Different Roads to the Same Destination

1. Different Roads to the Same Destination Differentiated Instruction at the Secondary Level Kandy Smith, School Consultant Tennessee State Improvement Grant

2. This PowerPoint is available at: Tennessee State Improvement Grant Website: http://sig.cls.utk.edu/ Under General Products (for now) Differentiated Lesson Plan Template Under 4th-8th Grade Products

3. Differentiated Instruction • Offering students a variety of ways to explore curriculum content • Providing options • Providing re-teaching, second chances • Large group/ small group combination

4. Differentiated Instruction • Does NOT mean expecting different learning outcomes from different students – we’re expecting them all to learn the curriculum standards and more • Does NOT mean abandoning traditional assessments

5. Exploration of Learning Differences • Lev Vygotsky Zone of Proximal Development • Maria Montessori Individualized Instruction • Robert Sternberg Learning Profile Approach • Howard Gardner Theory of Multiple Intelligences

6. Vygotsky: ZPD

7. Montessori: Individualized Instruction Lifelong love of reading Community service Is competition necessary? Teaching peace, supporting the inner spirit of the child

8. Sternberg: Learning Profile Approach

9. Gardner: Theory of Multiple Intelligences

10. Thoughts about differentiation “The proportion of the school day allotted to whole-class instruction is a predictor of a school’s academic achievement.” Dr. Richard Allington University of Tennessee What Really Matters in Response to Intervention

11. Differentiated Instruction • Certainly helps us to meet the federal guidelines (NCLB and IDEA) of providing best practice instruction for every student • AT THE SAME TIME • We have a pressure to make sure that all students meet local, state, and national standards. • Do standards require a once-size-fits all approach to instruction?

12. Carol Ann Tomlinson • “There’s absolutely no contradiction between excellent standards-based instruction and excellent differentiated standards-based instruction.” • She argues that most standards are not finite points to be memorized but consist of skills such as problem solving, communicating clearly in paragraphs, analyzing test, or using maps for information purposes. • “Those things can nearly all be accomplished by primary grade students as well as Ph.D.s – just at different levels of complexity and with different levels of support.”

13. How can high school teachers provide different roads for students to reach the same destinations?

14. It’s certainly going to involve… • Less large group direct instruction • Less “read the chapter and answer the questions at the end” • Less (NO!) Round-Robin reading • Less teacher-centered learning • More student-centered learning

15. Teacher-Centered Learning • Teacher as content area specialist • Container of knowledge • Pours it into students’ heads • Standardized Instruction • More facts-based approach • Teacher works the hardest

16. Student-centered learning • Student choice from options designed by teacher • Students working in groups with and without the teacher • More student work • More concept-based approach • More motivating to most kids

17. What it doesn’t mean to the teacher • Time to do other things while kids work • Check email • Grade papers • Plan the lesson and then assign: • Above-average students do 15 • Average students do 10 • Below-average students do 5 (That’s modification, not differentiation)

18. Let’s look at a specific curriculum standard and think about differentiating the learning of that standard

19. Differentiation • Maximize the capabilities of all students • Moving all students toward proficiency in the knowledge and skills established in state and local standards • Based on student readiness, student learning preferences • Excludes no child from the learning

20. Differentiation • Base it on immediate pre-assessment • Base it on what we know about students as learners • Always be willing to allow students to improve • Always be willing to support students who may be experiencing situational struggles

29. An Example:English I

30. Standard • 2.3 D Select a logical word or phrase to complete an analogy.

31. 2.3 D Select a logical word or phrase to complete an analogy.

32. Word relationships Sometimes written in the “blank is to blank as blank is to blank” format. Some frequently used analogies Word relationships assist our learning.

33. As you plan any lesson… • Search the internet • See if there’s something out there you might want to use “as is” or adapt • Use ideas, technology games and activities to support learning

38. We will review the term analogy. We will then do some analogies together. After we do some analogies together, we’ll do a quick pre-assessment. I will then call “class in a class” small groups and work with students on analogy activities. Students will also work in pairs or alone on some analogy practice.

42. Essential questions reside at the top of Bloom's Taxonomy (Bloom, 1954). They require students to EVALUATE (make a thoughtful choice between options, with the choice based upon clearly stated criteria), to SYNTHESIZE (invent a new or different version) or to ANALYZE (develop a thorough and complex understanding through skillful questioning).

43. Our essential questions might be: How do analogies help us think about relationships? How do analogies help us to understand new concepts? How do they improve our writing? How do they make the reading more interesting?

44. Why are analogies important in our lives? Why would one of the tests that people take before they are admitted to graduate school be a test that consists of 100 analogies – the Miller’s Analogy test? Which might be more helpful in life and why: knowing the definition of a word or being able to use it in an analogy?

45. After completing a quick review and a few analogies together, students will complete individually a practice sheet of analogies. Teacher collects – Gives each student his sheet back when he is called as part of a group to the small group table – might use equity sticks to call groups.

46. As students come to the table, we’ll discuss the sheet they completed individually. As we discuss, I’ll make a note of who’s where in their knowledge of analogies with Level one being at the lowest level.

47. I will conduct some informal assessment in the small group instruction. At the end of the study, students will complete a formal assessment concerning analogies.

48. Those who don’t seem to get it – we do some more together, maybe play one of the games, I briefly repeat what was said in large group For those who “get it” – maybe provide a few more difficult, challenging ones – examples from Miller’s Also – we’ll discuss the essential questions.

49. I will maintain a list of analogies that we can work on as time permits. Exit cards from time to time concerning analogies I will also assist students in seeing analogies in our reading. Students will be encouraged to employ analogies in their own writing.

50. So that would be how to conduct differentiation by doing a pre-assessment in the classroom block In this case, the pre-assessment comes after a quick review of the topic, not cold