Differentiating Instruction in a World of Standards and Accountability

1. Differentiating Instruction in a World of Standards and Accountability MASSP 2015

2. “Four-fifths of my kids keep failing their tests!”

3. We are hired for how we are similar to a company, but we advance based on how we are different.

4. We teach all children, not just the easy ones.

5. Equal Fair

6. “The goal of any teacher is to put himself out of a job.” -- Oscar Wilde

7. “I don’t have time to differentiate instruction or assessment.”

8. “There’s no way to teach all these standards and differentiate instruction and assessment.”

9. “They don’t differentiate instruction and assessment at the high school level or on the standardized tests, so we shouldn’t differentiate at the middle level.”

10. My Response to Mike Schmoker’s 2010 Attack on Differentiation “Setting the Pedagogy Straight” (AMLE, Wormeli) differentiationcentral.com (Tomlinson) Article on Finding Time to Teach Students: rwormeli@cox.net

11. Dr. Daniel Willingham, Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia Books: Why Don’t All the Kids Like School? When Can You Trust the Experts?

12. What would happen if we differentiated instruction and assessment for all students, k-12, as needed? What would happen if we never differentiated instruction and assessment, k-12? Is the world beyond school differentiated?

13. [Artist Unknown

14. Schools aren’t meant to meet the needs of diverse students. ‘Anyone out there know me? It is counter-cultural, subversive, to differentiate instruction .

15. Being good at taking standardized tests doesn’t qualify students for creative contribution to society or successful citizenship.

16. Fair Isn’t Always Equal

17. Let’s embrace the reality: During the course of his or her career, every great teacher breaks rules, many of them political. Since most school policies are put in place to maintain order, yet learning is a disorderly enterprise, we are in daily conflict. We can’t survive long in education when denying our rebel selves.

18. Time is NOT immutable.

19. Politically, students are often denied effective learning experiences because of: • territorial boundaries • unquestioning adherence to program fidelity • punitive employment of ill-suited metrics • uninformed Federal mandates. It’s arrogant and ineffective for districts to declare programs/guides sovereign over every classroom reality, or to prevent teachers from deviating from established protocols as necessary in order to improve student learning.

20. In a scripted program, who do we blame when a student fails to thrive?

21. Differentiation Differentiating instruction is doing what’s fair for students. It’s a collection of best practices strategically employed to maximize students’ learning at every turn, including giving them the tools to handle anything that is undifferentiated. It requires us to do different things for different students some, or a lot, of the time. It’s whatever works to advance the student if the regular classroom approach doesn’t meet students’ needs. It’s highly effective teaching.

22. Tomlinson: “If I laid out on my kitchen counter raw hamburger meat still in its Styrofoam container, cans of tomatoes and beans, jars of spices, an onion, and a bulb of garlic [and told guests to eat heartily]….My error would be that I confused ingredients for dinner with dinner itself.”

23. Tomlinson: “One can make many different dishes with the same ingredients, by changing proportions, adding new ingredients, using the same ingredients in different ways, and so on.”

24. Mental dexterity, skill versatility, and perseverance will put dinner on the table and help America remain competitive, not simplistic notions of basic recall qualifying as mastery. Common Core standards are basic competencies, not the full curriculum for a state or local district. Tenets

25. 3. The CCSS are NOT the cure-all for all that ails our schools. While great minds believe the CCSS reflect what is necessary for 21st century citizenry, no one really knows whether or not their implementation will create the positive changes we seek, or if future iterations of these common standards will even include the standards listed in this first version. We also know that poverty has tremendous impact on student performance, Common Core standards used or not, as does class size, family dynamics, teacher professional development, equal access laws, job opportunity, and school leadership. 4. Untested, we’re putting a lot of eggs into this one basket, but we’re operating from hope, which is a lot better than indifference. 5. These skills can be employed with any set of standards, Common Core or future version thereof.

26. Kurt Schwangel, 15-year Santa Monica Kindergarten teacher referring to new, content-heavy, art-depleted directives for the kindergarten program: “They’re going to have to pry the crayons out of my cold dead hands!” (from Dailycensored.com website)

27. Read complex text aloud with proper vocal inflection and pacing. Students can understand text in readabilities above their own independent, silent reading proficiency when the complex text is read aloud by someone who understands the material.

28. Tiering Assignments and Assessments Example -- Graph the solution set of each of the following: 1. y > 2 2. 6x + 3y < 2 3. –y < 3x – 7 2. 6x + 3y < 2 3y < -6x + 2 y < -2x + 2/3 x y 0 2/3 3 -5 1/3 Given these two ordered pairs, students would then graph the line and shade above or below it, as warranted.

30. Tiering Assignments and Assessments For early readiness students: • Limit the number of variables for which student must account to one in all problems. ( y > 2 ) • Limit the inequality symbols to, “greater than” or, “less than,” not, “greater then or equal to” or, “less than or equal to” • Provide an already set-up 4-quadrant graph on which to graph the inequality • Suggest some values for x such that when solving for y, its value is not a fraction.

