1. Developed by Colleen Murphy Mauston School District
Know Your Students Differentiation Tools for Determining Readiness, Interests, and Learner Profile
Developed by Colleen Murphy
Mauston School District

2. Let’s Review . . .

3. What does Differentiation mean?
Delivering instruction that honors different learning styles
Providing multiple options for accessing content
Allowing a variety of performance options to demonstrate understanding

4. What Differentiation is NOT
New
Individualized instruction
Tracking
Static
Reactive

5. What Differentiation is
Multiple approaches
Qualitative
Rooted in assessment
Student centered
Proactive

6. Why do we differentiate?
To meet the needs of all learners
To maximize learning for all students
To help all students achieve success

7. Who do we differentiate for?
Struggling students
Gifted/Talented students
ELL/Bilingual students
At-Risk students
All students

8. Before you begin you must…
Determine what you want your students to Know, Understand, and be able to Do
Assess you students for Readiness, Interests, and Learning Profiles
Plan for Content, Process, and Product

9. KUD What we want the students to KNOW, UNDERSTAND, and be able to DO
With any given curriculum, what knowledge should the students acquire? What skills will they master? What big ideas and concepts will they understand?

10. Getting to know your students…
Assess for READINESS
Readiness refers not to ability but to what the student knows, understands, and can do in light of the curriculum to be covered

11. Getting to know your students…
Assess for INTERESTS
Assessing for interest involves looking for connections between the curriculum to be covered and those things the student finds appealing, intriguing, relevant, and worthwhile

12. Getting to know your students…
Assess for LEARNING PROFILE
Learning profile involves more than just modality preference but is influenced as well by intelligence preference, gender, and culture

13. Getting to know your students…
Given these 3 characteristics, how do we go about gathering this information on each of the 24 students in our class. Better yet, how about the 117 students we see in the course of a day?

14. Getting to know your students…
To assess for Readiness try using:
What Do You Know About….?
Who Is It?
Brainstorm and Sort
Background Knowledge Backpack
Anticipation Guides
Personal assessment
K-W-L

15. Getting to know your students…
To assess for interests, try using
Student Interest Surveys
Who Am I?
This Is Me posters
The Slip Game
Getting to Know Group Members
People Hunt
Puzzle Me Out
What Are Your Interests?
Personal discussion

16. Getting to know your students…
To assess for Learning Profile, try using:
Interaction Inventory
Learning Profile Questionnaires
Theory of Multiple Intelligences Self Assessment
Triarchic Theory of Intelligences
Modality Preferences Instrument
Personal observation

17. REMEMBER: Readiness Learning Profile Interests
Find out what they already know and meet them there
Learning Profile
Determine the best avenue for delivering instruction
Interests
Look for aspects of the subject that interest or intrigue

18. Resources
Tomlinson, Carol Ann – How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms, 2nd Ed., ASCD, 2001
Strickland, Cindy A. – Tools for High-Quality Differentiated Instruction, ASCD, 2007
Zwiers, Jeff – Building Reading Comprehension Habits in Grades 6-12: A Toolkit of Classroom Activities, IRA, 2004
Wood, Karen D., Lapp, Diane, Flood, James, Taylor, D. Bruce – Guiding Readings Through Text: Strategy Guides for New Times, 2nd Ed., IRA, 2008
Gibbs, Jeanne – Tribes: A New Way of Learning and Being Together, CenterSource Systems, 1995