Differentiated Instructional Strategies: One Size Doesn’t Fit All

1. Differentiated Instructional Strategies: One Size Doesn’t Fit All Beginning Teacher Support September 2008 Jennifer Clark Smith

2. Ground Rules

3. The Balanced Leadership Framework Purposeful Community Leadership Leadership Leadership Purposeful Community Purposeful Community Leadership Purposeful Community

4. Instruction Matters: Professional Development in ACS Knowledge of Curriculum and Instruction Focus on Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Monitoring/Evaluating Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment • Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum • CITW • Formative Assessment (McREL, 2006)

5. One Size Doesn’t Fit All “Differentiation is a philosophy that enables educators to plan strategically in order to reach the needs of the diverse learners in classrooms today to achieve targeted standards. Differentiation is not a set of tools, but a belief system educators embrace to meet the unique needs of every learner.” (Tomlinson, 1999)

6. Differentiation Myths and Realities According to DI guru Carol Ann Tomlinson, a lot of confusion exists about what differentiated instruction is and isn’t. One myth that plagues differentiation is that it is in conflict with standards-based education. Tomlinson offered two major reasons why this is not so. First, standards guide what to teach, and differentiation guides how to teach. No matter what you’re teaching, it will be learned better if taught in a way that’s responsive to a learner’s needs. Next, differentiation is about providing a variety of means and supports for mastering a standard, not changing the content of standards. A richer framework of meaning helps students more effectively learn, recall, relate to, retain, and retrieve content. Tomlinson concluded that differentiation is a means of achieving standards by making them accessible to a wider array of learning styles and student interests. -Education Update, January 2006

7. Why Differentiate? • Standards-based classrooms: targeted expectations set by districts, states and nations. • High expectations for all students: no longer can we leave children behind and just “spray and pray” for success. • Multicultural diversity: continuous influx of immigrant children with little or no communication skills or competencies in English. (Gregory & Chapman, 2002)

8. Student diversity: unique learning styles and different levels of multiple intelligence. • New cognitive research on human learning: knowledge of the brain and how it processes memory and makes meaning. • Rapid societal and technological change: political and economic revolutions that influence what how learning takes place. (Gregory & Chapman, 2002)

9. Teachers can differentiate: • The content students learn • The assessment tools being used • The performance tasks selected • The instructional strategies used (research-based practices!!

10. Tools and Strategies for Designing Inclusive Classrooms for Diverse Learners Differentiated Instructional Strategies: One Size Doesnt’ Fit All (Gregory & Chapman, 2002)

11. Day 1 • One Size Doesn’t Fit All • Creating a Climate For Learning

12. One Size Doesn’t Fit All • Activity: Would you say that you are traveling on: The Dirt Road? The Paved Road? The Highway? The Yellow Brick Road? (Formative assessment: Pre-assessment strategy: p. 49)

13. Debrief: • What did you discover about yourself? • How does your readiness level affect the strategies you need to learn something? • What role does experience play? • Use those answers to empathize with students’ differences (need, ability level, interest, etc.) and how those differences will be honored in your classroom.

14. Creating A Climate For Learning: “the way we do things around here” “People need to know you care before they care what you know.”

15. William Glasser (1990, 1998) • The need to survive and reproduce • The need to belong and love • The need to have some power • The need to have freedom • The need to have fun

16. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs ((1968) • Physiological needs: food, water, air, shelter • Safety needs: security, freedom from fear, order • Belongingness and love: friends, spouse, children • Self-esteem: self-respect, achievement, reputation • Self-actualization: becoming what the individual has potential to become

17. Emotions and Learning • “downshifting” (Caine & Caine, 1997) • “relaxed alertness” (Kohn, 1993) Rewards and punishments tend to lessen the chances of self-motivation and an appreciation of learning as its own reward. Five practical alternatives to using rewards are the following: • Eliminating threat • Creating a strongly positive climate • Increasing feedback • Setting goals • Activating and engaging positive emotions (Jensen, 1998b, p. 68)

18. Classroom Climate • Physical and Emotional Atmosphere • Appropriate lighting, cleanliness, orderliness, displays of students’ work • Use of Music • Laughter and Celebrating Learning • Learning Atmosphere • Emphasis on knowledge base and experience vs. IQ and ability. • “Continuous progress” of students vs. final grades. (Formative assessment) • “Learning includes weeding out what students know with an effective pre-assessment and determining what students need next.”

19. Key Classroom Climate Shifts(Popham, 2008. Transformative Assessment) • Learning Expectations • From – Substantial learning will occur for motivated students who possess adequate academic aptitude. • To – Substantial learning will occur for all students, irrespective of their academic aptitude.

20. Role of Classroom Assessment • From – Formal tests generate data for comparing students and assigning grades. • To – Formal and informal assessments generate data for informing adjustments to the teacher’s instruction and the student’s learning tactics.

21. Responsibility for Learning • From – The teacher, as prime instructional mover, is chiefly responsible for students’ learning. • To – Students assume meaningful responsibility for their own learning and the learning of their classmates. (Figure 5.1. pg. 95. Transformative Assessment)

22. Teachers’ Suggested Steps for Establishing Climate (Popham, 2008) • Distribute classroom climate guidelines. • Seek trust constantly and nurture it seriously. • Model and reinforce appropriate conduct. • Solicit students’ advice on classroom climate. • Assess students’ relevant affective status. (Figure 5.3. pg. 100. Transformative Assessment)

23. Reflections: Creating a Climate for Learning • Describe one or more changes that you would like to make in the area of creating a climate for learning in your classroom for the 2007-08 school year. • What steps must be initiated in order for this to happen? • Who will be responsible for initiating and sustaining these steps? • What resources will you need to make these practices happen? • What is a realistic timeline for implementation of these practices? • What will you use to assess/evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies?

24. Ticket Out the Door Dear Jennifer, What I am taking away today,… What I still hope to get,….