1. Doable Differentiation
Start with Group Matrix with students in groups of 3 to determine similarities and differences & get to know each other. Use this as a way to provide ongoing assessment on student interests, learning styles. Try “My interests pinwheel” as an activity tomorrow for same purpose
PART ONE

2. Getting to Know You
In your group, work on the Group Matrix in your handout.
Anchor Activity: Fill in what you can on EITHER the Graphic Organizer for Differentiating Instruction OR the KWL chart on the reverse side.

3. Robert Hutchins The Conflict in Education in a Democratic Society
“Perhaps the greatest idea that America has given the world is education for all. The world is entitled to know whether this idea means that everybody can be educated or simply that everyone must go to school.”
This mission allows us to address a statement made by Robert Hutchins over a decade ago. Through No Child Left Behind we can say to the world that we accept not just the responsibility for “compulsory education” but also the challenge of “education for all.”
Differentiated Instruction Awareness

4. Appointment Clock
Think of one personal comment that comes to your mind when you read the Hutchins quote.
Go around the room and share your comment with others as you make “appointments” to fill in your appointment clock.
You may revise your comment as you listen to others’ opinions.

5. Robert Hutchins The Conflict in Education in a Democratic Society
“Perhaps the greatest idea that America has given the world is education for all. The world is entitled to know whether this idea means that everybody can be educated or simply that everyone must go to school.”
This mission allows us to address a statement made by Robert Hutchins over a decade ago. Through No Child Left Behind we can say to the world that we accept not just the responsibility for “compulsory education” but also the challenge of “education for all.”
Differentiated Instruction Awareness

6. Differentiated Instruction:
What it is, What it’s not
This session focuses on the high yield practice of differentiated instruction.
Differentiated Instruction Awareness

7. Activity One: Read, Pair, Share
Read the given passage pp 5-10 and use the graphic organizer provided to take notes independently on what DI is and what it’s not.
Share your notes with your 3:00 appointment and discuss.
Share your combined wisdom with the whole class.
The objective for this professional development training is to provide an overview of differentiated instruction. The areas to be addressed are listed in the current slide. (Refer to bullets in slide)
Differentiated Instruction Awareness

8. Differentiated Instruction Awareness
When a teacher tries to teach something to the entire class at the same time, “chances are, one-third of the kids already know it; one-third will get it; and the remaining third won’t. So two-thirds of the children are wasting their time.” Lilian Katz
As we view today’s classrooms, this quote exemplifies the setting that emerges.
(In the next slide, participants will be asked to reflect upon this quote.)
Differentiated Instruction Awareness

9. Activity Two: Think, Pair, Share
Reflect on this quote by completing these phrases:
As a student, I was in the 1/3 who…
As a teacher, I was in the 1/3 who...
As a parent, my child is in the 1/3 who…
Discuss your responses with your 6:00 appointment
Activity/Handout #1 – Pie Graph divided in to thirds. See handout for directions for completing.
What feelings concerning education were elicited as you responded to these statements?
Through classrooms today, one can find students with advanced learning skills sitting next to students who struggle with academics.
Along with that reality is the fact that most of these students will encounter a teacher who treats all students as though they are on the same academic level. Take 3-5 minutes to discuss which third you found yourself in as a student, parent and then later as a teacher. Complete pie graph provided to each small group. (After permitting time to complete the activity, share with large group. Reporting out.)
Differentiated Instruction Awareness

10. Differentiated Instruction Awareness
When a teacher tries to teach something to the entire class at the same time, “chances are, one-third of the kids already know it; one-third will get it; and the remaining third won’t. So two-thirds of the children are wasting their time.” Lilian Katz
As we view today’s classrooms, this quote exemplifies the setting that emerges.
(In the next slide, participants will be asked to reflect upon this quote.)
Differentiated Instruction Awareness

11. What is Differentiated Instruction?
Traditional Classroom
Differentiated Classroom
Assessment at the end of a unit of study
Assessment is ongoing, diagnostics and influences instruction
Dominance of whole class instruction
Variety of instructional strategies used within a classroom
Adapted textbooks are the main instructional resource
Multiple types of materials are utilized as resources
The teacher is the main problem solver
Students are actually engaged in solving problems
Quantitative focus to assignments
Qualitative focus to assignments
Activity/Handout #2 – Characteristics of DI versus Traditional Classroom.
Differentiated classrooms begin with a solid curriculum and engaging instruction. Teachers who utilize differentiated activities understand that students have individual learning needs. Through differentiation, a teacher reacts responsively to these needs.
Simply stated, differentiated instruction focuses on individual needs and growth, rather than the typical pattern of teaching a class as though all students are basically alike.
To define differentiated instruction, one needs to compare a traditional classroom to a differentiated classroom.
(Discuss chart in slide.) *Provided for you in your Differentiated Instruction Learning Community Resource Packet is an activity for you to complete and discuss.
OPTIONAL: An extension of this activity may be constructing a shutter book while defining the traditional classroom versus the differentiated classroom.
Differentiated Instruction Awareness
(Based on C Tomlinson, 2000)

