.

Learning EnvironmentLearning environment is the where. The learning environment is the organization of time, space, and resources for teaching and learning. It is the context in which teaching and learning take place. Developing a strong community of learners is essential to effective differentiation.According to student’s

ReadinessThe goal of differentiating by learner readiness is growth. Readiness is the point at which knowledge, skills, attitudes, and preparedness for learning converge so that the student is able to meet the demands of an educational experience. Readiness is constantly evolving and changing. If all learners are to progress toward content goals, the varying degrees of readiness for a given objective must be honored. Differentiation according to learner readiness provides an appropriate level of challenge.

InterestsThe goal of differentiating by student interest is motivation. If students are going to persist in rigorous content, they must be engaged. Differentiation according to student interest provides guided choices based upon content standards (VBOs/SOLs) where such choices are both appropriate and motivating.

Learning ProfileThe goal of differentiating by learner profile is efficiency. Identifying the ways in which students best learn helps organize curriculum and instruction so they learn things in a more efficient manner. A student’s learning profile is the combination of ways in which he/she best processes information.

Adapted by VIRGINIA BEACH CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS from The Differentiated Classroom by Carol Ann Tomlinson, 1999

When I See Differentiation, What Will I See?

A Continuum of Development

NOT

You Do Differentiation or You Don’t

NoDifferentiation

MicroDifferentiation

MacroDifferentiation

How Do I Begin??

“Come to the edge, he said.“We are afraid,” they replied.“Come to the edge,” he said. THEY DID.And he pushed them.And they flew.

Apolonaire