Differentiating & Scaffolding
Instruction
Ryan Mathis, Mathematics Interventionist Specialist, TDOE Holly Pillow, Mathematics Coach & Interventionist, Trenton Special School District
Responding to the Needs of All Learners
Welcome
Goals and Objectives
All means all.
• To understand the guiding principals of differentiation and scaffolding and how it benefits all learners.
• To gain a deeper understanding of the founding principals of differentiation: environment, content, process, and product
• To develop research-based instructional strategies to best meet the needs of all learners within core instruction
• To feel more prepared in developing differentiated and scaffolded lessons to best deliver rigorous Tennessee State Standards for diverse learners.
Purpose
“There is no formula or recipe that works for all learners in all times. There is no set of lesson plans or units that can engage the range of learning styles, approaches, and intelligences that are likely to gather in one classroom.”
William Ayres, To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher
Tennessee Landscape for Student’s with a Disability (SWD)
How are we scheduling SWDs for Instruction & Intervention?
In General Ed 80% or more of the day
In General Ed 40%-70% of the day
In General Ed <40% of the day
Comparing SWDs achievement data to all students
Why Focus on Long Term Success? • A student who can't read on grade level by 3rd grade is 4x less likely to graduate by age 19 than a child who does read proficiently in 3rd grade. Add poverty to the mix, and a student is 13x less likely to graduate on time than his or her proficient, wealthier peers. - American Educational Research Association • 16 percent of students overall do not receive a diploma by age 19, but students who struggle with reading in the first few years of elementary school comprise 88 percent of those who do not receive a diploma. - Bureau of Labor Statistics National Longitudinal Study of Youth • http://www.readinghorizons.com/blog/post/2011/04/20/Poor-Reading-Skills-Are-Responsiblefor-More-
Dropouts-Than-Poverty.aspx
Setting the Stage
The Challenge
Currently, nearly 50% of all Americans reach their mid-20s without the skills or credentials essential for success in today’s
increasingly demanding workforce.
If we fail to expand the ways in which we educate and prepare our students for postsecondary education and the workforce, their future quality of life will suffer, our communities will lose out on unrealized contributions, and the impact on our various
economies will be pronounced.
In Tennessee, 55% of existing and predicted jobs will require at least a technical certification or a two-year degree and
relevant workplace skills by 2025.
Continuum of Instructional Support
•ALL students •Core Instruction •Differentiated to meet diverse needs
Tier I Instruction
•In addition to Tier I •Skills focused •Targeted to student deficits
v Tier II
Intervention
•In addition to Tier I •Skills focused •Intensive to meet specific student needs
Tier III Intervention
•In addition to Tier I •Most Intensive support to meet individualized student needs •Highest frequency of monitoring
Special Education
Intervention
Becomes more specific and intense
Instructionally Appropriate IEP Data Review: Turn & Talk • Identify grade level/band and assign case study (K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12) • Divide into groups based on grade/content area • Review the student who has an IEP case study
• Make notes and highlight information that you find important
about this student
• Discuss with your grade level/content groups on what core instruction needs to look like for this particular student within the LRE
• Share out and discuss
Differentiating & Scaffolding Instruction: Turn & Talk • What does this mean to me as an educator?
• Why is this important for the students in the classroom?
• Collaborate with your table /share out.
Differentiation of Instruction
Understanding vs. Reality in Education Practice
What We Know What We Often Do Students are more diverse today than at any time in our history. Diversity is normal and beneficial.
Intelligence is fluid, not static. Virtually all students can learn what is necessary for school success if they work intelligently, diligently, and with strong classroom support. Classroom environments that are rooted in strong teacher-student relationships and that build communities of learners have a highly positive impact on student outcomes. Curriculum should help students understand how the disciplines are organized to make sense, be engaging, focus on student understanding and transfer of knowledge, be relevant to students’ lives, and cast them as thinkers and problem solvers.
Understanding vs. Reality in Education Practice
What We Know What We Often Do Formative assessment that is used to provide quality feedback, to guide instructional planning, and to develop student autonomy has a powerful impact on student learning.
Student differences matter in learning, and attending to those differences is necessary for sustaining learning. Instruction that is responsive to student readiness, interest, and approach to learning supports success for more learners. Classroom management facilitates growth best when it balances predictability and flexibility, fosters student self-direction, and is built on sound student-teacher relationships. Labeling and sorting students has not proven effective in raising student achievement and carries a significant price in terms of student perception of their own ability and that of others.
