1. Differentiated Instruction

2. notes
Differentiation is responsive teaching rather than one-size-fits-all teaching. Tomlinson, C.A.,Teach Me Teach My Brain

3. How We Learn 10% of what we READ 20% of what we HEAR
30% of what we SEE
50% of what we SEE & HEAR
70% of what is DISCUSSED with OTHERS
80% of what is EXPERIENCED PERSONALLY
95% of what we TEACH TO SOMEONE ELSE
William Glasser
notes

4. The Conflict in Education in a Democratic Society
“Perhaps the greatest idea that America has given the world is education for all. The world is entitled to know whether this idea means that everybody can be educated or simply that everyone must go to school.”
Robert Hutchins
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
(n.) The act or process of educating; the result of educating, as determined by the knowledge skill, or discipline of character, acquired; also, the act or process of training by a prescribed or customary course of study or discipline; as, an education for the bar or the pulpit; he has finished his education.
The Conflict in Education in a Democratic Society

5. Brain Research ~Carol Ann Tomlinson
“Three principles from brain research: emotional safety, appropriate challenges, and self constructed meaning suggest that a one-size-fits-all approach to classroom instruction is ineffective for most students and harmful to some.”
~Carol Ann Tomlinson
No two children are alike
No two children learn in the identical way
An enriched environment for some may not be enriched for others
Students need to be taught to think for themselves
Differentiated Instruction Awareness
Students must make meaning of what is being taught. Meaning is influenced by prior knowledge, beliefs, learning styles, and student attitudes toward self and school (Absence of Threat).
Absence of threat is crucial in providing a positive classroom environment. The many parts that make up this positive climate are based on how the brain functions best. “Emotion drives attention and attention drives learning and memory.”(Dr. Robert Sylwester)
A positive classroom environment has group seating, no clutter, calming colors on walls, posted schedules, mutual respect, Lifeskills (Susan Kovolik) ,organization, and curriculum centered bulletin boards. These are just some of the ways to create a positive environment for learning.

6. What is Differentiated Instruction?
When a teacher proactively plans varied approaches to what students need to learn, how they will learn it, and or how they can express what they have learned in order to increase the likelihood that each student will learn as much as he or she can as efficiently as possible.
(Tomlinson, 2003, p. 151)
notes

7. Modifying instruction
Student selected topics of interest
Modifying instruction
Increased achievement
Modifying instruction to draw on student interests is likely to result in greater students engagement, higher levels of intrinsic motivation, higher student productivity, greater student autonomy, increased achievement, and an improved sense of self-competence.
notes
Tomlinson,C.A. (2003)

8. Traditional Classroom vs. Differentiated Classroom
Assessment at the conclusion of a unit of study
Whole class instruction
Textbooks are the main instructional source
Teacher is the main problem solver
Quantitative focus of assignments
Assessment is ongoing & influences instruction
Variety of instructional strategies
Resources include a variety of materials
Students are solving problems
Qualitative focus of assignments
*Note to self!~ Ask teachers these questions after this slide.
Which type of classroom do you provide for your students?
Imagine yourself back in elementary school…which type of classroom would you prefer to learn in?
Differentiation

9. Four Methods of differentiating instruction
Differentiating the content/topic
Differentiating the process/activities
Differentiating the product
Differentiating with individual learning styles
~When a student works on skills previously mastered, little or no learning occurs.
~When a student is assigned tasks that are too challenging, frustration will be the outcome, not learning.
~Students who are interested in a topic will be motivated to learn.
Teachers should create tasks that are challenging to all learners (high & low). Students who accomplish tasks just beyond their ability levels have a strong sense of self-efficacy(the students own recognition that he/she accomplished something that was believed to be beyond their reach.

10. Differentiating the content
Pre-assessment of new material
Curriculum Compacting
Acceleration of the student’s rate of progress
Readiness level,interests,learning profile
In a differentiated classroom, content is differentiated as a result of prior teacher assessment of a student’s readiness level ,interests, or learning profile.
Readiness –matching the content that students are expected to learn to a student’s level of reading & understanding.
For example, it would be a waste of time for a 4th grade student that reads on a 7th grade level to do much of her work in a grade level reading book. AT the same time, it would be inappropriate for a 5th grade student who is on a second grade reading level to do most of their assignments from a series that is on grade level.
Interest differentiation involves providing ideas and materials that build on a student’s interests. When students are interested in a topic they will be motivated to learn.
Example- A 5th grade student who enjoys space would benefit from a lesson that involved The Solar System (preferably a Webquest).
Learning Profile- is based on a student’s way of learning (Howard Gardner’s M.I.)

11. Differentiating the process/activities
“Sense making activity”
A sense making activity is designed to help a student progress to a more complex level of understanding.
Classroom activities should:
be interesting to students
Have students thinking at higher levels
Involve using key skills to
understand key ideas
Tomlinson, C.A.(2001) How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed Ability Classrooms
Differentiating the processes/activities means using multiple activities in varying levels to move a student from their present point of understanding to a level that is more complex. This is accomplished with classroom projects that captures the interest of a student and requires him/her to think at higher levels.
Differentiate process according to student readiness, student interest,and student learning profile.

