1. …kids of the same age are NOT all alike…. nor do they learn alike…..

2. What is differentiation? Differentiation IS ….  PROACTIVE – 1. The teacher plans a variety of ways to “get at” and express learning 2. Different learning styles are available 3. Greater chances that the learning experience will provide a “fit” for many learners

3.  QUALITATIVE rather than quantitative 1. Differentiation is not just giving some students more work and others less. 2. Adjust the nature of the assignment rather than the amount.  ROOTED in assessment 1. Assessment to take place as a unit begins to determine the particular needs of individuals in relation to the units goals 2. Ex of assessment variety – class discussions, indiv. Conversations, student work, and observation What is differentiation?

4.  MULTIPLE approaches to … 1. Content – input..what students learn 2. Process – how students make sense of ideas /info 3. Product- output..how students demonstrate what they have learned  STUDENT CENTERED 1. Students take responsibility for their own growth 2. Guiding them to think on their own, accept responsibility 3. Take pride in what they do!

5. What is differentiation?  BLEND of whole –class, group, and individual instruction  “ORGANIC” 1. Students and teachers are learners together 2. Teachers are continually learning about how their students learn 3. Each day in the classroom can reveal a way to make the classroom a better match for its learners

6. What differentiation IS NOT  The “individualized instruction” of the 1970s 1. Each student HAD a different assignment 2. Teachers become exhausted 3. Differentiation does not assume a different level for each learner…rather several avenues to learning  NOT chaotic 1. Purposeful student movement and student talking 2. Classroom NOT disorderly or undisciplined

7. What differentiation IS NOT…  NOT just another way to provide homogeneous grouping 1. Use of flexible grouping - accommodates students who are strong in some areas and weaker in others 2. Uses many different group configurations “fluid”  NOT just “tailoring the same suit of clothes” 1. If an assignment is too complex for some or too simple for others..stretching or shrinking the assignment will not help the student in the long run. (adding complexity or grading modifications) The assignment needs to be the “right fit” from the beginning.

8. …..Differentiation is not just a STRATEGY But a WAY OF LIFE In the classroom!!!! …the end…