Understanding vs. Reality in Education Practice
What We Know What We Often Do Students are more diverse today than at any time in our history. Diversity is normal and beneficial.
We tend to see student variance as problematic.
Intelligence is fluid, not static. Virtually all students can learn what is necessary for school success if they work intelligently, diligently, and with strong classroom support.
Schools tend to have a preference for determining which students are smart and which are not in order to separate them for instructional convenience.
Classroom environments that are rooted in strong teacher-student relationships and that build communities of learners have a highly positive impact on student outcomes.
Teachers often feel they have too many students and too many demands to know students well. Classrooms are often collections of individuals rather than teams of learners.
Curriculum should help students understand how the disciplines are organized to make sense, be engaging, focus on student understanding and transfer of knowledge, be relevant to students’ lives, and cast them as thinkers and problem solvers.
Curriculum is often dictated by standards, pacing guides, and texts. It rarely connects with students’ lives or helps students make sense of the world around them. Emphasis on “right answers” discourages deep thinking and meaning making.
Understanding vs. Reality in Education Practice
What We Know What We Often Do Formative assessment that is used to provide quality feedback, to guide instructional planning, and to develop student autonomy has a powerful impact on student learning.
Formative assessment is often used to give grades and infrequently used to modify instruction in response to varied learner needs. Students infrequently use formative assessment feedback to plan for their own success.
Student differences matter in learning, and attending to those differences is necessary for sustaining learning.
We tend to teach as though all students of a given age are essentially alike.
Instruction that is responsive to student readiness, interest, and approach to learning supports success for more learners.
We tend to persist in one-size-fits all approaches to teaching, learning, materials, pacing, etc.
Classroom management facilitates growth best when it balances predictability and flexibility, fosters student self-direction, and is built on sound student-teacher relationships.
Classroom management tends to be compliance oriented – rigid, stressing “right answers” rather than the “messiness of thinking,” and rooted in distrusts of students.
Labeling and sorting students has not proven effective in raising student achievement and carries a significant price in terms of student perception of their own ability and that of others.
We tend to prefer labeling and sorting rather than creating an inclusive classroom designed to ensure that a broad range of students learn and work well together.
What is a Differentiated Classroom?
“So many students are physically present and psychologically absent. About 40 percent of students go through the motions, neither trying hard nor paying attention. So many cut class and are truant, so many admit to cheating to get through, so many lose interest because they cannot keep up, and so many are bored by the lack of appropriate challenge. So many do not learn that ability is not enough and effort is crucial. About half of students who drop out say their classes were not interesting, and about two-thirds say not one teacher cared about their success in learning at school…”
Adapted slightly from John Hattie, Visible Learning
Differentiation vs. Scaffolding
• Differentiation is a framework or philosophy for effective teaching that involves providing different students with different avenues to learning
• Scaffolding is breaking up the learning into chunks and then providing a tool, or structure, with each chunk.
Differentiation of Instruction • Differentiated instruction is a teacher’s proactive response to
learner needs Differentiated instruction is guided by principals of
differentiation: environment, quality curriculum, assessment that informs teaching and learning, instruction that responds to student variance, and leading students and managing routines
• Four ways to differentiate are: environment, content, process, and product
• Differentiation is based on: Readiness – a student’s specific proximity to specified learning goals. Interests – passions, affinities, kinships that motivate learning Learning Profile – preferred approaches to learning
Differentiated Environment • Environment is the classroom conditions and interactions that set the
tone and expectations for learning.
• Understanding that the learning environment has an impact on students’ affective needs and that affect, in turn, plays a role in cognition and learning.
• Examples: – Students feel welcomed and valued at their level of readiness. – Teacher is confident of their capacity to learn what they need to learn and will
support them vigorously as they do so. – Teacher and student work together to enhance one another’s growth. – Success and failures are inevitable in the learning process, and the classroom
is a safe place for both. – Hard work will result in observable growth. – Hard work and growth will be celebrated by the teacher and student. – Routines and processes in the classroom are designed to give all students
access to whatever they need for success (Universal Design for Learning).
Let’s Practice: Differentiated Environment
• Refer back to the information provided on your particular student on the IEP.
• How can you take the information you have and
differentiate the learning environment to best meet the needs of this particular learner?
• What would the day to day classroom look like?
• Small Group: Chart your thought process.
