2. Differentiation is the teacher’s response to the learner’s needs.
Differentiation is reacting responsively to the learner’s needs to maximize student growth
Differentiation is the teacher’s response to the learner’s needs.

3. Differentiation is not a curriculum
Differentiation is not a curriculum. It is a way of thinking about teaching and learning.

4. A differentiated classroom will have a combination of teacher directed, teacher selected activities, and learner centered, learner selected activities; whole class instruction, small group instruction, and individual instruction.

5. When Differentiating Instruction, The Three Most Important Questions to Continually Ask Yourself...
What do I want my students to know, understand, and be able to do?
What will I do instructionally to get my students to learn this?
How will my students show what they know?

6. DIFFERENTIATION Curriculum: Content/Process/Product
Student: Readiness/Interest/Learning Style

7. Content – Process – Product Readiness – Interest – Learning Profile
Strategy
Adapt
Content – Process – Product
based upon
Readiness – Interest – Learning Profile

8. CONTENT is…
What we want students to: know (facts and information) - understand (principles, generalizations, ideas)
- be able to do (skills)

9. Content is differentiated
When you preassess students’ skill and knowledge, then match learners with appropriate activities according to readiness;
When you give students choices about topics to explore in greater depth;
When you provide students with basic and advanced resources that match their current levels of understanding.

10. Differentiating Content - Multiple textbooks and supplementary print materials - Varied videos and computer programs - Learning contracts - Interest centers - Support systems audio tapes study partners and reading buddies mentors - Compacting phase 1 - teacher assessment of student phase 2 - teacher sets up a plan phase 3 - teacher and student design a project

11. It is the “how” of teaching.
Process is . . .
How the students make sense of the content.
It is the “how” of teaching.

12. Process is
The activities that you design to help students think about the key principles and information of the content they are learning. Process calls on students to use key skills that are integral to the unit.

13. Differentiating Process is when students are engaged in different activities. - tiered assignments - learning centers - interactive journals and learning logs - graphic organizers -flexible grouping Each activity should be directed to the lesson’s common focus.

14. Product is . . . The demonstration of the learning.
The way students show what they have learned or extend what they have learned.

15. Products can be differentiated along a continuum:
- simple to complex - less independent to more independent - clearly defined problems to fuzzy problems

16. To help a student to grow, we must begin where the child is.
Readiness is a student’s entry point relative to a particular understanding or skill.
To help a student to grow, we must begin where the child is.

17. Readiness Less ready May need help More opportunities
Structured or concrete activities
Deliberate pace learning

18. Readiness More advanced may need Skip practice
Complex, open-ended, abstract, and multifaceted activities
Brisk pace of work

19. Interest is the child’s affinity, curiosity, or passion.

20. Interest
Students attach what they have been learning in class to things that they already find interesting in their own lives.

21. Carol Ann Tomlinson/ Diane Heacox
Learning profile has to do with how students learn. Some are visual learners, auditory learners, or kinesthetic learners. Students vary in the amount of time they need to master a skill or learn a concept.
How students learn can be shaped by:
environment
social organization
physical circumstances
emotional climate
psychological factors
Carol Ann Tomlinson/ Diane Heacox

22. A Closer Look At…
Flexible Grouping
Tiered Assignments

23. Flexible grouping is at the heart of differentiated instruction

24. Flexible grouping: A Definition
Flexible small groups are within class grouping in which membership varies according to ability (same ability, mixed ability), interest or questions, learning style or processing style, product style, group longevity, group size (2-10). Groups can be teacher-selected, student-selected, purposeful or random.

25. Flexible Grouping
Individuals
Small groups
Classroom as
a whole

26. Flexible Grouping
Entire class
Same materials
Finish together
Teacher determined
Placed by readiness
Teacher help
Small groups
Multiple materials
Need additional time
Student choice
Random assignment
Student help

27. Designing Differentiated Learning Activities for Flexible Groups
Open-ended activities and assignments
Purposefully designed choices to accommodate learning or expression style differences
Purposefully designed tiered assignments
Purcell

28. Tiered Assignments are designed to maximize each student's growth by challenging students with learning experiences that are slightly above their current level of knowledge and performance.
Tomlinson

29. Designing a Tiered Assignment A six step process
Identify the content
Consider your students’ needs
Create an activity
Chart the complexity of the activity
Create other versions of the activity
Match one version of the task to each student
Tomlinson

30. Differentiation In Action

31. In Summary