Practical Differentiation for Senior Teachers Presented by: Sue Cowley For: Association of British Schools in Chile 29 th Annual Educational Conference Date: Saturday 2 nd April 2016

Learning Intentions Gain a deeper understanding of what ‘differentiation’ means Consider the varying needs of the learners in your class See how undifferentiated and differentiated feels from the students’ perspective Find practical ways to differentiate more effectively Examine ways to get the best out of group work

What is Differentiation? “If a child does not learn the way you teach, then teach him the way he learns.” Dr Harry Chasty “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Abraham Lincoln “Support and Challenge for All” “Finding out what your learners know and can do; adapting your teaching to suit.” Consider this: if learning isn’t differentiated: A third may already have ‘got it’ A third may ‘get it’ now A third may not ‘get it’ yet Therefore … two thirds are not making the best use of their time

Start with the Child

What is Differentiation?

Undifferentiated to Differentiated

What ‘Differences’ Are There? Attention spans Levels of interest in the subject Prior experience of the subject Levels of motivation Preferred ways of learning Speeds of working/writing Age within the year group Maturity in comparison to peers Self confidence/self esteem Knowledge about the world Life experiences Language/vocabula ry skills Communication skills Physical, psychological needs Social backgrounds Cultural backgrounds Faith backgrounds Time spent in education

Getting to Know You What are the ‘next steps’? What do they know/like/enjoy/do? Interests homeworks Liaison: settings, teachers, parents, SENCO Transitions Instincts and professional judgement Assessment Summative data Observations and ‘listening in’

What Can I Differentiate? complexity type of task amount and type of support resources timing targets ability mix of groups structure of groups assessment individual targets for assessment

What Can I Differentiate? repetition complexity of vocabulary conceptual abstraction type of questions approaches to task level of access of task role of learners choices about form/resources choices about tasks/timing and when all else fails, outcomes

What Can I Differentiate?

Practical Strategies for Differentiation what they know already what they want to find out next ‘Top and Tail’ red, amber and green students set targets/challenges ‘What can you do to show me …?” you be teacher flip the learning ‘word challenge’

Practical Strategies for Differentiation scribe/recording device assistive technologies 015/02/ film the intro a ‘Neutralisation’ experiment kCoRmjm0 Visualiser timing of resource sharing

Practical Strategies for Differentiation time/word/idea targets visual targets competition long term projects target support staff teacher as expert different approaches to group work building vocabulary

Practical Strategies for Learners with EAL tone, emphasis, pace facial expressions hand gestures visual and language prompts ‘rehearsal’ chances celebrate variety survival words and subject words self talk parallel talk

Differentiated Teacher Talk Dramatic Irony When we know something the characters don’t, it makes us want to keep watching. Writers use dramatic irony to involve the audience. We know something the characters don’t; we keep watching because we want to tell them. Dramatic irony is a device used by playwrights, where the audience has information that at least one of the characters does not. Dramatic irony has three stages: installation, exploitation and resolution. These create dramatic tension; a sense of release comes with the denouement. Concrete examples: ‘Behind the Sofa’; Jaws, Horror Movies

Making the Most of Group Work effective format / tricky format structure, forward planning reasons – learning objectives allocate roles/ensure participation build skills over time ‘rights’ and ‘responsibilities’ tokens, chips, coins timings and targets regular feedback managing noise

Guess What’s in my Head Linear Thinking or Lateral Thinking Closed Questions or Open Questions Knowledge or Understanding MOTS or HOTS

Open Ended Questioning What would happen if …? How could we do this differently …? What’s going on here …? How well does this work …? What’s your opinion of this …? Can you take that thought a bit further …? Have you come across that idea anywhere else …? That’s interesting … can you give an example …? What do you believe/think/feel about this …?