1. Differentiation in the Classroom
Using Instructional Strategies for Differentiating Instruction
Dr. Joseph Merhaut
Dr. Robert Snyder

2. Choice Boards & Menus
Also called Tic Tac Toe Boards or Learning Menus.
A type of learning that provides a “menu” of activities-some that all students must do, and some that allow students choices.
Ensures that each learner focuses on knowledge, understanding and skills designated as essential.

3. Think-Tac-Toe Money Unit Complete any three boxes
Think-Tac-Toe Money Unit Complete any three boxes. The products and assignments are due by ___________.
Complete the Sweet Treat shopping cut and paste activity sheet.
Complete the file folder games on money.
Count the money amounts in each piggy bank and record the amount on the recording sheet.
There are 13 different ways to make 25 cents using a quarter, dimes, nickels, and pennies. Use the table worksheet to record the ways that you can find.
Draw a picture of a toy you want. Tell how much it will cost. Then draw the money to show its cost.
Write an explanation to someone telling how you would count the money in the money envelope.
Complete the Money riddles activity.
Play the Shop ‘Til You Drop game. You will turn in your shopping list after you play this game.
Complete the Choices, Choices worksheet OR
In the Garden
worksheet

4. Choice Board Activity  Language/Level: English 7  Unit/Theme: Poetry: Literary Elements
Locate at least one example of each of the following: elements: alliteration and hyperbole, from the poem Sarah Silvia Cynthia Stout.
Locate at least one example of each of the following: idiom and personification from the poem…
Locate at least one example of each of the following: simile and metaphor from the poem…
Explain the literal meaning of a hyperbole from the poem Sarah Silvia Cynthia Stout.
Explain the literal meaning of an idiom or personification from the poem…
Explain the literal meaning of a simile or metaphor from the poem…
Create your own example of alliteration and hyperbole.
Create your own example of an idiom and personification.
Create your own example of a simile and metaphor.

5. Choice Board Ancient Egypt – Grade 6 ( You need to choose one topic from each row and one style from each column for your assessments in this chapter.)
BUILD IT
CREATE IT
WRITE IT
As an ancient cartographer, you have been ordered by the pharaoh to create a map of the Egyptian Empire during the reign of Ramses II. Be sure to includes elements common to most maps and at least 10 notable landmarks from the time period.
Assume you are persuading others to visit your ancient civilization. Design a descriptive, accurate travel brochure. Include both natural and man-made elements that would attract tourists.
You are a builder commissioned by the pharaoh to transport stone from the quarry to the destination site for the temple. As you travel the Nile River, be sure to include the geographic features you would see, wildlife you would encounter, and any difficulties you might encounter along the way.
You are a famous sculptor. Create a 3D representation of a well-known leader, god, goddess, or common citizen. Include detailing who the statue is of and what their role and accomplishments may have been.
You are pharaoh of Egypt. Create a Photostory profiling your life. Include name, birth/death, family (parents, spouses, children, important siblings), monuments erected, important achievements.
Write a journal entry from the prospective of a tomb robber. Give a detailed account of your plan to rob a famous pharaoh’s tomb and how your plan came to fruition. This should include risks taken and rewards. What did you see, hear, feel, and smell as you searched the tomb.
Construct one of the great architectural achievements from the time. This can be made from any materials of your choice. Include a note card containing who built it, when it was built, use of it, and dimensions.
Written language was essential to Egyptians. Your task is to create your own written language to serve as a Rosetta Stone. Include a translation into modern English and place a message in your language and English on an artifact to submit.
Write an essay detailing the importance of the art of mummification in world history. Thoroughly explain the process for the ancient Egyptians as well as its similarities to what we do in the United States today.
GEOGRAPHY
IMPORTANT PEOPLE
Jared Lampus – 6th Buffalo Elementary
CONTRIBUTIONS

6. Choice Board OR Choose a number. Get a magazine.
Cut out pictures that show your number.
Glue your pictures to the correct number poster. OR
Choose a number.
Look at our math word cards.
Find a card that matches the number you chose.
Sort them into the correct basket.
Created by Julie Dill -Math Coach, Wicomico County, 2010

7. Dinner Menu Example Main Dish (Complete all)
Measure the length of the objects in the measurement container using any of the nonstandard units we have used in class.
Use the large paper clips to measure the pictures of the objects on the worksheet R 17.1
Complete the “Different Units of Measure” worksheet.