• Whole Group: Share-Out
Student Need(s) and Area(s) of Deficit:
Successful differentiation is based on individual student need(s) and area(s) of deficit. First, determine what the student requires to access core instruction; then, effectively plan to meet their need(s). Examples:
• Reading • Mathematics • Extent of background knowledge • English language proficiency • Learning disabilities or other disabilities impacting
learning
How To Determine Student Need(s) • Utilize diagnostic instruments to assess skill level (inquire:
“what do my students know?”): – Universal Screening and Progress monitoring data – Pre-tests – Survey Background Knowledge: KWL Charts – Student self assessments/ checklists – Formal and/or informal
• Be aware of student previous data/schooling background (e.g., student cumulative files, student data profiles, language levels, levels of intervention, school supports provided).
• Determine student interest, preferred way of learning, and environmental comfort (e.g., interest in insects, small group setting, partner work, visual instruction, interactive learning boards).
Example of K-W-L Pre-Assessment
K What the student
already knows
Prior experiences, knowlwdge, and skills
W What the student
wants to know
Student interests, questions, ideas for
exploring/investigation
L What the student
needs to know
Student self-rating of current understanding
about learning objective
Core Instruction Grade Level Standard and Task • Choose a grade level/content standard to review.
• Review the grade level/content standard and task.
Group Discussion
Differentiated Content • Differentiated content is what students should know, understand,
and be able to do as a result of the study, or how students will gain access to the knowledge.
• Changing the material, the order in which content is presented, and the quantity of information being learned by a student
• Examples: • Multiple texts and supplementary print resources • Modeling/demonstrations • Interest based materials • Varied support mechanisms for reading • Reduce number of high quality tasks/ problems (if needed)
• Caution, the content should not change, just the amount of practice or repetition
Let’s Practice: Differentiated Content • Pick a grade-level standard and task.
• How can I take this grade level standard and
differentiate/scaffold for my students…? -Differentiate the content for your particular student who needs a different avenue of learning to access the grade level standard. -Scaffold the content for your particular student who needs the lesson broken up into smaller chunks. -Enrich the content for your more advanced, talented, or gifted learners • Small Group: Chart your thought/instruction process by grade
levels • Whole Group: Share out
Differentiated Process • These activities are designed to help students make sense of or
“own” the content.
• Changing the activities in which the student engages in order to make sense of or master the content
• Examples: • Format presentation of material if needed • Learning Centers • Graphic Organizers • Varied models of exploration and expression • Models of student work at different degrees of complexity • Break up long lessons into smaller meaningful sections (if
needed) • “Big Ideas”
Let’s Practice: Differentiated Process • Pick a grade-level standard and task.
• How can I take this grade level standard and differentiate/scaffold for
my students…? -Differentiate the process for your particular student who needs a different avenue of learning to access the grade level standard. -Scaffold the process for your particular student who needs the lesson broken up into smaller chunks. -Enrich the process for your more advanced, talented, and gifted learners • Small Group: Chart your thought/instruction process by grade levels. • Whole Group: Share out
Differentiated End Product
• This is how students will demonstrate and extend what they have come to know, understand, and be able to do. The end product is today’s means of understanding how to modify tomorrow’s instruction.
• Changing the way students demonstrate what they’ve learned.
• Examples: • Provide assessment options • Community based projects • Independent study • Tri-mind options • Create a visual response with key details outlined around • Orally produce responses • Record their responses • Use class responders to input understanding
Let’s Practice: Differentiated End Product • Pick a grade-level standard and task.
• How can I take this grade level standard and
differentiate/scaffold for my students? -Differentiate the product for your particular student who needs a different avenue of learning to access the grade level standard. -Scaffold the product for your particular student who need the lesson broken up into smaller chunks. -Enrich the product for your more advanced, talented, and gifted learners • Small Group: Chart your thought/instruction process by grade
levels. • Whole Group: Share out
What are the benefits of differentiation?
Provides access to core curriculum Deficit areas are being met within instruction and
intervention Addressing student need throughout the day allows
students to make significant progress
Results in higher rates of achievement for all students
Differentiated Instruction May Include: Differentiated Instruction: Definition and Examples:
Tiered assignments Organizing assignments to meet the needs of students at three levels of preparation: 1) students not yet working at grade level independently, 2) students at grade level, and 3) students ready to go beyond grade level (advanced/ enrichment/ acceleration).
Compacting material Organizing curriculum by unit, chapter, or topic rather than by time (marking period or quarter). Focusing on key concepts and ideas. The must of what students need to know.
Collaborative learning centers
Active learning that involves groups of three or more students working together on a task. May be set as activity rotations in the classroom or activities rotate from group to group.
