Differentiated Instruction & Universal Design for Learning

Who is in your class? Know your students as individuals Personal interests Academic abilities Interpersonal traits Family context Sense of humor Classes are made up of students. Students are different from each other in terms of what they know, their attitude towards learning, their beliefs about schooling, their backgrounds, their interests, their families… Even classrooms that contain students who are superficially similar are actually made up of different individuals. To differentiate well, you need to know each of those students as an individual person. You’re going to be designing instruction so that aspects of your teaching push students to strengthen weak areas, allow strengths to shine, provide an opportunity to push into topics/skills that are challenging and relax into those that are a comfort. You need to know a lot about each student to do this well.

Who is this for? Everyone Students with disabilities Students learning English Students who are advanced Students who are typical Students passionate about the topic Students bored by the topic Differentiated instruction is not about adjusting your teaching to meet the needs of children receiving special education. It’s about meeting the needs of everyone in your class- regardless of their individual situation. Differentiated instruction is about giving students multiple options for taking in information and making sense of ideas- teachers must be, “flexible in their approach to teaching and adjust the curriculum and presentation of information to learners rather than expecting students to modify themselves for the curriculum” (Hall, Strengman, and Meyer, p. 2)

What is it, really? According to Tomlinson (2001) there are three elements of the curriculum that can be differentiated- content, process, and products.

Content Access is key Align tasks and objectives to learning goals The focus is on ensuring students can access content- this means you need to think of possible barriers. If you have students acquiring English- what barriers are there and how can you remove them? If you have students who lack content knowledge, what barriers are there and how can you remove them? If you have students who already know this content, what barriers are there and how can you remove them? It also means that strong connections between your goal and objectives and learning tasks is crucial. An objectives-driven menu makes it easier to find the next instructional step for learners at varying levels. Instructional concepts should be broad based, not focused on a series of facts. Teachers should focus on principles, concepts, and skills- the degree of complexity should be adjusted to suit each individual student.

Process Flexible grouping Classroom management Students should work together as they develop knowledge- use whole group introductory discussions, followed by small group or paired work. Student groups can be self-managed or teacher coached. Groups should be sometimes ability based, sometimes heterogeneous. Grouping is flexible. Classroom management is largely keeping children busily engaged in completing important work.

Products Assessment Active learning Vary expectations and requirements Start with pre-assessment. Design your instruction based on what students already know and can do to build a menu of approaches, choices, and scaffolds for the needs, interests, and abilities, that exist. Remember, assessments can be formal or informal- not just paper and pencil tests. Consider interviews, surveys, performance assessments, etc. Give learners tasks they find interesting, engaging, and accessible- each relating to essential understandings and schools. Each child should feel challenged. Students should be able to demonstrate or express their knowledge and understanding in different ways. Ensure assessments incorporate varied means or expression and procedures including varying degrees of difficulty. Provide a balance between teacher-assigned and student-selected tasks.

Reality Check Differentiated instruction, done right, is a tremendous amount of work. Do a little bit at a time, over time, do a lot. Adapt the practices slowly- one content area at a time, one lesson at a time. Work with other teachers to create a menu of instructional options together. Don’t recreate the wheel- look at what already exists online and in other resources.

Universal Design for Learning Flexible and supportive of all students Comes from architecture UDL at a Glance This is a theoretical framework developed by CAST to create curricula that are flexible and supportive of all students. Look at how useful automatic doors and curb cuts are. They help people with disabilities, but by so doing, they are helping all users. The concept of UDL is to design structures (instruction) from the outset with the needs of folks with disabilities in mind. Doing this makes teachers consider content and access and remove barriers before they cause problems for individual students. Let’s watch this short video- UDL at a Glance

UDL Framework This is the UDL framework. It reminds you to consider multiple means of representation, action and expression, and engagement. The fine print (which you can’t read from here) are the reminders of what is meant by each. If you follow the links, you can get more information and guidance from CAST (they developed the theoretical framework of UDL) about how to implement each.

On to Practicalities So- how do I do it, and what does it look like? Learning tools Lesson builder Book builder UDL in a 5th grade English class CAST Lesson builder lets you explore model lessons (sorry- no social studies) and, usefully, build your own lessons. Book builder lets you (or your students) create your own texts- with built in coach supports, a glossary, translation, etc. There are plenty of videos to see what UDL is like in the classroom- this is one. CAST is the home website where these resources are housed- along with hundreds more. The site can be quite overwhelming, so I’d suggest you go play without a particular goal and see what’s there.

Questions

Resources http://www.CAST.org Hall, T., Strangman, N. & Meyer, A. (2003). Differentiated instruction and implications for UDL implementation. Wakefield, MA: National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum. Retrieved 10/30/11 from http://aim.cast.org/learn/historyarchive/backgroundpapers/differentiated_instruction_udl Rose, D. H. & Meyer, A. (2006). A practical reader in universal design for learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press Tomlinson, C. A. (2001). How to differentiate instruction in a mixed-ability classrooms. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). Mapping a route toward differentiated instruction. Educational Leadership, 57(1).