Guiding Differentiation

1. Guiding Differentiation • Suggestions for gifted support teachers • Carolyn Hoy, M. Ed • Warwick School District • Millersville University

2. Agenda • Defense of differentiation • The gifted support teacher’s role • Suggested strategies to assist your teachers • More resources to explore

3. Questions to ponder • Has gifted education exacerbated social, economic, and racial divisions in society? • Does the term ‘gifted’ engender feelings of elitism? • Do the teachers that work with the identified gifted in your building have an understanding of their needs? • What is the role of the gifted support teacher in light of new regs?

4. Changing paradigms of gifted education • Gifted children should not have ‘mysteriously defined attributes and learning needs.’ By presenting data, we can help general education teachers come to an understanding that some children have exceptionally advanced learning needs that require flexibly responsive educational attention. • http://porbital.deviantart.com/art/A- Mysterious-Man-136173061

5. “Giftedness is exceptionally advanced subject-specific ability at a particular point in time such that a student’s learning needs cannot be well met without significant adaptations to the curriculum.” (Matthews & Foster, 2005b, p. 26).

6. How can gifted students’ learning needs be best supported?

7. Which one describes your faculty? • Parallel play: “We all live in our separate caves.”“We’re all in this -- alone.” • Adversarial relationships: withholding craft knowledge, competing for materials, recognition • Congenial relationships: personal, friendly relationships with colleagues • Collegial relationships...

8. Collegial relationships • Educators talking with one another about practice. • Educators sharing their craft knowledge. • Educators observing one another while they are engaged in practice. • Educators rooting for one another's success. When we ‘play together’ it looks like... And students win!

9. Creating a culture of collegiality • Talk about practice • Share craft knowledge • Observe one another • Root for one another • Get leadership involved Roland Barth, Improving Relationships in the Schoolhouse

11. 11 Ways to Guide Teachers to Differentiation 1. Know the standards 2. Vary instructional strategies and activities 3. Create a learning climate 4. Exhibit ‘with-it-ness’ 5. Provide a wide variety of materials and resources 6. Know the students

12. 11 Ways to Guide Teachers to Differentiation 7. Assess before, during, and after the learning 8. Adjust assignments 9. Plan student-focused opportunities 10. Use flexible grouping designs 11. Know change is gradual

13. Creating the Classroom Climate • Respect diversity • Maintain high expectations • Generate openness • Consider introductory activity/interest inventories, other ways to learn about your students

14. Activity! • Go to the paper that describes your knowledge of the subject announced • BELOW BASIC • BASIC • PROFICIENT • ADVANCED

15. DI basics • Vary content: What do you want students to learn? • Vary process: What do you want the students to do cognitively? • Vary product:How do you want students to demonstrate what they have learned?

16. Questions Leading to Differentiation • Planning Question • What do I want students to know, understand and be able to do? • Pre-assessing Question • Who already knows, understands and/or can use the content or demonstrate the skill? • Differentiation Question • What can I do for them so that they can make continuous progress and extend their learning? Roberts, 9

17. Here’s one place to start... GIEP goals: Acceleration and/or enrichment • Curriculum compacting: • Creates a challenging learning environment: assesses what a student knows and what is still needed • Guarantees proficiency in curriculum: eliminates content that is already known • Buys time for enrichment/acceleration

19. Student may need compaction if he.. • Consistently finishes tasks quickly • Finishes reading assignments first • Appears bored during instructional time • Consistently daydreams • Creates own puzzles, diversions in class • Brings in outside reading material

20. Student may need compaction if he.. • Performs well in one or more academic areas • Test scores excellent despite average/below average classwork • Asks questions which indicate familiarity with material • Is sought after by other students for assistance • Uses vocabulary and verbal expression in advance of grade level • Expresses interest in pursuing alternate or advanced topics

21. Suggestions for Pre-assessment • Pre-assess by • End of the previous unit assessment • End of unit assessment • K-W-L charts • Mind maps • Five most difficult questions • Open ended questions

22. Considerations • Communicate with parents about the compacting • Document, document, document • Allow student choice but never the choice to do nothing

24. How do I do it? • 1. Identify the objectives in a given subject area. • 2. Pre-test • 3. Eliminate instructional time for students who show mastery of the objectives. • 4. Offer challenging alternatives for time provided by compacting • 5. Set criteria for mastery of alternatives • 6. Keep records of process.

27. Suggestions for compacting • Learning contracts • Study guide extension menu • SCAMPER • Bloom’s taxonomy • Think-tac-toe • Independent project

28. Learning contracts • Structure in taking responsibility for own learning • Chance to try new way of learning • Students involved in decision making: increased intrinsic motivation • Student interest driven

29. Learning contracts • Benefits • Can be useful in closing achievement gaps • Can be useful in providing student support for lack of motivation • When to use it • Useful when students are identified as needing additional teacher and parental support • To encourage student to investigate learning in depth and with fidelity of topics of interest for personal growth

30. Study guide extension menu 1. Determine and list the key concepts for the unit of study. 2. Describe related concepts that will not be included in the unit of study - concepts to study in depth if time permitted. 3. Create a study guide for the key concepts only. Student completes at own pace while you provide direct instruction for the rest of the class. 4. Develop formative assessments to check for understanding of the key concepts in the study guide. 5. Create an extension menu using the related concepts from step #2 above. 6. Have students determine the method they would like to use to present the information investigated in the extension menu. You can use the Product Choices Chart. 7. Discuss parameters of completing this work using the independent study agreement for both the study guide and independent study. 8. Determine and discuss the grading policy for both the study guide and extension menu project.

