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Differentiating Instruction. Sharing Present Practice: Give a Few Ideas, Get a Few Ideas. http://www.raisingsmallsouls.com/. We are all different. We have different gifts in differing proportions. We are interested in different things. We learn in different ways.
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Sharing Present Practice: Give a Few Ideas, Get a Few Ideas
We are all different. We have different gifts in differing proportions. We are interested in different things. We learn in different ways.
Teachers Differentiate Instruction… …to structure learning experiences that capitalize on these differences: to engage different interests, to highlight different gifts, and to honour the many different ways of becoming, and coming to know.
Sometimes we walk the same road. And sometimes we take our own path.
What is differentiated instruction? Differentiated Instruction is a FRAMEWORK for all instruction.
Differentiation: The Teacher’s response to LEARNER NEEDS Respectful Tasks Flexible Grouping Ongoing Assessment & Adjustment According to a student’s: Guided by these DI principles: Readiness Interests Learning Profile Teachers can differentiate: Content Process Product Learning Environment Adapted by the TDSB from The Differentiated Classroom : Responding to the Needs of All Learnersby C.A. Tomlinson, 1999
Students benefit because… • They know we are honouring how they learn, and how they learn differently. • We are putting tools and understandings in their hands: they can control their own learning and take responsibility for it themselves. • We are connecting them with like-minded and different others to enrich their thoughts and experiences. • We see their strengths and help them see the benefits of continuous efforts. • We are enabling them to take risks and to be resilient.
Students benefit from Differentiated Instruction because… They see that we care, because we are respecting them for who they really are in the light of all the talents they have, and that we are helping them work actively toward becoming the people they want to be.
What Matters to Adolescents Affirmation Contribution Purpose Power Challenge
Affirmation Teachers’ relationships with students correlate very strongly with students’ achievement. Knowing them—recognizing their uniqueness—creating experiences that capitalize on their gifts—affirms their worth as individuals. Knowing that their teachers care about them makes them stay in school and try.
Contribution Adolescents need opportunities to share their talents, ideas and thoughts with others: Opportunities to work with others in partners and small groups Opportunities to do relevant, original and authentic work
Purpose They need to discover or know the reasons why they are doing the tasks of school, so they can take responsibility for their actions and their choices.
Power Students produce work of significantly better quality when they can make meaningful choices about what they do and how they do it in school.
Challenge The work students do must be personally meaningful, and should encourage them to stretch and grow--within the range of the possible.
“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.” Carol Ann Tomlinson
Differentiated Instruction TDSB Respectful Tasks Flexible Grouping Ongoing Assessment and Adjustment According to a student’s: Differentiated Instructionis a teacher’s response to a learner’s need. In the TDSB approach to Differentiated Instruction priority is placed upon emphasizing the importance of student individuality with respect to culture, race, language, learning needs, life circumstances as well as learning styles. This is guided by general principles of differentiation such as: Readiness Interests Learning Profile Teachers can differentiate: Content Process Product Learning Environment Adapted by the TDSB from The Differentiated Classroom : Responding to the Needs of All Learnersby C.A. Tomlinson, 1999
Knowing Our Students Differentiated instruction requires that we know our students’ • readiness • interests • their learning preferences • as they learn new concepts and skills. With this knowledge, we are better able to design and refine instruction and assessment to meet the needs of all learners.
1. Differentiating by Learner Preferences A Learner’s profile describes the student’s preferred ways of processing what is to be learned. The profile includes learning styles as well as intelligence and environmental preferences.
Learning Styles Describes how we prefer to acquire, process and remember new information • Visual • Auditory • Kinesthetic • Combination
Intelligence Preferences • Based on the multiple intelligences work of Howard Gardner and the triarchic intelligences work of Robert Sternberg (2001). • Intelligences are what Gardner calls the formats in which our mind thinks.
Multiple Intelligences Since our students are stronger in some intelligences than others, it is important to address, when appropriate, their strongest intelligence when teaching new material.
2. Differentiating by Students’ Readiness The goal of differentiating by readiness is to foster the GROWTH of the learner.
Students’ Readiness Readiness is different from ability. Students’ readiness depends on: • Their prior knowledge of the topic • Their points of connection • Their feelings about learning the new material Provide content and tasks at an appropriate level of challenge for the students’ readiness.