31. Tiering Assignments and Assessments For advanced readiness students: • Require students to generate the 4-quadrant graph themselves • Increase the parameters for graphing with equations such as: --1 < y < 6 • Ask students what happens on the graph when a variable is given in absolute value, such as: /y/ > 1 • Ask students to graph two inequalities and shade or color only the solution set (where the shaded areas overlap)

32. With hocked gems financing him, Our hero bravely defied all scornful laughter That tried to prevent his scheme. Your eyes deceive, he had said; An egg, not a table Correctly typifies this unexplored planet. Now three sturdy sisters sought proof, Forging along sometimes through calm vastness Yet more often over turbulent peaks and valleys. Days became weeks, As many doubters spread Fearful rumors about the edge. At last from nowhere Welcome winged creatures appeared Signifying momentous success. -- Dooling and Lachman (1971) pp. 216-222

33. Exposure to a wide array of experiences creates is the basis for creative solutions. Insulation embalms the sentiment that the world we know is the only one that matters.

34. Don’t succumb to intellectual bias. Build Empathy.

35. In Case You’re Interested: Articles with More Ideas • “Patient and Tenacious Teaching” • “The Intellectual Life of Teachers” • “Empathy as Doorway to Effectiveness” • “Writing Education Articles”

36. Quick Reference: Differentiated Lesson Planning Sequence A. Steps to take before designing the learning experiences: 1. Identify your essential understandings, questions, benchmarks, objectives, skills, standards, and/or learner outcomes. 2. Identify your students with unique needs, and get an early look at what they will need in order to learn and achieve. 3. Design your formative and summative assessments. 4. Design and deliver your pre-assessments based on the summative assessments and identified objectives. 5. Adjust assessments or objectives based on your further thinking discovered while designing the assessments.

37. Learner Profile: Any Factor that might Influence Learning Family dynamics (if influential) Transiency rate SES IEP 504 ELL LD Gifted/Advanced Physical health Emotional health Speech and Language Issues Behavior/Discipline concerns Nationality (if influential) Diet (if influential) Religious affiliation (if influential) Technology access/comfort Multiple Intelligences Arts – comfort/profiency Personal background/experiences Leadership qualities Ethics Collaboration Personal interests: sports, music, Weekly schedule television, movies, books, Politics (if influential) hobbies, other Anthony Gregorc Scale Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory Home responsibilities Bernice McCarthy’s 4MAT ADHD Tourette’s Syndrome Asperger’s Syndrome Down’s Syndrome Hearing Impaired Visually Impaired Auditory Processing issues

38. Quick Reference: Differentiated Lesson Planning Sequence B. Steps to take while designing the learning experiences: 1. Design the learning experiences for students based on pre-assessments, your knowledge of your students, and your expertise with the curriculum, cognitive theory, and students at this stage of human development. 2. Run a mental tape of each step in the lesson sequence to make sure things make sense for your diverse group of students and that the lesson will run smoothly. 3. Review your plans with a colleague. 4. Obtain/Create materials needed for the lesson. 5. Conduct the lesson. 6. Adjust formative and summative assessments and objectives as necessary based on observations and data collected while teaching.

39. When Designing your Actual Lessons…. • Brainstorm multiple strategies • Cluster into introductory, advanced, and strategies that fit between these two • Sequence activities in plan book • Correlate Class Profile descriptors, expertise in students at this age, Differentiation Strategies, and Cognitive Science Principles to lessons – What do you need to change in order to maximize instruction for all students?

40. Moving Content into Long-term Memory Students have to do both, Access Sense-Making Process Meaning-Making

41. Teachers can differentiate: Content Process Product Affect Learning Environment -- Tomlinson, Eidson, 2003

42. According to: Readiness Interest Learning Profile

43. Flexible Grouping: Questions to Consider • Is this the only way to organize students for learning? • Where in the lesson could I create opportunities for students to work in small groups? • Would this part of the lesson be more effective as an independent activity? • Why do I have the whole class involved in the same activity at this point in the lesson? • Will I be able to meet the needs of all students with this grouping? • I’ve been using a lot of [insert type of grouping here – whole class, small group, or independent work] lately. Which type of grouping should I add to the mix?

44. There’s a range of flexible groupings: • Whole class or half class • Teams • Small groups led by students • Partners and triads • Individual study • One-on-one mentoring with an adult • On-line communities • Temporary pull-out groups to teach specific mini-lessons • Anchor activities to which students return after working in small groups • Learning centers or learning stations through which students rotate in small groups or individually.

45. Ebb and Flow of Experiences[Tomlinson] Back and forth over time or course of unit Individual Individual Small Group Small Group Whole Group

46. This quarter, you’ve taught: • 4-quadrant graphing • Slope and Y-intercept • Multiplying binomials • Ratios/Proportions • 3-dimensional solids • Area and Circumference of a circle. The student’s grade: B What does this mark tell us about the student’s proficiency with each of the topics you’ve taught?

47. Unidimensionality – A single score on a test represents a single dimension or trait that has been assessed Problem: Most tests use a single score to assess multiple dimensions and traits. The resulting score is often invalid and useless. -- Marzano, CAGTW, page 13

48. What is the Role of Each One? • Formative Assessment • Summative Judgment

49. A child is attempting to ride a bicycle, and the bike falls over. Another child, learning to walk, loses her balance and lands on her bottom. A baby’s green peas slide off his spoon as he moves it toward his mouth. How do their parents respond? Good parents don’t say, “You fail, you’re not able to meet bicycling standards,” “I’ll develop a rubric for walking without falling,” or, “We need a Common Core curriculum to help you keep your food in your spoon.” ….[They] simply say, “Try again.” • Richard L. Curwin, Education Leadership, • ASCD, September 2014, p.38

50. Recovering in full from a failure teaches more than being labeled for failure ever could teach. It’s a false assumption that giving a student an “F” or wagging an admonishing finger from afar builds moral fiber, self-discipline, competence, and integrity.