8. Dinner Menu Example Side Dishes (Select at least 2)
Read the book The Biggest Fish. Measure the length of the fish in the fishing net to the nearest inch. Then glue them onto a sentence strip from shortest to longest.
Complete the “What’s My Length?” activity.
Use a ruler to draw and label lines for the following measurements: 10 inches, 5 inches, 3 centimeters, 15 centimeters, 1 foot, 1 inch, 3 inches, and 10 centimeters.
Organize the pictures of the objects in order from smallest to largest.
Complete the “How Far to the Dragon’s Lair?” activity sheet

9. Dinner Menu Example Dessert (Optional- Select 1)
Draw a map. Label 4 locations on your map with a large dot. Using you ruler draw lines to connect these locations. Measure and label these lines on your map to the nearest inch. Write a story problem on an index card that can be solved using your map.
Read How Big is a Foot? Then pick 5 objects from the measurement container to measure using a small paper clip, an eraser, and a ruler. Complete the worksheet for this activity.

10. Cubing/Think Dots Cubing is an instructional strategy that asks
students to consider a concept from a variety of different perspectives.
The cubes are six-sided figures that have a
different activity on each side of the cube.
A student rolls the cube and does the activity that comes up.

11. Cubing/Think Dots Not all students receive the same cube.
You can differentiate cubes according to readiness, learning profile, or interest (see differentiated cubing examples included).
Cube Side Suggestions:
Describe it * Compare it * Associate it *Analyze it * Apply it * Connect it * Illustrate it* Change it * Solve it* Question it *Rearrange it * Satirize it * Evaluate it * Relate it to something else * Contrast it * Investigate it * What is the significance of it? * Put it in historical perspective * What are the cause/effects of it * Cartoon it * Tell the parts of it * Argue for/against it *

12. Think Dots Probability and Statistics
Argue it
Make an argument for which graphing method is the easiest to read: pie charts, stem-and-leaf plots, bar graphs, or line
graphs. Construct a visual model to show us
why.
Conduct a survey
Choose a random sample of n= 15 students from this class and conduct a survey of their
favorite sports team/food rock/ star/etc. (your choice1). Describe how you arrived at your random sample, and create a data display of your results.
Use it
Is there such a thing as a truly “random
Sample.
Define it
What is a random stratified sample? When
would you use it?
Evaluate it
Look at today’s USA newspaper’s opinion poll. What type of graph is it using to display its results? Do you feel that the data display is accurate or misleading?
Plot it
Plot the distribution of scores from last year’s final exam (get the scores from the teacher—sorry, all names have been removed!)

13. Geometry Think Dots Directions: At your table group, take turns rolling the dice and complete the learning task from the corresponding dot. It is okay if more than one person rolls the same number as each person’s response will be individual.
TRIANGLE TOOTHPICKS
Find all the triangles you can make using 3-12 toothpicks, and sketch them on a piece of paper. Label each triangle with its name.
PROTRACTOR PROS
Using your protractor, measure each angle on your card. Be sure to label the angles as acute, right, obtuse, or straight.
MAKE A MAP OF LINES
Create a map of the school. Include each hallway. List the hallways that are parallel, perpendicular, and intersecting.
SHAPE TASK CARDS
Label each task card with its geometric name. Be sure to tell how many sides, angles, and vertices each shape has.
COLORED SYMMETRY
Color the following sheet in a symmetrical way. Be sure to make your picture colorful and neat.
CONGRUENT SORTING
Sort the shapes from your envelope. Pair up all the shapes that are congruent. Keep the extra shapes separate. List the congruent pairs on your sheet.

