“Differentiation”

1. “Differentiation” Support strategies for students with diverse learning needs in the mainstream classroom. Document can be located electronically at ‘The Curriculum Place’ www.cnscurric.catholic.edu.au Booklet compiled by Elena Johnson Advisory Visiting Teacher: Special Needs INSERT DATE HERE

2. Fairness & Equity Responding to every student in the same way is Equal. Responding to each student based on need is the meaning of Fairness.

3. GUIDELINES, POLICIES, STATEMENTS & LEGISLATIVE REQUIREMENTS

4. Guidance for using the Australian Curriculum with Students with Special Education Needs: • “Wherever possible, inclusive, rather than restrictive terminology is used in the Phase 1 learning areas.” • “For achievement standards, emphasis is placed on the skills and understandings that students are expected to demonstrate rather than the mode by which they do this.”

5. QSA – Special Needs: • “The needs of students with specific educational needs must be considered in a proactive way – to design inclusive learning and assessment programs, and to provide opportunities for alternative assessment arrangements.” • QSA Policy on Special Provisions for School-based Assessments in Authority & Authority-registered Subjects: • “In making a decision about special provisions, the school is required to consider what adjustments to assessment conditions are reasonable in the circumstances.”

6. Catholic Education – Diocese of Cairns: Inclusive Practices Position Statement: • “Catholic Education – Diocese of Cairns believes that the concept of inclusion is based on the provision of an educational environment that promotes the human dignity of each student.” • Disability Discrimination Act (1992): • “A person with a disability has a right to study at any educational institution in the same way as any other student. The DDA makes it against the law for an educational authority to discriminate against someone because that person has a disability.”

7. KEY STRATEGIES FOR DIFFERENTIATION Putting it into practice

8. http://flpbs.fmhi.usf.edu

12. Don’t forget that there are different types of learners: Auditory (p. 24 & 25 ‘Differentiation’ Booklet) Visual (p. 26 & 27 ‘Differentiation’ Booklet) Tactile / Kinaesthetic (p. 26 & 27 ‘Differentiation’ Booklet)

13. General Accommodations / Modifications • Checklist found on p.29 of Differentiation booklet. A similar one is available from ‘The Curriculum Place’ with the Unit plan template. • Great for general modifications in the classroom that are simple to implement and can support all students.

14. SCENARIO FOR DIFFERENTIATION Michael is in Year 8. He has multiple disabilities from birth including substantial intellectual disability. He has many absences from school because of his epilepsy, plus he has to visit his specialists for medical checkups. Michael’s academic performance is patchy. On good days he reads at about a year 3 level and can do basic Arithmetic, but struggles with year 8 Maths. He participates in the rest of the curriculum including P.E. Michael is fiercely independent, tries hard to be ‘cool’ and hates being singled out, withdrawn from class or seen as unintelligent. He gets in to fights with other students, often because he goes about establishing friendships the wrong way. Predictably, he goes into rages when called “dummy” or similar names. Michael’s independent living skills are not advanced and his Individual Education Plan (IEP) emphasised his need for better social skills. Adapted from : ‘Students with Disabilities in Mainstream Classrooms: A resource for teachers’, Anthony Shaddock, Loretta Giorcelli, Sue Smith

15. Adjustments for Michael could involve: • Depending on what the staff and parents identify as priority learning goals, it may be agreed that behaviour and social skills are more important to focus on for the time being.

16. SCENARIO FOR DIFFERENTIATION Sam is a Year 10 student who has no diagnosed disability but has difficulty with reading and written tasks, despite intervention in previous years. He can comprehend texts that are read to him but has difficulty with decoding strategies, so he cannot read texts at a year 10 level or read some instructions in class and on assessment tasks. Sam also has limited spelling skills so he finds it difficult to put ideas in written form. He also finds it difficult to copy notes from the board and may have spelling errors in his work, even if it is copied from the board.

17. Adjustments for Sam could involve:

18. What adjustments do you already make for your students?

19. “Fairness is not everyone getting the samebut everyone getting what he or she needs” Socrates