Differentiated Classrooms October 23, 2015 FL Mason

When the school bell rings on day one and all our students are in their seats, we will hold the future of this nation and this world in our hands. Whatever we do will have lasting implications, not only on the lives of those students, but also on the lives of all those who they come in contact with. So then, the questions that we should ask ourselves should not be, “How can I make this work?” The question must be, “How can I afford not to make this work. Wendy Kopp, One Day All Children

Differentiation exists to make room for all kinds of learners to succeed academically. What does this look like in the schools you serve? How or what is your role in ensuring it happens? Explain.

Reactive:  One lesson plan (One size fits all)  When things fall apart improvise Proactive:  More than one learning option based on what you know about students  No one way to plan a good lesson (i.e. Navigation System)

 Teach as best we can to reach as many kids as possible.  Use multiple ways to support students in learning the curriculum at hand.

 Curriculum maps out a flow of logic or plan for what we need to teach about a particular topic or content area at a given time.  Common Core standards provide a framework for developing the flow of logic or plan.  Common Core is a curricular framework. It is not the curriculum.

 It’s essential to be clear about what a curriculum is—and isn’t.  (A curriculum includes, but should not be limited to a set of standards in other words, a curriculum should not be seen as a “fixed” or “immutable” entity.)

 Standards are not a curriculum.  A textbook is not a curriculum.  A pacing guide is not a curriculum. These things are part of ingredients for creating a curriculum.

 Instruction maps out and executes a line of logic or plan for how we need to teach the curriculum in order to support student success with the content.  Differentiation provides a framework for developing that flow of logic or plan.  Differentiation is an instructional framework.

 Common Core framework indicates that curriculum should be meaningful, high level, complex, and transfer-oriented for virtually all students.  Differentiation framework’s primary goal is maximum success for the broadest possible range of learners in the context of rich, rigorous, meaningful curriculum.  Differentiation provides a mechanism for achieving Common Core goals for all learners.

 Common Core is the ingredients for cooking up a healthy curriculum. Teachers can not however serve the Common Core standards without first cooking them up into a curriculum. They are just the raw ingredients.  Differentiation is the ingredients for cooking up a delightful tasty instructional meal.

How will you feed the students who come to you hungry? Will you select to feed some and not others? How will you know what to feed them? Will all of your students get the same meal? Take 5 minutes to discuss.

What does NCLB or the Elementary Secondary Education Act require that every student is fed on a daily basis? Standards are mandated ingredients but they are not the meal.

To prepare standards for serving to students districts must take time to develop a healthy curriculum with the ingredients provided in the standards. To develop the instruction is to prepare the meal from the curriculum using the ingredients provided from differentiation. Districts must mix the ingredients in an appetizing and healthful way ensuring the right balance of ingredients.

 Planning preparing and serving the meal requires teachers who are thoughtful and creative.  Curriculum based on standards also makes room for all the students who must learn it.

 Teachers can prepare the savory meat base that can be used to make many different dishes.  They can make large batches of this savory meat base and freeze it and bring it out as they need it in different dishes. Non Negotiables of Differentiation

1. Create an environment that invites students to learn instead of pushing them away from learning. 2. A polished curriculum that is engaging and worth the kids time; helps them understand rather than rote memorize. 3. Teach-up: Assume kids can do good things and use differentiation to scaffold them there. 4. Use Formative Assessment consistently and let the results signal when and how differentiation of instruction should be done. Modify the instruction based on the assessment.

 About the idea of making dinner vs. serving ingredients?  Talk about the difference in the two approaches.  What is going on in your school? Are teachers serving ingredients or are they serving tasty meals?  What are your next steps to help teachers cook up tasty mouth watering dinners instead of just dishing out ingredients? 5 Minutes

Students can hit any target that they know about and that stands still for them.

What students already know about the content is one of the strongest indicators of how well they will learn new information relative to the content.

Wobble Line Dance

Students can hit any target that they know about and that stands still for them.

In order to differentiate teaching changes must occur in lesson content and selection of curricular and activities to ensure instruction and practice are aligned to student skills and needs. Unwrapping Standards is a simple process to make standards manageable.

 Groups of 2–4 people  Identify the three most common things you do to make: ◦ Instruction more intense when students need it. ◦ Intervention more intense when students need it.  Choose someone to report out to the group.

“ In order to differentiate teaching, changes must occur in lesson content and selection of curricula and activities to ensure instruction and practice are aligned to student skills and needs.”

1.Focus instruction on a small, targeted set of skills 2.Adjust pacing of lessons 3.Schedule multiple and extended sessions daily 4.Include opportunities for extensive practice and feedback during intervention 5.Use input from the RTI team, including precise progress monitoring data, to individualize intervention 6.Teach skills/strategies to mastery

When well designed, increased time accelerates learning by:  Allowing for more instruction.  Providing more practice with feedback.  Increasing students’ engaged learning time. Students with intensive needs often require 10–30 times the number of practice opportunities as their peers to learn new information. This takes time!

28 “It all works out in the end. … If it hasn’t worked out, it’s not the end yet.”

It’s not Over Until Every Child Is Successful!

Use Differentiation to help every child hit the learning target!