BUT… If we only differentiate for readiness, then students will settle into fixed groupings, which limits students’ growth, keeping them on one track within the classroom.
When differentiating for students’ readiness and interests it is important that teachers recognize student individuality with respect to culture, race, language, learning needs and life circumstances.
3. Differentiating for Students’ Interests The goal of differentiating by learner interest is MOTIVATION and ENGAGEMENT.
Students’ Interests • Capitalizing on students’ interests ignites their motivation to learn. • Tasks and topics become relevant when they connect to something the student knows and cares about. • When new ideas are personally relevant, students are engaged, and meaningful learning happens. Tomlinson
Brain Research… Current research on the brain suggests that we learn best when we are engaged in meaningful classroom learning experiences that help us discover and develop our strengths and talents.
Differentiating by Interest: Your Choice of Readings • Choose one of these readings: “Teaching Beyond the Book” • “The Silver Cup of Differentiated Instruction” • “Radically Redefining Literacy Instruction” • “Multiple Intelligences Meets Blooms’ Taxonomy” • “Help Us Care Enough to Learn” • “If Only They’d Do Their Homework” • “Promoting Respectful Learning” (math)
Differentiating Curriculum: The Content The same for all students: the overall expectations (the Big Ideas) that students are demonstrating How they access the content can differ: • Different levels of text, same topic/content • Different text forms (print), same content • Different text forms (media), same content What they access can differ: • Different content/topics • Different points of view, same content
Differentiating Curriculum: The Process The same: they all process the content/acquire understanding What may differ: how they process the content • Individually, or in a group, at various stages • How they do research (read, interview) • Tiered questions/activities • Pacing and time required • Process according to preferred intelligence
Differentiating Curriculum: The Product The same: they all demonstrate understanding of the same overall expectations and Big Ideas What may differ: how they demonstrate understanding: • Individual or group effort • The text form • Complexity/simplicity of the understanding • Modality/means of presentation • Form of intelligence used to demonstrate
GRASP(Goal, Role, Audience, Scenario, Product) A GRASP task is… …one which engages students in creative and meaningful tasks …a way to encourage students to: • assume a role • consider their audience • examine a topic from a relevant perspective • present a product in different form …a chance for students to explore content from new perspectives, thereby deepening their understanding
This tool helps to understand what a grasp task is all about.
Sample Grasp Task for Gr 9 Chemistry: • Goal: To understand the pros and cons between the use of copper wiring in electrical circuits versus aluminum wiring • Role: Representative from Electrical Contractors Association • Audience: Realtors of first time home buyers in the GTA • Scenario: the resale of homes built in the decade of 1970 is now reaching its peak. The ECA representative sends out a message of caution about homes built in the era. An emphasis is placed on the use of aluminum wiring in homes built in the time frame. • Product: A letter of caution that will outline the following: • historical reasoning for Al wire • Pros and cons to Al wiring in houses compared to Copper wiring • Cost benefit analysis of the conversion to copper wiring.
Choice Boards • To activate multiple intelligences
Knowing our Students: Establishing and Maintainingrelationships (assessment) (finding out) (keeping track & checking-up (making sure) Pre-test Graphing Me Inventory KLW Checklist Observation Self-evaluation Questioning Conference Exit Card Peer evaluation Portfolio Check 3-minute pause Observation Journal Entry Journal prompt Self-evaluation Questioning Quick-quiz Unit Test Performance Task Product/Exhibit Demonstration Portfolio Review
The teacher’s attitude can make all the difference…. Teachers who showed the greatest ability to move toward differentiated classrooms were inquirers about students and saw school as an organic enterprise in which disequilibrium or disturbance was a catalyst for growth Carol Ann Tomlinson
What Differentiated Instruction is NOT • treating everyone equally • having high expectations for some, and lesser expectations for others • individualizing for every student • accelerating some, leaving others behind • giving those who’ve mastered it more of the same
The Difference that Teachers Make Teachers that differentiate instruction move away from seeing themselves as keepers and dispensers of knowledge and move towards seeing themselves as “organizers of learning opportunities” that allow students to construct understanding themselves. Carol Ann Tomlinson
Checking in with you… Complete this statement, matching your experience to one of the following photos: The way I see Differentiated Instruction right now….