14. THINK DOTS Describe… Apply… Question… Argue for or against… Satirize…
Compare and/or contrast…

15. RAFT (Role, Audience, Format, Topic)
Role of the Writer – Students choose a role they wish to emulate. Options may include a soldier, a chemist, a bird, a mayor, or a sheep. Writing from a different perspective helps students to develop critical thinking skills as they have to consider what would be important to the specific role they chose.
Audience – Writing for a specific audience also leads to high order thinking as the student will need to consider what the audience needs to know. An audience could be a person or a group of people and might include anything from zoo patrons to the United States Congress.  Reviewing informal and formal types of writing will be key when discussing how to address a specific audience.
Format – The writing format should correspond with the role of the writer, the audience, and the topic. Teachers will want to step away from regular reports and essays. Let students work on writing formats such as lyrics, raps, letters, speeches, journals, fables, flyers, or even political cartoons.
Topic – Topics can stem from the research students are doing within a subject, themes that are being studied in school, or subtopics within a unit that needs more clarification or enrichment. The goal is to make sure the topic is not too broad (Strayer & Strayer, 2007).

16. Possible Ideas for a RAFT Choose ideas that advance the learning goals.
Characters from a story
Public service job
Key terms
Scientists or politicians
Historical figures
Musical instruments
Diseases
Geographic formations
Vocabulary words
Cartoon characters
Types of fabric
Composers or artists
Instruments or tools
Shapes or colors
Authors or inventers
Business or industry person
Minerals or chemical elements
Cities, countries or continents
Brand name or object
Technical terms

17. Possible RAFT Formats to Differentiate by Learning Modality
Written
Visual
Oral
Kinesthetic
Diary entry
Bulleted list
Obituary
Invitation
Recipe
Movie critic
FAQs
Editorial
Gossip column
Comic
Crossword puzzle
Map
Graphic organizer
Print ad
Photograph
Fashion design
Song
Monologue
Radiocast
Museum
guide
Interview
Puppet show
Political
speech
Story teller
Model
Cheer
Mime
Demonstration
Sales pitch
with demos
Sew, cook,
build
Wax museum

18. Math RAFT

19. Fractions RAFT ROLE AUDIENCE FORMAT TOPIC Do You Fraction Whole Number
Children’s
Want a Piece
Book
of Me?
Its
Invitation and
Come to the
Equivalents
a Mask
Masquerade
Ball!
Warning!
Fraction-
The Public
Wanted
This
disguised
Poster/
dangerous
-as-a
Warning Ad
fraction is
decimal
disguised as
a decimal…
Paper People
What to
Other Students
Wardrobe
wear when
Changes
you are a
fraction,
decimal, and
percent

20. Mental ways to calculate percent Which of Us Is Most Important?
Other Math RAFT Ideas
Role
Audience
Format
Topic
Exponent
Jury
Instructions
Laws of Exponents
Acute Triangle
Obtuse Triangle
Dear John Letter
Our Differences
Percent
Student
How-To Guide
Mental ways to calculate percent
Prime Number
Rational Numbers
Club Membership Form
How to Join My Club
Parts of a Graph
TV Audience
Script
Which of Us Is Most Important?
Plus Sign
Multiplication Sign
Romantic Card
Why We Go Together

21. Analyzing a RAFT Lesson
What are the learning goals for this lesson and are they built into every choice?
How is this RAFT being differentiated?
Does it appeal to different learning styles?
Is there a range of difficulty in the:
Roles?
Formats?
Readiness levels?
Do the roles, formats or topics appeal to a variety of interests?

23. Structured Academic Controversy
Controversy can fuel some great discussions and cultivate rich thinking and language. Structured academic controversies (SAC) emphasize communication, perspective-taking, and problem-solving (Johnson & Johnson, 1995).
Unlike debates, students work together to collaborate on a resolution to the controversy after they have taken both sides of the issue. They are less competitive—there is no “winner” or “loser.”

24. SAC Example US Metric Conversion
One position is: The metric conversion is necessary for the health of the US economy.
The other position is: The need for metric conversion is obsolete and would actually harm the economy if businesses were mandated to change.

25. SAC Example Science: Acid Rain
Fact: Industries provide us with needs and wants that in some cases result in acid rain.
Team 1: The needs and wants of a community are more important than the effects of acid rain.
Team 2: The results of acid rain are more dangerous than limiting industries’ production of needs and wants.

