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Planning Differentiated Instruction. Sharon Walpole University of Delaware. We believe that all children deserve instruction that helps them accomplish challenging tasks that are just out of their reach. What are the major challenges in accomplishing such a thing?. Overview.
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Planning Differentiated Instruction Sharon Walpole University of Delaware
We believe that all children deserve instruction that helps them accomplish challenging tasks that are just out of their reach. What are the major challenges in accomplishing such a thing?
Overview • Creating a meaningful classroom schedule • Choosing meaningful extension activities • Thinking through the big picture
Collaboration Strategy Please sit with people you don’t know so that you can hear new ideas. Please keep a running list of ideas worth stealing; we’ll share them at the end.
Creating a classroom schedule • Set aside protected time for reading instruction. • Make a conceptual plan to organize your thinking. • Create an ideal instructional diet. • Create a grouping strategy to maximize time on task. • Examine your instructional materials. • Create meaningful independent activities. • Make a time schedule. • Use data to form and reform groups.
Protecting time for instruction • You will probably need 2.5 hours every day to teach reading and writing; you must integrate science and social studies content standards into those hours • Try to schedule at least 1.5-2 hours without interruption • Consider having some grade levels teach reading first thing, some midmorning, and some after lunch
Protecting time for instruction • If you stagger the reading block, you will have more choices for scheduling specials and interventions • If you stagger the reading block, you will be able to make better use of your support personnel
Think about last year’s instructional schedule What problems did you solve? What problems remain?
Conceptual plan Whole-group instruction provides a basis for all children. In addition, we advocate for differentiated instruction for all children. In addition, we advocate for intensive intervention for some children. Classroom teachers can provide both whole-group instruction and differentiated instruction; reading specialists and special educators may assist in intensive intervention.
Think about last year’s tiered instruction. What problems did you solve? What problems remain?
Think about last year’s instructional diet. How balanced was it? What did your data indicate? What changes do you need to make? Do some grade levels need more support than others?
Think about last year’s grouping strategy. How successful was it? What did your observations reveal? What did your data indicate?
Examine your curriculum materials • What is the general instructional design that organizes the week? • Can you come up with a simple overall plan for each day of the week in whole-group instruction? • How can you focus instructional time and attention on the “meat” of each lesson while avoiding unnecessary distractions?
Examine your curriculum materials • What materials lend themselves to whole-group instruction? • Children’s literature read-alouds? • Grade-level anthology stories? • Genre and text structure instruction? • Modeling and introduction lessons? • How can you organize whole-group instruction to maximize pacing and participation and allow time for differentiation?
News Flash! Based on my observations this year, there is one issue that I’d like to visit with you. “Whole group” does not necessarily mean “all at once.” It means that all children participate in this instruction. If you have two adults in your classrooms, consider having them teach the whole-group lesson to two smaller groups to maximize engagement.
Examine your curriculum materials • What materials lend themselves to differentiated instruction? • Sound boxes and manipulatives? • Letter and word cards? • White boards? • Decodable or leveled texts?
Examine your curriculum materials • What materials lend themselves to independent work? • Graphic organizers? • Picture or word cards? • Taped stories? • Computer-based activities? • Additional single texts?
Think about last year’s use of curriculum materials. Did your choices make sense? Were they consistent across classrooms? Can you think of any ways to make it simpler?
Independent Activities • The best independent activities maximize time spent reading and writing and minimize time spent explaining procedures or cutting and coloring. • The best independent activities are repetitive, with only the texts and words (rather than the activity) changing. • Children work well independent of the teacher but dependent on one another in pairs or small groups.
Independent Activities If you focus on the specific goals in your curriculum, you can ask yourself two questions to plan independent activities: • If a child cannot yet accomplish the goal, what type of practice would help move towards it? • If a child has already mastered the goal, what type of practice would help extend it in more challenging tasks.
Think about last year’s independent activities. Were they targeted? Were they supportive enough For struggling readers? Were there extensions for your strongest readers?
Consider the Big Picture • Set a general schedule for each grade level • Maximize intensity of whole group and minimize time in whole group • Deal with management issues • Plan to model procedures for moving from whole group to differentiated instruction or independent work • Set up a planning cycle for grade-level teams to actually plan each group’s instruction
Get your groups going • First make sure every teacher can move students through the groups • Provide modeling and support for those who need help managing • Deal with small-group procedural issues first, and then differentiate the instruction
Step One: Gather your resources • Find and examine the scope and sequence of instruction in your core and supplementary materials for phonics skills, high-frequency words, oral vocabulary, and comprehension strategies. • Locate and organize any informal achievement or placement tests that are associated with your materials or required by your state or district. • Locate and organize any informal assessments provided in your professional books.
Step Two: Consider your children’s needs • Review the most recent grade-level data and determine whether additional informal data are needed. • Choose two areas to target for differentiation in a given session (e.g., phonemic awareness and phonics, phonics and fluency, fluency and comprehension, comprehension and vocabulary). • Choose differentiation strategies in those areas. • Gather or make materials for three weeks’ needs-based instruction.
Step Three: Try it out! • Pilot your plan for three weeks. • Gather with teachers to evaluate and fine-tune, considering the changing needs of children.
Think about last year’s instruction. How far along are you in implementing differentiated instruction? What is one thing that you can do better right from the start?