Collaborative learning groups Student seating
The instructional use of small group seating that allows diverse learners work together to maximize their own and each other’s learning during independent group work or whole class discussions.
Flexible grouping Students are grouped and regrouped according to specific goals, activities, and individual needs.
Differentiated Instruction May Include:
Differentiated Instruction: Definition and Examples: Learning Contracts Student goal setting
Learning contracts are a form of guide to monitor and direct student. Contracts are written collaboratively between the student and teacher. Contracts identify the process and content of student learning. (Student goal setting)
Academic boards Classroom print
Academic bulletin boards that provide students with instructional practices learned in the classroom. (i.e. comprehension strategies, step by step instructions, matching and sorting activities, project updates, etc.)
Themed unit boards Word walls
Print rich environment that presents student lesson objectives for the unit, vocabulary with definitions and graphics, graphic organizers, spelling patterns, phonics rules, maps, connections and correlations to other subjects.
Differentiated Instruction May Include:
Differentiation Instruction: Definition and Examples: Sentence frames A tool that provides a framework to explain thinking while
engaging in a discussion. Sentence Frames can include content vocabulary to increase language proficiency and academic vocabulary.
Sentence starters Sentence starters provide a partial frame for students to begin their sentence or idea while engaging in various forms of discussion. (i.e. whole class discussion, group discussion, producing written assignments, developing oral presentations
Explicit outlines Steps to procedures
Step by step procedures with models to help build self-monitoring of learning. (i.e. problem solving, writing process, assessing comprehension, etc.)
Example of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) • Refer to handout
Differentiated Classroom vs. Non-Differentiated: • Review the slip of paper on your table with your group. • Discuss whether this would be considered an
approach/strategy that would be in a differentiated classroom or a non-differentiated classroom.
• Place your slip of paper on the chart where you think it belongs.
• Share out.
Differentiated Classroom NOT Differentiated Data drives instruction: student readiness and learning profiles
Data is collected to assign grades at the end of a segment. Single form of assessment is used to gather student data.
Excellence is defined by individual student growth
Learning profiles are rarely considered, student levels and needs are unknown
Key concepts and principles are the focus and are outlined for student support
Text curriculum drives instruction
Multiple materials and options for assignments are available for student need
Single option tasks and assignments; One text available to student
Teacher and students solve problems collaboratively/teacher explicitly models expectations and provides examples of outcomes
Teacher leads all discussions and solves all problems
Lesson Plan in a Differentiated Classroom
Lesson plan focus: Examples:
Lesson objective Students will… given… to… Assessment pre-test, KWL Chart, student self-checklist
Introduction Concept map, demonstrate relevance Teaching Strategies modeling, feedback, observe, and adjust Learning activities graphic organizers, reflection opportunities, scaffold
support, provide anchors or rubrics, change instruction based on learning)
Resources instructional level for independent work, alter formats, and provide alternatives
Lesson Plan cont.
Lesson Plan Focus: Examples: Products use rubrics to activate self-evaluation, offer options
for presenting mastery, and allow opportunity to readjust
Grouping teach in small group with rich conversation, provide small group practice with clear objective, extension activities (themed units), peer support/ facilitation, and individual options.
Extension Activities use student interests, consider practical applications, and share student work.
Scaffolding Techniques
Scaffold Ways to use Scaffolds in an Instructional Setting
Advance organizers Tools used to introduce new content and tasks to help students learn about the topic: Venn diagrams to compare and contrast information; flow charts to illustrate processes; organizational charts to illustrate hierarchies; outlines that represent content; mnemonics to assist recall; statements to situate the task or content; rubrics that provide task expectations.
Cue Cards Prepared cards given to individual or groups of students to assist in their discussion about a particular topic or content area: Vocabulary words to prepare for exams; content-specific stem sentences to complete; formulae to associate with a problem; concepts to define.
Concept and mind maps
Maps that show relationships: Prepare partially completed maps for students to complete or have students create their own maps based on their current knowledge of the task or concept.
Scaffolding Techniques
Scaffold Ways to use Scaffolds in an Instructional Setting
Examples Samples, specimens, illustrations, problems: Real objects; illustrative problems used to represent something.
Explanations More detailed information to move students along on a task or in their thinking of a concept: Written instructions for a task; verbal explanation of how a process works.
Handouts Prepared handouts that contain task- and content-related information, but with less detail and room for student note taking.
