8 Lessons Learned on Differentiating Instruction

Differentiating Instruction Whether you teach first grade or AP Calculus, your class is certain to have a variety of learners. Perhaps you have some ESL/ELL students, some learning support, some emotional support, some gifted, and some very “average.” TeachersFirst has resources to help you understand and adapt for student differences, including general ideas for any and all students and for specific student needs. For Any and All Students: Browse examples Many TeachersFirst resource reviews include differentiation suggestions and practical ways a resource can help you meet individual needs. For Specific Student Needs: Autism and Aspergers Find resources and information to help you understand and work with this increasing population. Adapt-a-Strategy for ESL/ELL Adapt your existing lesson plans using these simple strategies to help ESL students. Gifted Special Ed Special Ed regulations change frequently, and many are specific to your state.

Resources - Differentiation Central Lesson Plans Grades K-2 (pdf) Grades 3-5 (pdf) Grades 6-8 (pdf) Grades 9-12 (pdf) Tools Lesson Plan Templates Thoughts from Fellow Teachers Differentiated Instruction Take Away Learning Karolyn Ahern, a Library Media Specialist, summarizes and shares her lessons learned after a 3-year, school-wide focus on Differentiated Instruction. Technology Tools Profcast Faculty have found that by using Profcast, they can post their lectures complete with their Powerpoints online. Research Tools Portaportal To make it easier for students to access appropriate research sites in class, you may want to create your own Portaportal site.

Differentiation 6 Scaffolding Strategies to Use with Your Students What’s the opposite of scaffolding a lesson? Saying to students, “Read this nine-page science article, write a detailed essay on the topic it explores, and turn it in by Wednesday.” Yikes! No safety net, no parachute—they’re just left to their own devices. Let’s start by agreeing that scaffolding a lesson and differentiating instruction are two different things. Simply put, scaffolding is what you do first with kids. Scaffolding and differentiation do have something in common, though. So let’s get to some scaffolding strategies you may or may not have tried yet. 1. How many of us say that we learn best by seeing something rather than hearing about it? Try a fishbowl activity, where a small group in the center is circled by the rest of the class; the group in the middle, or fishbowl, engages in an activity, modeling how it’s done for the larger group.Always show students the outcome or product before they do it. 2. 3. All learners need time to process new ideas and information. 4. 5. 6.

Technology Articles The teacher's role has changed in recent years. There has been a shift of emphasis from instructional techniques to developing learning techniques. Our role is no longer that of the "sage on the stage". Today our role leans more towards facilitator or "guide on the side". Our role is to increase student motivation and develop the skills or strategies that make a student more competent and to structure the learning environment so that students are able to take ownership of their own learning. Fortunately, many of the strategies that "empower" and "engage" students also lead to increased motivation. Motivation and achievement have long been recognized to have a close cause-effect relationship, as of course have ability and achievement. Joanne Rand Whitmore's Giftedness, Conflict and Underachievement (1980) and Sylvia Rimm's Underachievement Syndrome (1986) both deal with this concept in some depth. There are many strategies for motivating students. Strategies For Enhancing Motivation 1.

Using differentiation in mixed-ability classes 'Differentiation' is a term that you will no doubt have encountered during your training. However, really understanding the term, and effectively putting it into practice, can be one of the greatest challenges in the NQT year. "Differentiation a big issue for NQTs, mainly because they try to differentiate everything all the time and swamp themselves with too much," says Kate Aspin, senior lecturer in education at Huddersfield University. According to the Training and Development Agency for Schools, 'differentiation' is the process by which differences between pupils are accommodated so that all students have the best possible chance of learning. There are three categories of differentiation Ideally, you should be using all three types of differentiation to accommodate the different learning styles in the classroom. Kate advises new teachers not to rely on differentiation by outcome. A practical approach to differentiation Take a practical and realistic approach to differentiation.