26. SAC Example To Drop or Not to Drop?
This structured academic controversy lesson is designed to teach students both sides of the debate surrounding the use of the Atomic bomb at the end of World War II. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the catalysts that caused the end of World War II and are the only two times that a nuclear weapon has been used in war. It is important that students learn about the circumstances leading to their use and understand the controversy that surrounds those events. It is also important for students to understand the magnitude and significant destruction caused by atomic weapons so that they can be informed participants in today’s world. The purpose of this lesson is to present students with arguments from both sides of the debate so that they may draw their own conclusions regarding the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

27. Curriculum Compacting
Curriculum compacting is a three-step process implemented by the teacher for one or more students who have mastered portions of the essential curriculum:
pre-assess to determine what a student knows about content/skills to be taught;
modify learning activities so that the student receives instruction only about what he/she does not already know provide alternative learning activities that offer acceleration of meaningful, challenging enrichment

28. Tiering
Tiered instruction is like a stairwell providing access within the large building called learning. The bottom story represents learning tasks for students with less readiness and fewer skills. The stairwell continues through enough levels to reach the appropriate challenge for advanced readiness students with very high skills and complex understanding.

29. WHAT CAN BE TIERED? ASSIGNMENTS ACTIVITIES CENTERS & STATIONS
LEARNING CONTRACTS
ASSESSMENTS
MATERIALS
EXPERIMENTS
WRITING PROMPTS
HOMEWORK
With a little thought, almost any classroom activity can be tiered.
Two or three tiers is usually best for implementation. However, a teacher who is experienced and comfortable with the strategy may have more tiers if it facilitates the instruction or better meets the needs of the students.

30. What is Tiered Instruction?
By keeping the focus of the
activity the same, but
providing routes of access at
varying degrees of difficulty,
the teacher maximizes the
likelihood that:
1) each student comes away with
pivotal skills & understandings
2) each student is appropriately
challenged.
Teachers use tiered activities so that all students focus on
essential understandings and skills but at different levels of complexity, abstractness, and open-endedness.

31. Creating Multiple Paths For Learning
Key Concept or
Understanding
The first step whenever you are planning tiered instruction is to identify the Key Concepts and Understandings that you want students to learn.
Next, determine the readiness levels of the students and design tasks that will help them learn the key concepts and still challenge them at their level of understanding.
Struggling
With The
Concept
Understand
The
Concept
Some
Understanding
Reaching Back
READINESS LEVELS
Reaching Ahead

32. IDENTIFY OUTCOMES
WHAT SHOULD THE STUDENTS KNOW, UNDERSTAND, OR BE ABLE TO DO?
THINK ABOUT YOUR STUDENTS
PRE-ASSESS READINESS, INTEREST, OR LEARNING PROFILE
INITIATING ACTIVITIES
USE AS COMMON EXPERIENCE FOR WHOLE CLASS
This graphic represents a sequence for planning a tiered activity or assignment. (Walk through graphic) There is nothing sacred about three groups---the teacher may want to use two groups or as many as four or five. Assessment, diagnosis, and prescription are integral to the use of this strategy. The strategy itself is very visible and viable and usually makes sense to students and parents.
GROUP 1
TASK
GROUP 2
TASK
GROUP 3
TASK

33. Guidelines for Tiered Instruction
1. Ensure that group membership is flexible. The word tiered is not a euphemism for stagnant low-middle-high groups that label who can learn and who is not learning. Tiered assignments denote all children as able to learn the same essential skills in different ways. The make-up of students working at each tier varies with the content, assignment, and quantity of tiers.
2. Plan the number of levels most appropriate for instruction. Different quantities of tiers are needed for different curricula areas, concepts, and skills in relation to different learners' needs. Sometimes, two tiers are sufficient; at other times, three to five or more work better to match the wide range of learners. Changing the number of tiers is also a way to vitalize flexible groupings and ensure that students are not always in the same group.

