1. Tiered and Anchor Activities
Rebecca Mann

2. Tiered Activities Tiered Instruction features:
Whole group introduction and initial instruction
Identification of developmental differences
Increase or Decrease the:
Abstraction
Extent of Support
Sophistication
Complexity of goals,
resources, activities
& products

3. What constitutes a tiered activity?
A focus on a key concept – parallel tasks
Adjust to students’ achievement levels
Adjust number of steps to the students’ productivity levels
Students working with appropriately challenging tasks
Result = Respectable work for everyone
Students understand why they are all not doing the same thing.

4. Zone of Proximal Development
The difference between what a child can do with help and what he or she can do without help (Vygotsky, 1979).
Allowed to work in your ZPD, you will be in a state of moderate challenge.

5. ZPD Too Hard Moderate Challenge Too Easy Don’t know where to start
Missing skills
Can’t solve
Makes no sense
Moderate Challenge
Know something
Have to think
Must persist
Effort leads to success
Too Easy
Already knows
Gets it quickly
No effort needed
Based on C. Tomlinson, 2004

6. The Equalizer Foundational Transformational Concrete Abstract
Simple Complex
Single Facet Multiple Facets
Small Leap Great Leap
More Structured More Open
Less Independence Independence
Slow Quick
Information, Ideas, Materials, Applications
Representations, Ideas, Applications, Materials
Resources, Research, Issues, Problems, Skills, Goals
Directions, Problems, Application, Solutions, Approaches, Disciplinary Connections
Application, Insight, Transfer
Solutions, Decisions, Approaches
Planning, Designing, Monitoring
Pace of Study, Pace of Thought

7. Essential Steps
Know your students’ interests, learning styles, and ability levels
Identify your learning objective
Determine how you will get students to that goal

8. Ensure the Mastery of Basic Skills:
Mastery Not Mastery
Recognition of situation requiring repeated addition, uses multiplication to shorten solution process
Uses variety of basketball passes depending on best strategy for the moment
Explain role of any word in sentence & explain how role changes based on placement
Can automatically recite multiplication facts
Primarily uses the bounce pass in basketball regardless of its potential effectiveness
Can match parts of speech to its definition
Wormeli, 2006

9. Preassessment Options
Textbook Pretest
Student/Teacher Conference - as short as a 5 minute talk
K-N-W Chart - What do I Know, Need to know & Want to know
Journal - Write what you know about...
List - If I say ...
What does it make you think of?
Product - Draw a bar graph...
Use the graphing calculator to plot...
Concept Map...
Five Hardest

10. Essential Steps
Know your students’ interests, learning styles, and ability levels
Identify your learning objective
Determine how you will get students to that goal

11. The Planets
Average students: Write a sentence, giving an important fact, about Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto as you pass on your way.
Above average students: Research the planets that you will pass and fill out the Solar System Comparison Graphic Organizer.
High End Learners: Research the planets that you will pass and create a visual product that shows the earth in relation to the other planets.

12. Beginning Probability
Task 1: It’s early Monday morning and your mother has laid out the following clothing items for you to choose from: a red shirt, a blue shirt, a white shirt, blue jeans, and khaki pants. How many different outfits can you make with the clothes your mother has provided?
Task 2: You are making cupcakes for a class celebration. Your classmates have indicated that they would like a choice of different cupcakes. You have: chocolate and yellow cake batter; strawberry, white, and caramel icing; and green and blue sprinkles. How many different types of cupcakes can you offer your classmates?
Task 3: You are trying to determine your schedule for next year at Leonard Middle School. First period, you can take art, chorus, or band. Second period, you can take technology or creative writing or be an office assistant. Third period, you can take a foreign language: German, Spanish, French, or Latin. Figure out how many different schedules are possible based on these options.

13. More work or No work for you?
How could you change the probability lesson for the high end students so that you will have as little prep as possible?

14. Tiered Activity: Biographies
Level
Prompt
Tier 1: These students benefit from structure and direct instruction.
Write a biography of your famous person. Use the timeline you created to help you organize your ideas. Remember to answer the following questions as you write.
When and where was your famous person born?
Where did your person live while growing up?
What was his or her childhood like?
What did he or she do when he or she became an adult?
Why is your person famous?
Tier 2: These students can organize ideas without too much prompting.
Write a biography of your famous person. Use your timeline to help you organize your ideas. Remember to emphasize why your person is famous.
Tier 3: These students thrive on high levels of challenge.
Tell the reader about your famous person’s life through a series of letters written over his or her lifespan from that person to a friend.

15. Natural Resources
Prompt 1: Every day our custodians throw out a tremendous amount of trash. What can we do at our school to reduce the amount of trash we throw out each day? Come up with a plan that you can present to the principal that explains your solution to our trash problem.
Prompt 2: Every day our custodians throw out a tremendous amount of trash. What can we do at our school to reduce the amount of trash we throw out each day?
Think about these different types of trash:
Paper
Food
Plastic
Cans and other metals
Come up with a plan that you can present to the principal that explains your solution to our trash problem.
Prompt 3: Our school custodians have a problem. Each day they throw out a large amount of paper. They would like to save as many trees as possible and would like to come up with a plan to recycle the paper used in the classrooms. Your job is to come up with a plan for the custodians.
Step 1: With a partner, talk to the custodians to find out what they do with the paper now. Ask them if they have any ideas about how to solve the problem.
Step 2: With your group, brainstorm ideas for solving the paper problem.
Step 3: Use the PMI (Plus, Minus, Interesting) strategy to sort your ideas
Step 4: Write up 2 different plans using your “Plus” ideas.

16. Vacation Time! Calculate approximate cost of gas
Prompt One
Given the cost of gas and mpg of car
Prompt Two
Given mpg of car
Prompt Three
Asked to approximate cost and justify answer
Family plans to average 50 miles per hour and travel 6 hours per day stopping twice to eat for an hour each time.
How long will it take to get to their destination?
How many nights?
Cost of hotel is about $80 per night – calculate hotel cost for trip to destination.
How long will it take?
How many nights will they need to spend in hotels?
Calculate hotel cost for trip to destination.
How long? How many nights?
Find hotels that include breakfast.
Calculate hotel costs for each stay.
Vacation Time!

17. Differentiation Quiz…
Should every student do it?
Would every student want to do it?
Could every student do it?

18. Teachers who differentiate find…
Greater understanding of the concepts
All students experience challenge
Ability to apply concepts/skills to new situations and daily life
Students are excited
Students have ownership
Students are more independent learners
Students have more metacognitive skills
Students have greater mastery of content
Students have problem solving skills
Students are able to initiate their own projects.

19. Now, all you round pegs get back into your square holes!”
“Summer’s over kids!
Now, all you round pegs get back into your square holes!”
NCLB