Shake it up, baby! Differentiation in middle and high school classrooms. Tanya B. O’Berry

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The questions to ask…  What do you want each student to come away with as a result of this activity?  What common insight or understanding should all students get because they have successfully completed their assigned task?

The role of the teacher  Facilitator and Collaborator  You as the teacher must make it clear what you want the students to :  Know  Understand  Be able to do  These are the essential ideas and principles.

Healthy Classroom Environment  The teacher appreciates each child as an individual.  The teacher remembers to teach whole children.  The teacher continues to develop expertise.  The teacher links students and ideas.  The teacher strives for joyful learning.  The teacher offers high expectations and lots of ladders.

Healthy Classroom environment  The teacher helps the student make sense of their own idea.  The teacher shares the teaching with the students.  The teacher clearly strives for student independence.  The teacher uses positive energy and humor.  Discipline is more covert than overt.

What are my strengths?  x.html x.html x.html  This site offers teachers an opportunity to determine their strengths. With an understanding of your strengths comes an understanding of your best delivery method.

Ways to Differentiate  Begin with Bloom’s as a way to determine the challenge.  Know it or Knowledge – recall facts and information. Tell, list, recite, label, recall, fill-in  Understand it or Comprehension - show your understanding. Locate, explain, summarize, outline  Use it or Application – use what you have learned. Demonstrate, construct, translate, manipulate, calculate, diagram, reformat

Ways to Differentiate  Examine it or Analysis – examine critically. Compare, contrast, classify, critique, categorize, infer  Judge it or Evaluation – determine worth or value based on criteria. Judge, predict, verify, assess, justify, value, choose, estimate  Create it or Synthesis – put it together in a new or different way. Compose, hypothesize, create, refine, produce, invent

Flexible grouping  Flexible means mixing up things to meet specific needs  Flexible grouping does not replace whole-group instruction!  Used as needed  Is not permanent group: driven by needs  Size varies – which students need what  Activity time varies based on the group’s need

More Flexible Grouping  Smaller groups are easier to manage  Allocate your time between groups based on their need  Groups who need minimal support get more activities  Provide groups with checklists or rubrics of your expectations  Set up behavior guidelines  Establish guidelines for getting teacher assistance  Establish individual accountability  Establish procedures for completed work  Provide opportunities for the groups to share their activities

Tiered Assignments This allows students to focus on essential understandings and skills, but creates levels of complexity, abstractness, and open- endedness. Recipe for success with tiered assignments: 1. Select the concept, generalization, and skills.

Tiered Assignments 2. Think about the students’ ability and their readiness for the topic. 3. Create one activity that is interesting, requires high-level thought. Focus on elements that have students use key skills to understand key ideas. 4. Draw a ladder. Have the top rung represent students with highest skills an understanding.

Tiered Assignments 4. The bottom rung will represent the student with the low skill and understanding. Plan the lesson to follow the rungs.

Six ways to tear-free Tiered Assignments  Challenge Level– Use Bloom’s  Complexity– Address the needs of students at all levels.  Outcome—Use same materials

Six ways to tear-free Tiered Assignments  Process– Similar outcomes but different process  Resources– Use materials that vary complexity  Product– Use multiple intelligences

Deciding When and How  Time factor– are there points students need more time on a skill and others “got it” Tier by challenge or complexity  Can varied resources match student needs and readiness? Tier by resources  Will my materials allow a basic and more advanced outcome? Tier by outcome  Results with more than one way for students to learn? Tier by product.

Resources  Differentiating Instruction in the Regular Classroom: How to Reach and Teach All Learners, Grades 3-12 by Diane Heacox, Ed. D  The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners By Carol Ann Tomlinson