Scaffolding Techniques
Scaffold Ways to use Scaffolds in an Instructional Setting
Hints Suggestions and clues to move students along: “place your foot in front of the other,” “use the escape key,” “find the subject of the verb,” “add the water first and then the acid.”
Prompts A physical or verbal cue to remind—to aid in recall of prior or assumed knowledge. Physical: Body movements such as pointing, nodding the head, eye blinking, foot tapping. Verbal: Words, statements and questions such as “Go,” “Stop,” “It’s right there,” “Tell me now,” “What toolbar menu item would you press to insert an image?”, “ Tell me why the character acted that way.”
Question Cards
Prepared cards with content- and task-specific questions given to individuals or groups of students to ask each other pertinent questions about a particular topic or content area.
Scaffolding Techniques
Scaffold
Ways to use Scaffolds in an Instructional Setting
Question Stems Incomplete sentences which students complete: Encourages deep thinking by using higher order “What if” questions.
Stories Stories relate complex and abstract material to situations more familiar with students. Recite stories to inspire and motivate learners.
Visual Scaffolds (Alibali, 2006)
Pointing (call attention to an object); representational gestures (holding curved hands apart to illustrate roundness; moving rigid hands diagonally upward to illustrate steps or process), diagrams such as charts and graphs; methods of highlighting visual information.
Scaffolding Examples
• Pre-teaching vocabulary for a unit or lesson • Chunking information into a smaller or single concept
lesson • Visual aids, including graphic organizers • I Do, We Do, You Do • Exemplar models • Start with a simple lesson or concept and build
complexity as understanding increases
Example Scaffold Based on Learner Differences
Prior Knowledge Concept Skills Needed Application Piece
Area of Interest
Writing Oral Discussion Project Based
Preferred Environment Small group Alone with visual supports Adult Support/ Guided
Let’s Review
• Review your differentiated grade level/content standard and task through your: environment, content, process, and product.
• Would you change anything in your thought process of differentiating and scaffolding?
• Small Group: Chart your thought/instruction process by grade level.
• Whole Group: Share with group. – Gallery Walk
Do Not Stress: Come on, this is easy…
• Be realistic and start differentiating a little at a time. Teachers cannot differentiate 100 percent of the time. Mastery comes with practice.
• Seek all support available, such as examples from the Internet (Universal Design for Learning).
• Collaboration between general education teachers and special education teachers is key.
• Archive lessons and instructional practices for future use if needed.
Reflection Moving Forward
Think about the learners you have in your class and list their needs below.
What would you need to make these learners successful in your classroom?
How have you gathered information about the student’s learning needs?
Are there obstacles getting in the way of differentiating instruction for these
learners? List them and tell why.
Am I truly making a difference?
“I like this class because there’s something different going on all the time. My other classes, it’s like peanut butter for lunch every single day. This class, it’s like my teacher really
knows how to cook. It’s like she runs a really good restaurant with a big menu and all.”
Comment from a course evaluation written
by an at-risk seventh grade student
Question & Reflections?
Helpful Links
Universal Design for Learning • http://www.cast.org/ • http://www.udlcenter.org/
Content Modules and Support • http://tncore.org/
PowerPoints and Resources • http://www.tnspdg.com • http://www.tncore.org
References Universal Design for Learning http://www.udlcenter.org/ Northern Illinois University http://www.niu.edu/spectrum/2008/fall/scaffolding.shtml National Council of Teachers for Mathematics http://www.nctm.org EBSCO (educational resource subscription) http://www.ebscohost.com How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed Ability Classrooms Tomlinson, C. A. (2001). How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms (2nd ed.). Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners Tomlinson, C. A. (2014). The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners(2nd ed.). Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).
Contact Information
Ryan Mathis, Mathematics Interventionist
Specialist [email protected]
@RyanMathIsCool
Holly Pillow Mathematics Coach & Interventionist
Trenton Special School District [email protected]
Student Support & Services: Special Populations Team
Ryan Mathis, Mathematics Interventionist
Specialist [email protected]
@RyanMathIsCool
Alison Gauld Behavior and Low Incidence
Disabilities Coordinator [email protected]
@AlisonAGauld
Jill Omer Speech, Language, and Autism
Coordinator [email protected]
@Jill_Omer
Joann Lucero, Literacy Interventionist Specialist
[email protected] @JoannL_81
Tie Hodack, Director of Instructional
Programming [email protected]
@HodackTie
Blake Shearer, Secondary Transition and Intervention Coordinator