34. Guidelines for Tiered Instruction
3. Recognize that complexity is relative. The complexity of a tiered assignment is relative because it is determined by the specific needs of the students and because learners' readiness levels vary in different curricula areas. In classes with below grade-level learners, the lowest tier would respond to those students. In classes in which all students are at or above grade level, the lowest tier would respond to grade-level or even above grade-level readiness.
4. Promote high-level thinking in each tier. Avoid always allocating simple thinking tasks for students with the fewest skills. All students need opportunities to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information.
5. Provide teacher support at every tier. Every tier requires teacher modeling and support for the students working at that tier. All learners benefit from a teacher's instruction, interaction, guidance, and feedback--even gifted children whom some educators perceive as always making it on their own.

35. Tiered Lesson Example
Tier I will be made up of students who I feel will benefit best from a simpler form of learning, such as defining and giving the significance of various key terms or people and answering basic questions.  Some of the terms they will be expected to identify will be:  
Slavery, Nat Turner, Elijah Lovejoy, William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionists, Henry Clay, John Calhoun, Stephan Douglas, popular sovereignty, Fredrick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Toms Cabin, John Brown and Harper’s Ferry, Dred Scott Case, Abraham Lincoln, republicans, democrats, Lincoln/Douglas debates, Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Presidential Nominating Conventions of 1860, etc.

36. Tiered Lesson Example
Tier II would be comprised of students that I felt capable of taking historical facts and analyzing them to show how these people/events led to the escalation of conflict that led to the civil war.  I would give these students various questions that asked them to link certain events to the causes of the civil war.  Some example questions that I may ask of these students are:
1) How did the publishing of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Toms Cabin help lead to civil war? 2) What did the Dred Scott Case decide?  What did it mean for slaves and former slaves?  Did the Supreme Court overstep its constitutional limits in their decision? 3) What were the differing points of view in the Lincoln/Douglas debates? 4) What key figure in this time period favored popular sovereignty?  How did other key figures react to his ideas? 5) What were the views of the abolitionists?  What were the differences in views held by Lovejoy, Garrison, and Douglass?

37. Tiered Lesson Example
Tier III students will be those students who I feel have a good grip on the ideas presented and can think critically and explain how these key terms/figures/events eventually led to the civil war.  I would ask these students to present a 3-4 page essay on how the key points of the lecture and readings ended up causing the civil war.  These students will be expected to provide their own ideas on why these situations occurred and what the effects of these events were.  These students will be given more freedom to handle the material.  Their own ideas will shape their responses and mold the essay.

38. Tiered Lesson Example Tier 1
Students will illustrate the five geometric terms and create a book out of it.
Materials: Paper, stapler, colored pencils.
Procedures:
Students learn about the five geometric terms: point, line, line segment, ray, and angle using the Geometry Powerpoint.
Each student individually takes 3 sheets of paper and folds them in half to make a book. Secure the book by stapling the crease.
On each page a new term is written, and an illustration of that term is drawn using colored pencils.
Add a title to the book on the front.

39. Tiered Lesson Example Tier 2
Students will compare and contrast two of the five geometric terms.
Materials: Paper, pencil.
Procedures:
Students learn about the five geometric terms: point, line, line segment, ray, and angle using the Geometry Powerpoint.
Students will individually complete a Venn diagram on Inspiration choosing only two of the terms to compare/contrast.

40. Tiered Lesson Example Tier 3
Students create an argument for which of the five geometric terms is most important.
Materials: Paper, pencil
Procedures:
Students learn about the five geometric terms: point, line, line segment, ray, and angle using the Geometry Powerpoint.
Students either individually or in pairs create an argument about which of these five terms is the most important for the world of math.
Students can use the paper to plan for an oral presentation of their argument, or use the paper to prepare a written piece which can be typed in Microsoft Word.

41. Tiered Lesson Example Tier 4
Students will go on a scavenger hunt in the room of each of the five geometric terms.
Materials: Paper, pencil, classroom environment
Procedures:
Students learn about the five geometric terms: point, line, line segment, ray, and angle using the Geometry Powerpoint.
Students get into pairs.
Each pair is given a sheet of paper that is divided into 5 categories, one for each term.
Student pairs are given 10 minutes to find as many examples of each as they can, and then draw a picture or write about it in the correct category on the paper.

42. References http://daretodifferentiate.wikispaces.com