12. Self-Assessment for Differentiated Instruction
Self-Assessment Activity/Handout #3A– Complete and hold on to them for scoring at a later point during the session.
Differentiated Instruction Awareness

13. Defining Differentiated Instruction
It is essential that educators develop a working vocabulary that is current with educational research and knowledge. Whereas many teachers and professionals recognize that using different teaching strategies and approaches are required for the academically diverse classrooms of today, this--in and of itself-- does not define what is currently meant by “differentiating instruction.” The following slides will provide a rationale, definition and description of differentiation that will enable teachers, parents and others to have a common understanding of this high yield strategy.
Differentiated Instruction Awareness

14. Differentiated Instruction Awareness
Differentiated Instruction Defined
“Differentiated instruction is a teaching philosophy based on the premise that teachers should adapt instruction to student differences. Rather than marching students through the curriculum lockstep, teachers should modify their instruction to meet students’ varying readiness levels, learning preferences, and interests. Therefore, the teacher proactively plans a variety of ways to ‘get at’ and express learning.”
Carol Ann Tomlinson
Differentiated Instruction Awareness

15. Key Principles of Differentiation
High quality curriculum
Ongoing assessment
Respectful tasks
Varied learning styles
Flexible grouping
Teacher/student collaboration
Student choice
There are 5 basic principles that guide differentiation
In a differentiated classroom, time, materials, instructional strategies, student groupings, and assessments are tools that are flexibly utilized for instruction.
Ongoing assessments create a tight band between assessment and instruction.
Working arrangements utilize whole class, small-group, and individual explorations. Groups can be mixed according to readiness, interests, learning profiles, or achievement levels.
Every learner must have tasks that are interesting, engaging and provide equal access to the essential understandings and skills.
The teacher diagnosis, prescribes for learning needs, facilitates learning, and crafts an effective curriculum. The students understand how they learn and can contribute input for decisions in the classroom.
Differentiated Instruction Awareness

16. Activity Three: Jigsaw
Read the assigned selection from pp at your table team.
Go to your “table of experts” with others from different table teams who have read the same selection as you.
Devise a way to teach the contents of your selection to your original table team.
Return to your table team and teach them your content, using the method designed by your “table of experts.”
Put participants into groups into four groups of 5. Two together will make one, as you have 21 participants.
Differentiated Instruction Awareness

17. Differentiation is responsive teaching rather than
one-size-fits-all teaching.
Optional Activity: Read orally Animal School by Dr. G.H. Reeves.
Differentiated Instruction Awareness

18. Differentiated Instruction: How?
Educational leaders ask questions about options that affect their professional practices such as:
“Why might we adopt one path over another?”
“Where do the ideas in a particular approach come from?”
“What reason do we have to believe an approach would make classrooms and schools better and more productive places?”
This section addresses some of the questions and evidence related to the approach Differentiated Instruction.
Differentiated Instruction Awareness

19. Differentiation of Instruction
Is a teacher’s response to learner’s needs guided by general principles of differentiation
Respectful tasks
Flexible grouping
Ongoing assessment
Teachers Can Differentiate Through:
Content
Process
Product
According to Students’
Readiness
Interest
Learning Profile
Differentiated Instruction Awareness

20. Differentiated Instruction Awareness
Activity Four: Hands-On
Use pp 8-9 from your handout to match the activity cards with the correct space on the differentiated grid.
Differentiated Instruction Awareness

21. Differentiated Instruction Awareness
Differentiated Instruction: Why?
Differentiated Instruction Awareness

22. Differentiated Instruction Awareness
Why differentiation?
Differentiation is classroom practice that looks eyeball to eyeball with the reality that kids differ, and the most effective teachers do whatever it takes to hook the whole range of kids on learning.
Tomlinson 2001
Differentiated Instruction Awareness

23. Research Support for Differentiation
Research for differentiating by readiness: Vygotsky (1978), Fisher (1980)
Research for differentiating by interest: LeDoux (1996), Abrantes, Seabra, and Lages (2008)
Research for student choice: Renate and Caine (1994), Glasser (1999)
Research for using multiple learning styles: Torrance and Ball (1978), Edelman (1992), Restak (1994)
Research supporting the model comes from a variety of sources and is exhaustive beyond the scope of this presentation. The model’s emphasis on differentiated instruction by readiness, interest and learning profile provides the format for presentation of the research findings.
Differentiated Instruction Awareness

24. Differentiated Instruction Awareness
Activity 4
How do students learn?
What do students need in order to learn?
What should students do in order to learn?
Discuss with your 9:00 appointment
CHALK TALK to share your thoughts
Read and highlight key elements.
Differentiated Instruction Awareness

25. Differentiated Instruction Awareness
Coming Attractions:
Brain research and how it supports differentiation!
Differentiated Instruction Awareness