Methods of Differentiation in the Classroom It’s a term that every teacher has heard during their training: differentiation. Differentiation is defined by the Training and Development Agency for Schools as ‘the process by which differences between learners are accommodated so that all students in a group have the best possible chance of learning’. In recent decades it has come to be considered a key skill for any teacher, especially those of mixed-ability classes. But what does it really mean? What is meant by ‘differences between learners’? In a large class, differences between students may on the face of it seem too numerous to be quantified, but differentiation works on 3 key aspects which can be summed up as follows: Readiness to learn Learning needs Interest These differences may sound rather broad, but by applying effective methods of differentiation, it is possible to cater for quite wide variations between learners. Task Grouping Resources Pace Outcome Dialogue and support Assessment

50+ Tools for Differentiating Instruction Through Social Media Imagine a world where resources were limited to what was found in the classroom or the school closet known as the "Curriculum Materials Room." Picture a world where students wrote letters with pen and paper to communicate with other students and adults outside of the building. Due to postage costs, the teacher either sent the letters in bulk or paid for stamps out of his or her own pocket. Can you recall a time when student interests like skateboarding or video were never used as part of learning curriculum because the tools needed were either too expensive or not yet conceptualized? Do you remember a time when non-traditional learners struggled, and absenteeism meant a high likelihood of students doing poorly in school, and possibly having to retake the course? If you experienced none of these scenarios, then you live in a world of possibility because you grew up with the many social media tools available to support all learners. Selecting the Right Tool Readiness Interests

Assessment Assessment "Assessment is the process of collecting information on student achievement and performance. Assessment information provides the basis for sound decision making regarding teaching and learning." "The assessment process reveals what a student understands, knows and can do What is Assessment? Evaluation "Evaluation is a judgment regarding the quality, value or worth of a response, product, or performance, based on established criteria and curriculum standards" "The evaluation process indicates the quality of performance based on the curriculum (learner outcomes)." What is Evaluation? Reporting "According to McTighe, reporting documents should distinguish between the following factors: "... each of these factors should be reported separately. Source- A Framework for Communicating Student Learning, (AAC) 1999. p.21" Reporting How are assessment and evaluation related?

Differentiated Instruction Lesson Plans Differentiation Six Strategies for Differentiated Instruction in Project-Based Learning Project-based learning (PBL) naturally lends itself to differentiated instruction. By design, it is student-centered, student-driven, and gives space for teachers to meet the needs of students in a variety of ways. PBL can allow for effective differentiation in assessment as well as daily management and instruction. PBL experts will tell you this, but I often hear teachers ask for real examples, specifics to help them contextualize what it "looks like" in the classroom. 1. We all know that heterogeneous grouping works, but sometimes homogenous grouping can be an effective way to differentiate in a project. 2. Reflection is an essential component of PBL. 3. This is probably one of my favorites. 4. Another essential component of PBL is student voice and choice, both in terms of what students produce and how they use their time. 5. Formative assessments can look the same for all students. 6. Teamwork and collaboration occur regularly in a PBL project.

Rubrics to the Rescue By Melissa D. Henning, M.Ed. Read this teacher-friendly article for an overview of the rationale for using rubrics and tools and tips for implementing rubrics as an assessment tool in your classroom. You will be able to create and start using rubrics for student assessment within an hour. What Are RubricsWhy Use Rubrics? Differentiating Instruction Differentiating Instruction: Rethinking Traditional Practices Bertie Kingore, Ph.D. Differentiating instruction invites educators to rethink traditional educational practices that were based upon a time when students were more similar in background and readiness. Educators today must embrace differentiated instruction for students and assume a confident attitude that they can organize and manage this instruction. Differentiation is a well known educational practice that is often talked about, sometimes not well understood, and frequently implemented ineffectively. Differentiation is difficult for some educators to implement and some parents to understand because their own school experiences incorporated little differentiation. When readiness levels differ, so must the complexity of instruction provided for students. Learning takes place only when students experience instruction at a level of difficulty that is appropriately challenging and attainable (Tomlinson, 2003; Wolfe, 2001).