12. Variation is the key
Variation is the key
Good Activity~ is something the students will make or do
using essential skills & information
in order to understand an essential idea or answer an essential question
Good Differentiated Activity~ is something students will make or do
in a range of modes at varied degrees of complexity in varying time spans
with various amounts of support from teacher & peers
using essential skills & information
to understand an essential idea or answer an essential question
*NOTE TO SELF ~At this time, present actual student examples to the faculty. Allow time for teachers to approach tables with the displayed work .

13. Differentiating the product
A project that students create to demonstrate mastery of the concepts.
Students working below grade level may have reduced performance expectations
Higher achieving students will produce more complex work
Students have a choice of product
Assignments should have students thinking, applying, and expanding on a topic
A product/project that students create to demonstrate mastery of specific concepts/topics. Students working below grade level may have lower performance expectations, while students working at or above grade level may be asked to produce work that involves higher thinking. Students are motivated when they are given the choice of product.

14. Differentiating with Individual learning styles
Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory
Linguistic intelligence
Logical-mathematical intelligence
Spatial intelligence
Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence
Musical intelligence
Interpersonal intelligence
Intrapersonal intelligence
Naturalist intelligence
“We each have a unique blend of intelligences, which leads to the most important implication of the theory for the next millennium. We can choose to ignore this uniqueness, strive to minimize it, or revel in it…I suggest the big challenge facing the deployment of human resources is how best to take advantage of the uniqueness conferred on us as the species exhibiting several intelligences.”
Gardner,H. (1999)
Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences
In 1979, Howard Gardner, neurological researcher, was presented a project by researchers associated with Harvard Graduate School of Education. The Project on Human Potential, as it was called, was focused on the nature of human potential. AS a result of this project, Gardner was given the assignment of writing a book based on human cognition . This began the research that inevitably led to the theory of multiple intelligences.

15. Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences include:
Linguistic~ sensitivity to spoken & written language, the ability to learn languages and the capacity to learn language to accomplish goals.
Example- Lawyers, speakers, writers, poets
Logical-Mathematical~ the capacity to analyze problems logically, carry out mathematical operations, and investment issues scientifically.
Example- Mathematicians, logicians, scientists
Musical~ entails skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns.
Bodily-Kinesthetic~ entails the potential of using one’s whole body or parts of the body to solve problems or fashion products.
Example-dancers ,actors, athletes, surgeons ,mechanics
Spatial~ the potential to recognize and manipulate the patterns of wide space as well as the patterns of more confined areas.
Example- pilots, navigators, sculptors,surgeons, graphic artists, architects
Interpersonal~ a person’s capacity to understand the intentions, motivations, and desires of other people and consequently, to work effectively with others.
Example- teachers, clinicians, political leaders, actors, salespeople
Intrapersonal~ the capacity to understand oneself-including one’s own desires, fears, & capacities-to use this information effectively in regulating one’s life.
Naturalist~ demonstrates expertise in the recognition and clasification of numerous species (flora, fauna) of his/her environment

16. The Flow of Instruction in a Differentiated Classroom
Whole class Exploration of topic or concept
Students engage in study based on readiness & Learning style
Students & teacher share information
Students work on a variety of assigned tasks based on levels of complexity
The whole class reviews key concepts & shares their independent studies
In small student selected groups, the students apply key principles to solve teacher-generated problems relating to their study
Whole class instruction of skills needed for creating a presentation
Students select topics of interest
The whole class listens to individualized plans & establishes a baseline criteria for success
Present flow of instruction and refer teachers to the handout.
Tomlinson,C.A..,(2001)

17. 1/3 Students won’t understand it
1/3 Students will understand it
1/3 Students won’t understand it
1/3 Students already know it
Take a moment to think about your homeroom class…. which third would each of your students fall into?
When a teacher tries to teach something to the entire class at the same time, “chances are, one-third of the kids already know it; one-third will get it; and the
remaining one-third won’t. So two thirds of the children are wasting their time.”
Lillian Katz ASCD Differentiating Instruction

18. Differentiation is classroom practice that looks eyeball to eyeball with the reality that kids differ, and the most effective teachers do whatever it takes to hook the whole range of kids on learning.
Tomlinson C.A., 2001

19. References
Tomlinson, C.A., (2001). How to differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms. Alexandria: ASCD. Gardner,H., (1999).The Disciplined Mind: What All Students Should Understand. New York: Simon and Schuster. Gardner, H., (1993) "Multiple Intelligences: The Theory In Practice." New York: Basic Books Tomlinson, C.A. & Kalbfleisch,M.L., Teach me, teach my brain: A call for differentiated classrooms. Educational Leadership; Nov 1998; 56, 3; Research Library pg. 52 Tomlinson, C. –Lillian Katz (1996). Differentiating Instruction for mixed-ability classrooms. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

20. Differentiated Instruction
Session Two
Differentiated Instruction

21. Overview of session two
Getting started
Total Talent Portfolio
Assessments
Curriculum Compacting Model
The Project Model
The Contract Model
Problem Based Model