1. Taking Baby Steps
Giving Teachers Beginning Strategies to Implement
Differentiated Instruction
Planning for Differentiation through
• Students’ Learning Profiles
• Interest Inventories
•Readiness Assessment

2. Goals
• To introduce several learning style inventories
which can be used by elementary teachers to
gather information about the students in their
classrooms.
• To look at tools that can be used to determine
students’ interests.
• To discuss informal and formal diagnostic testing
that can be used to gather information about
learning strengths and weaknesses.
• To see how all these tools can target learners’
needs.

3. Learning Style Inventories
• Several on-line interactive and paper and
pencil inventories are available on-line for use
in the classroom.
• Let’s look at a few:
• http://www.internet4classrooms.com/di.htm

4. By completing the survey you will see which modality you favor when taking in
new information
Are you
Visual
Auditory
Or
Kinesthetic/Tactile?

5. Think Pair Share
• Think what implications this would have for
you as a teacher in planning reading
instruction of your students.
• Write down you thoughts.
• Pair with a partner and discuss.
• Share out with the group.

6. Implications
There is no one right way to teach reading. One size does
not fit all.
Using a variety of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic/tactile
strategies in each lesson will benefit all learners.
Knowing a child’s learning style will guide instruction and
help all children to succeed.

7. Interest Inventories
• Teachers can determine student interest by
using interest inventories and/or including the
students in the planning process.
• Let’s take a look at a some sample interest
inventories:
• www.st.cr.k12.ia.us/reading/readinginterestinven

8. Implications
Knowing our students’ interests gives us a springboard for planning
instruction.
Children learn if the material is meaningful and if they can relate to it.
Knowing what they are not interested in gives us information on the
background building that will be necessary if the topic is presented.

9. Use of Diagnostic Assessments to
Determine Student Readiness
With a partner, discuss some assessment
strategies that can be used to determine
student readiness for a topic in reading or
math. The test can be formal or informal.

10. Possible Assessments
• Pre-tests
• Questioning students about their background
knowledge
• KWL Charts (Charts that ask students what
they know about a topic, what they want to
know, and what they have learned about a
topic)
• Webbing

12. In Conclusion
In order to get teachers on-board for
implementing differentiated instruction we
need to do so in small steps.

13. A starting point would be to begin planning for
differentiated instruction using these 3 tools:
Learning Style Inventories
Interest Inventories
Diagnostic Assessments

14. We can then begin the process of planning our
instruction so that all children can succeed.

15. Resources
Periodicals Technology
• Brimijoin, K. (2006) Using Data to • Differentiated Instruction – Abiator’s
Differentiate Instruction. Alexandria, VA: Learning Style Inventory Test 2.
ASCD. www.internet4classrooms.com
• Tomlinson, C. (1995) Differentiating • Reading Interest Inventory.
Instruction for Mixed Ability Classrooms. www.st.cr.k12.ia.us/interestinventory
Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
• Tomlinson, C. & Allan, S. (2009)
Understanding Differentiated Instruction:
Building a Foundation for Leadership.
Alexandria, VA: ASCD.