Good Instruction as a Basis for Differentiated Teaching Chapter 5 – Tomlinson Good Instruction as a Basis for Differentiated Teaching

“Hazy” Lessons When a teacher lacks clarity about what a student should know, understand, and be able to do as result of a lesson, the learning tasks she creates may or may not be engaging and we can be almost certain they won’t help students understand essential ideas or principles.

Two Essentials for Durable Learning Engagement: happens when a lesson captures a students imagination, snares their curiosity or ignites their opinions. Understanding: is more than simply recalling information. It requires a student to incorporate ideas into his or her inventory of how things work. The learner owns the idea.

One who understands can…. Explain it clearly and give examples. Use it. Compare and contrast with other concepts. Transfer it to unfamiliar settings. Combine it with other understandings. Generalize from specifics to form a concept. Generate questions that lead to new knowledge and further inquiries. Create analogies, models, metaphors, symbols or pictures of the concepts.

Levels of Learning Facts – discrete information that we believe true. Concepts – common elements that help us organize, retain, and use information. Principles – Rules that govern concepts. Attitudes – degrees of commitment to ideas and spheres of learning. Skills – capacity to put to work the understandings we have gained.

Levels provide students Power It is not what he knows (facts), but what he understood (concepts and principles) and how he could parlay his understanding into action (skills) in a situation removed from a classroom assignment. All subjects are built upon essential concepts and principles.

Examples of Concepts Generic Concepts: Subject Specific Concepts: Patterns, change, perspective, part & whole, systems. Apply to virtually all areas of study. Subject Specific Concepts: Probability in math, composition in art, voice in literature, structure and function in science, and primary source in history. These are essential to one or more disciplines, but are not as powerful as generic concepts.

Examples of skills Generic Skills: Subject Specific Skills: Writing a cohesive paragraph Arranging ideas in order Posing effective questions Subject Specific Skills: Balancing and equation in math Transposing in music Using metaphorical language in literature and writing Synthesis of sources in history

Lesson Planning A teacher should generate specific lists of what students should know (FACTS), understand (CONCEPTS & PRINCIPLES), and be able to do (SKILLS) by the time the unit ends. The teacher should then create a core of engaging activities that offer varied opportunities for learning the essentials she has outlined.

Standards Standards should be a vehicle to ensure that students learn more coherently, more deeply, more broadly and more durably. Standards should not be cover in isolation and when presented in that way genuine learning is not consistent. Each standard in a perscribed list is either a fact, concept, principle, attitude or skill. Go to page 40 for examples.

Curriculum Elements Content: what a student should come to know (facts) Understand (concepts & principles) Be able to do (Skills) As a result of a given segment of study (lesson, learning experience, unit) Content is INPUT.

Curriculum Elements Process: The opportunity for students to make sense of the content. Students must process ideas to own them. In the classroom this typical takes the form of activities. Activities are likely effective if they… Clearly defined an instructional purpose Ensure students have to understand and not just repeat ideas Help students relate new understandings and skills to previous ones.

Curriculum Elements Product: Vehicle through which a student shows (and extends) what they have come to understand. Must be able to do so as a result of a considerable segment of learning. Such as a month-long study of mythology, a unit on weather systems, a semester learning a world language, or a marking period studying governments. Products in this context are culminating products, or something students produce to exhibit major portions of learning.

Joining Learning Levels and Curriculum Content, process and product are squarely focused on exploring and mastering key concepts, essential principles, related skills and necessary facts.

Chapter 5 Study Guide Questions Why is it so critical for teachers planning to differentiate to specify the outcomes or goals for student learning? What's gained by doing so? Lost by not doing so? Review Figure 5.1, which gives examples of different levels of student learning. Think of one unit that you teach. What are its key facts, concepts, principles, attitudes, and skills? Review the example of Ms. Johnson on pages 44–46. What are some ways that she differentiates content, process, and product for her middle schoolers? Make a list of the challenges she might face in carrying out the unit. How might she—or you—surmount such challenges?