Differentiating Instruction in the High School Classroom

1. Differentiating Instruction in the High School Classroom Ebony Summers-Fogel High School English Interventionist

2. Mission and Vision Mission: Dorchester School District Two leading the way, every student, every day, through relationships, rigor, and relevance. Vision: Dorchester School District Two desires to be recognized as a “World Class” school district, expecting each student to achieve at his/her optimum level in all areas, and providing all members of our district family with an environment that permits them to do their personal best.

3. Pre-Assessment • Place a dot on the board notating where you are with differentiating instruction: • Know it all • Know a little • Know nothing

4. What do you expect to get out of this session?

6. Why Do we Differentiate? No one is perfect video…

7. Goals for this Session • KNOW: • Strategies for differentiation (TriMind, Cubing, etc.) • Differentiation is NOT simply a set of strategies • UNDERSTAND: • Differentiation is a teacher’s proactive response to individual student needs. • DO: • Analyze teaching situations and consider a variety of appropriate teaching strategies for those situations

8. The success of education depends on adapting teaching to individual differences among learners. ~ Yuezheng, in fourth century B.C. Chinese treatise, XueJi

9. What is differentiation? Differentiation means creating multiple paths so that students of different readiness levels, interests, or learning profiles experience equally appropriate ways to absorb, use, develop, and present concepts as part of the daily learning process.

10. According to Carol Tomlinson… 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. ~ Tomlinson (2001)

11. Differentiated Instruction is Not… • Expecting all students to accomplish the same tasks • Grading some students harder than others • Letting students who finish early play games • Giving more of the same work to advanced learners who have already mastered the concept

12. What It Is “It means teachers proactively plan varied approaches to what students need to learn, how they will learn it, and/or how they will show what they have learned in order to increase the likelihood that each student will learn as much as he or she can, as efficiently as possible.”

13. Before you start screaming and run out of the room… Differentiation doesn’t suggest that a teacher can be all things to all individuals all the time. It does, however, mandate that a teacher create a reasonable range of approaches to learning much of the time, so that most students find learning a fit much of the time.

14. DI Rules of Thumb • Be clear on the key concepts and generalizations or principles that give meaning and structure to the topic, chapter, unit, or lesson you are planning. • Lessons for all students should emphasize critical thinking. • Lessons for all students should be engaging. • In a differentiated classroom, there should be a balance between student-selected and teacher-assigned tasks and working arrangements. • Be flexible and willing to adjust lessons based on the needs of individual students. • Ensure that all students participate in respectful and meaningful tasks.

15. There are Four different ways to differentiate • Content • Process • Product • Affect/Environment

16. Differentiating Content(What Students Learn) • Includes curriculum, topics, or themes • Reflects state and national standards • Presents essential facts and skills • Provides students with additional resources that match their levels of understanding

17. Ways to Differentiate Content • Reading Partners / Reading Buddies • Read/Summarize • Read/Question/Answer • Visual Organizer/Summarizer • Parallel Reading with Teacher Prompt • Choral Reading • Flip Books • Split Journals (Double Entry – Triple Entry) • Books on Tape • Highlights on Tape • Digests/ “Cliff Notes” • Notetaking Organizers • Varied Texts • Varied Supplementary Materials • Highlighted Texts • Think-Pair-Share/Preview-Midview-Postview

18. Differentiating Process(How Students Learn) • Refers to how students make sense or understand the information, ideas, and skills being studied • Reflects student learning styles and preferences

19. Ways to Differentiate PRocess • Fun & Games • RAFTs • Cubing, Think Dots • Choices (Intelligences) • Centers • Tiered lessons • Contracts

20. Differentiating Products(The End Result of Student Learning) • Refers to how students make sense or understand the information, ideas, and skills being studied • Reflects student learning styles and preferences

21. Product Possibilities • Design a web page • Develop a solution for a community, state, national problem • Create a public service announcement • Create a brochure • Conduct a series of interviews • Writings to newspaper, journal, magazine • Create diagrams, charts to explain ideas • Defend a position • Present a news cast • Present a radio show • Design a political cartoon • Create a series of illustrations • Conduct a debate • Hold a press conference • Make a video documentary • Present a photo essay • Develop a museum exhibit • Compile a newspaper

22. A Differentiated Classroom in Balance Teacher-Student Partnerships F L E X I B L E Solid Curriculum Shared Vision Shared goals Inviting Shared responsibility Focused A Growth Orientation Concept- based Product Oriented Sense Of Community Resource On-going assessment to determine need Feedback and grading Time Groups Respect For Group ZPD Target Approaches to teaching and learning Safe Respect for individual Shared Challenge Affirming Tomlinson-oo

23. Checking for Understanding • Place a new dot on the board notating where you are with differentiating instruction: • Know it all • Know a little • Know nothing

24. Ongoing assessment: the Key to a Differentiated Classroom

25. Assessment is today’s means of understanding how to modify tomorrow’s instruction. ~ Carol Tomlinson

26. What Can be Assessed? • Readiness • Skills • Content Knowledge • Concepts • Interest • Interest Surveys • Interest Centers • Self-Selection • Learning Profile • Areas of Strength and Weakness • Work Preferences • Self Awareness

27. When do you assess? • Most teachers assess students at the end of an instructional unit or sequence. • When assessment and instruction are interwoven, both the students and the teacher benefit. • The next slide suggests a diagnostic continuum for ongoing assessment.