31. Study guide extension menu Important to remember about this method: Students do not need to do the actual daily work of the other students. Students are expected to share what they have learned with their classmates. You should plan some time each week to meet with students working more independently to assess their progress and assist them in research. Students are required to keep a folder of their independent work in the classroom, so they always have something to work on.

32. S C A M P E R • SCAMPER is a mnemonic that stands for: • •Substitute • •Combine • •Adapt • •Modify/minify/magnify • •Put to another use • •Eliminate • •Reverse

33. Using Bloom’s Taxonomy • Develop respectful, engaging tasks for each level • Distribute rubrics/scoring guides for each

34. Cognitive Process Dimension • Remember: retrieve knowledge from LT memory • Understand: Construct meaning from instructional messages, oral, written, graphic • Apply: Carry out or use a procedure • Analyze: Break material into parts and determine structure and purpose • Evaluate: Make judgements based on criteria/standards • Create: Put elements together to form a coherent or functional whole, reorganize elements into a new pattern/structure

35. Think-Tac-Toe/Choice boards • So many resources already exist! Don’t re-invent the wheel. Show your teachers this website: • http://daretodifferentiate.wikispaces.com/Choice+Boards

38. Independent projects • Should be guided • Proposal/timeline/goals • Student & teacher generated assessment • Try Understanding by Design (McTighe/Wiggins) framework • Based on student strengths

39. Renzulli’s 5 Dimensions • Differentiate the content • Differentiate instructional styles • Differentiate the classroom • Differentiate the products • Differentiate YOU!

40. How to differentiate YOU? • Sage on the stage Guide on the side • Athletic or drama coach • Stage manager/production manager • Promotional agent • Academic advisor • Artistic modification: painting yourself into the curriculum (Renzulli)

41. Video: I have differentiated my lessons

43. What a child doesn’t learn • Work ethic • Responsibility • Coping with disappointment • Self worth stemming from the accomplishment of a challenging task • Time management skills/study skills • Goal setting/ decision making • Sacrifice Tracy Inman, What a Child Doesn’t Learn

44. Trends in Education • Democratized Entrepreneurship • To take advantage of this trend: Begin to cultivate an edupreneurial mindset of experimentation, risk-taking, learning from failure, creative problem-solving, and market awareness in your classroom, and expand it to your school and district. • Personalization Strategies • To take advantage of this trend: Find ways to enrich your students' cognitive environment through social-emotional skills and brain-based insights • Diversification of School Formats • To take advantage of this trend: Identify ways that your district can diversify its school formats to serve the multiple and changing needs of the community and its learners. • Changing Certification Methods To take advantage of this trend: Help students of all ages communicate their meta-learning -- their insights about their skills, the application of their skills, and evidence of their learning. • Transforming Urban Learning LandscapesTo take advantage of this trend: Identify community partners with whom you can develop relationships that support purposeful curriculum based on solving real problems.

45. Resources Barth, R. (2006). Improving relationships within the schoolhouse. Educational Leadership, 63(6), 8-13. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar06/vol63/num06/Improving-Relationships-Within-the-Schoolhouse.aspx Dare to differentiate. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://daretodifferentiate.wikispaces.com/Home Differentiation using curriculum compacting. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/nrconlin.html Inman, T. (2007). What a child doesn’t learn. The Challenge, Winter 2007, 17-19. Matthews, D., & Foster, J. (2006). Mysteryto mastery: shifting paradigms in gifted education. Roeper Review, 28(6), 64-69. Retrieved from http://www.raisingsmarterkids.net/mystery to mastery.pdf Post, G. (2013, June 04). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.blogher.com/lets-not-call-them-gifted

46. Reis, S., & Renzulli, J. (n.d.). Differentiation. Compass Learning, Retrieved from https://www.compasslearning.com/white-papers Roberts, J., & Inman, T. (2009). Differentiating instruction: best practices for the classroom. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press. Rotherman, A. (2013, April 25). The illusion of the 'gifted' child. Time, Retrieved from http://ideas.time.com/2013/04/25/the-illusion-of-the-gifted-child/ Renzulli, J. (n.d.). Painting yourself into the professional growth picture- artistic modification. Neag Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development, Retrieved from http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/sem/paintyou.html Starko, A. (1986). It's about time: inservice strategies for curriculum compacting. Mansfield Center, Conn: Creative Learning Press. Thompson, M. (1998). A response to 'all children are gifted'. Indiana Association for the Gifted Annual Conference, Retrieved from http://www.rfwp.com/samples/mct-gifted-