1. Meeting the Spectrum of Student Needs (6-12)
One of the biggest challenges classroom teachers face is trying to meet the learning needs of all their students.
In this workshop, we will explore strategies and practices that will help meet the needs of a variety of learners.

2. Balancing competing Goals
“For even if we possess the technology that calibrates tasks to individual students’ needs and even if the standards identify the essential concepts and competencies everyone should learn, the human task of helping each student learn requires more than science, more than art, and much more than accident. It requires acknowledging and balancing competing goals for education—equity and excellence, customization and standards, efficiency and relationships.” (Schere, 2012)

3. Balancing Competing Goals
With two or three colleagues near you, share a time you’ve tried to balance these competing goals of “equity and excellence, customization and standards, efficiency and relationships.”

4. Workshop Learning Target
Unrealistic
Realistic
I will know how to best address the learning needs of every student every day every year all the time.
I will add to my backpack of effective strategies to employ when working to meet a variety of student learning needs.
Workshop Learning Target

5. So. . . let’s focus our energy
Consider 2-3 students you’re working with this semester who you feel are struggling in your class, not working to their potential, and/or not being appropriately challenged.
As we go through today’s session, keep those names or faces with you. Continually ask, “How might this help ______?”

6. Questions to Consider:
Which ways of teaching are best in getting students to learn better?
When should teachers teach to student commonalities?
When should teachers differentiate instruction?
How does one know when to follow best practice, and which best practice to follow?

7. Teaching to What Students Have in Common
“Research shows that instruction geared to common learning characteristics can be more effective than instruction focused on individual differences.”
Willingham, D. & Daniel, D. (2012, February). “Teaching to what students have in common.” Educational Leadership, 69(5),

8. Commonalities What are some common learning needs?
What can teachers do?
Factual knowledge: domain-specific knowledge
Practice: Some knowledge and skills need to become automatic
Feedback from a knowledgeable source
Distribute study time
Three 20-minute segments instead of one 60-minute segment
Practice recalling facts
Cycle between the concrete and the abstract
Provide choice for practice
Commonalities

9. Common Best Practices
Pre-assess students when starting a new unit and have them examine the results to formulate goals
Set up each learner for success
Begin with the end in mind
Focus unit and lesson planning on essential questions
Have consistent learning targets, then differentiate activities and provide opportunities for hands-on projects

10. What is the difference between these learning targets?
I can write paragraphs of 5-7 sentences OR
I can write high- quality paragraphs.
I can gather historical data from multiple sources to demonstrate my understanding of Irish immigration events. OR
I know what the Great Potato Famine is.

11. 7 Principles of “Teaching Up for Excellence”
Goal—“To create classrooms that give students equal access to excellence”
Accept that human differences are not only normal by also desirable
Develop a growth mind-set. – create learning experiences in which effort is the greatest determinant of success.
Work to understand student’s cultures, needs, and perspectives
Create a base of rigorous learning opportunities
Understand that students come to the classroom with varied points of entry into a curriculum and move through it at different rates.
Create flexible classroom routines and procedures that attend to learner needs
Be an analytical practitioner.
Tomlinson, C. A. & Javius, E. L. (2012, February). “Teaching up for excellence.” Educational Leadership, 69(5),

12. But we still differentiate—right?
Commonalities are important to consider, but we still need to differentiate

13. Suggestions for Some Specific Needs
Struggling boys who don’t like to read
Gifted or advanced learners
Lazy or seemingly unmotivated students
Students on the Autism Spectrum
As you review these suggestions, consider how ALL students would benefit from these strategies

14. Time to Work
Time to work with the lesson(s) or unit you’ve brought with you today. Consider the strategies presented -- How might you modify the lesson or unit in order to meet the learning needs of the specific students you envisioned earlier?

15. Closure—No “one-size fits all”
“ . . .master teachers create hybrid instructional approaches. ‘Through trial and error, they have learned that no particular teaching approach, no matter how successful its champions say it is, yields desired outcomes with all students, all the time.’”
Cuban, L. (2009, April 29). “Hugging the middle.” Education Week, 28 (30). as cited in Schere. M. (2012, February). “The teacher-proof myth.” Educational Leadership, 69(5), 7.
Base your instructional decisions upon what is in the best interest of the student’s learning and development