28. Formative Assessment (Keeping Track & Checking -up) Summative Assessment (Making sure) Pre-assessment (Finding Out) On-Going Assessment: A Diagnostic Continuum Feedback and Goal Setting Pre-test Graphing for Greatness Inventory KWL Checklist Observation Self-evaluation Questioning Conference Exit Card Peer evaluation Portfolio Check 3-minute pause Quiz Observation Journal Entry Talkaround Self-evaluation Questioning Unit Test Performance Task Product/Exhibit Demonstration Portfolio Review

29. What is Pre-assessment? • Any method, strategy or process used to determine a student’s current level of readiness or interest in order to plan for appropriate instruction. Pre-assessment: • provides data that can determine options for students to take in information, construct meaning, and to demonstrate understanding of new information • helps teachers anticipate differences before planning challenging and respectful learning experiences • allows teachers to meet students where they are

30. Formative Assessment Is… • A process of accumulating information about a student’s progress to help make instructional decisions that will improve his/her understandings and achievement levels. Formative Assessment: • depicts student’s life as a learner • used to make instructional adjustments • alerts the teacher about student misconceptions – an “early warning signal” • allows students to build on previous experiences • provides regular feedback • provides evidence of progress • aligns with instructional/curricular outcomes

31. Summative Assessment is… • A means to determine a student’s mastery and understanding of information, skills, concepts, or processes. Summative Assessment: • should reflect formative assessments that precede it • should match material taught • may determine student’s exit achievement • may be tied to a final decision, grade or report • should align with instructional/curricular outcomes • may be a form of alternative assessment

32. Get to Know Your Kids • Insert Video

33. Let’s Practice • Take the TIMI

34. Student Traits • There are four student traits that teachers must often address to ensure effective and efficient learning. Those are readiness, interest, learning profile, and affect.

35. Student Traits: REadiness • Readiness refers to a student’s knowledge, understanding, and skill related to a particular sequence of learning. Only when a student works at a level of difficulty that is both challenging and attainable for that student does learning take place.

36. Student Traits: Interest • Interest refers to those topics or pursuits that evoke curiosity and passion in a learner. Thus, highly effective teachers attend both to developing interests and as yet undiscovered interests in their students.

37. Student Traits: Learning PRofile • Learning profile refers to how students learn best. Those include learning style, intelligence preference, culture and gender. If classrooms can offer and support different modes of learning, it is likely that more students will learn effectively and efficiently.

38. Student Traits: Affect Affect has to do with how students feel about themselves, their work, and the classroom as a whole. Student affect is the gateway to helping each student become more fully engaged and successful in learning.

39. Strategies

40. Anchor Activities

41. Choice MEnus

42. Cubing

43. RAFT

44. Six Thinking Hats

45. Tiered Assignments

46. 10 Common Misunderstandings About Differentiation • Differentiation is a set of strategies. • DI is an entire teaching philosophy grounded in knowing students and responding to their needs. • Differentiation is group work. • Differentiation employs thoughtful, purposeful flexible grouping. Sometimes students work alone, sometimes in pairs, sometimes as a whole class, and sometimes in small groups– depending upon demonstrated student need • “I already differentiate.” • While many of us may use a strategy associated with differentiation or may differentiate reactively, few have fully, proactively differentiated classrooms– these classrooms develop and grow over time in response to student need.

47. 10 Common Misunderstandings (Continued) • Differentiated lessons have to be creative, “cute,” and fun. • While engaging students is an important part of differentiation, it is more important that the lesson be grounded rich curriculum. • Differentiation is just the next educational fad. • Because differentiation is a philosophy of meeting a broad range of students’ needs, only when students cease being different will the need for differentiation disappear. • Providing choice= differentiation. • Different activities have to be held together by clear learning goals. • Differentiation isn’t fair. • Fair does not always mean “the same.” In order for students to reach the same goals, they may need to take different paths to get there.

48. 10 Common Misunderstandings Continued • Differentiation means “dumbing down” the curriculum for less advanced learners. • Differentiation means providing appropriate scaffolding to help all learners reach common learning goals. • Differentiation only works when kids are well-behaved. • Creating a responsive classroom can be a great way to improve student behavior, as students’ needs are being met. • Preparing a differentiated lesson takes a huge amount of time. • Creating any high-quality lesson takes time. As we get our heads wrapped around the process, we become more efficient and develop storehouses of differentiated lessons to adapt.

49. Post-Assessment • Place a dot on the board notating where you are with differentiating instruction: • Know it all • Know a little • Know nothing

50. Contact Information Presenter Name Presenter Title Presenter Email Address Phone Number