Strategies for differentiating instruction in the regular classroom

1. Differentiated Instruction By Kevin Neuenswander 5101 Learning Theories and Instruction Baker University

2. The biggest mistake of past centuries in teaching has been to treat all children as if they were variants of the same individual and thus to feel justified in teaching them all the same subjects in the same ways. Howard Gardner-Phi Delta Kappan-March, 1994 – pg. 564

3. Differentiation is responsive teaching rather than one-size-fits-all teaching.

5. What is differentiation? “ 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)

12. What About Grading?

17. Examples of Modifying Classroom Curriculum Based on Learner Need (continues) The teacher & students develop goals for behavior & plans for decreasing impulsivity. Both positive & negative consequences of behaviors are described in the goal statements. Students & teacher use a checklist each day to record successes & difficulties as well as the consequence of student choices. (Modification of learning environment based on student affect.) Two students in the class have difficulty with impulsive behavior. The teacher develops boxes of biographies of people from a range of cultures, both gender, & a variety of jobs & hobbies. In each box are books that span a four- or five – year reading range. Students first select the topic or interest box from which they would like to work and then the teacher helps them pick a book that is a close match for their reading levels. (Modification of content based on student interest & readiness.) Students in 3 rd grade are studying biography. Student reading levels vary widely & their interests do as well. The teacher uses examples from sports, business, medicine, technology, & other fields to illustrate how formulas are used. She also guides students in interviewing people engaged in a range of jobs & hobbies to find out how they use formulas in their work & in sharing those examples with others in the class. (Modification of content & product based on student interest.) Students in a pre-algebra class have varied interests & often have difficulty understanding why they are learning what they are learning in math. The teacher uses a spelling procedure that involves all students in spelling at the same time, but on varied levels of complexity of words required. (Modification of content based on student readiness.) A spelling pre-assessment indicates that students in a 6 th grade class range from 2 nd grade level to beyond high school level. Modification of Classroom Curriculum in Response to Student Need Student Need

18. Examples of Modifying Classroom Curriculum Based on Learner Need The teacher posts lists of key words for each unit on the wall. She also supports students in first webbing their ideas for writing, then tape recording the ideas, & then writing the ideas. Students may get help in writing or editing from peers, specialists when they are scheduled into the classroom, & the teacher at specified times. (Modification of process & learning environment based on student readiness.) Five students in class have great difficulty with writing – some because of learning problems & some because they are ESL students. The teacher uses rubrics that specify key sills on which students need to work as well as describing what ascending proficiency looks like for each skill. Each student works with the teacher to set proficiency goals for products based on the student’s current work. Grading is based on both the student’s growth & grade-level benchmarks. (Modification of product based on student readiness.) Students in Art I vary greatly in skill & experience with art as they enter the class. The teacher develops a procedure he calls “learning x 3.” Periodically during a unit, he asks students to explain what’s essential in what they are learning. They may write their explanation, provide it verbally, or do a demonstration as an explanation. There are criteria for quality that span all three approaches. He groups the students in threes so that each triad contains all three approaches to the explanation. As students share, he monitors the groups & selects one student to represent each approach before the whole class. (Modifications of process based on learning profile.) Students in the science class seem to learn best through different means. The teacher establishes several areas of the room where students may work when they have time. There are a variety of tasks in each area based on both what students need to work on & what they most enjoy working on. Sometimes students select where to work. Sometimes the teacher asks students to work in a particular area & on a particular task. (Modification of learning environment & process based on student readiness & interest.) Students often finish their work at different times Modification of Classroom Curriculum in Response to Student Need Student Need