The Metropolitan High School Project Milagros Rivera-Fogg Post University

The Metropolitan High School Brand new high school for 9th Graders. Opened for the first time in 2016 with 200 students. Culturally Diverse Setting. Located in a small suburban town.

Plan and Rationale Engages and motivates students with enriched lessons based on learning profiles.   Helps students achieve success. Moves the students to the center of teaching and learning to maximize learning. . Questionnaire The first step in differentiating instruction is to get to know the students’ learning characteristics (Tomlinson, 2012). Therefore, the student profile questionnaire helps gather information to help craft a Spanish lesson.

Pre-Learning Activity   The Index Card Spelling Bee Game is a fun activity game, which introduces the vocabulary of the lesson. The teacher uses the equalizer to change the level of difficulty of the game by inserting challenging words (Tomlinson 2001, p. 47) Switching the cards from simple to complex, helps differentiate instruction during this activity. Images are also incorporated during this activity for students to remember content. According to McCarthy (2010), images help clear consciousness and assist students understand information.

Flexible Grouping Learning Activity When creating flexible groups, teachers should consider the best way to group students based on students’ needs and interests (Hoffman, 2012). Similar, students’ learning profile is a preferred way of learning which may be influenced by learning style and intelligence(Loeser, 2016). -helps the teacher understand if students are using proper Spanish pronunciation, translation, and spelling of the new vocabulary words. -helps students draw the skills upon the strengths of the students who are at a more advanced level.

Post-Learning Activity Reflection Journal Entry Helps students reflect on the lesson in order to write new sentences using the new vocabulary. Helps the students transfer the information deeper. During this activity, the teacher can obtain more information about the students in order to help differentiate instruction

Content, Process, and Product According to Tomlinson (2001, p. 73), content, process, and product can be differentiated in response to students’ readiness levels, interests or learning profile. Content by Readiness Level Provide a short movie to struggling students to learn about the content of the lesson. Provide an advanced short book to the advance students to read about the content of the lesson Content by Interest Level According to Tomlinson (2001, p. 80), differentiating process according to students’ interests involves giving students choices about facets of a topic in which to specialize or help students link a personal interest to a sense-making goal. Provide an assignment option for students to choose. For students who are strong in visual learning provide the option use a graphic game on the computer. Students with strong musical abilities provide the option to listen to music using the vocabulary of the lesson. Product by Learning Profiles Students can complete a PowerPoint presentation to expand understanding. Students can make a final product according to the learning profiles.

Strategies for Differentiated Instruction Howard Gardner (200) points out that anything can be taught in different ways to reach every child. Therefore, the strategies below helps differentiate instruction for students who enjoy learning through music and technology. As Sanford, Crowe & Flice, 2010 point out, differentiating using technology addresses the various needs of the students. 1. Students who enjoy learning though music, can listen to a Spanish song using the Spanish greetings. Once the song ends, it then plays in English and the students translate what is heard on a new blank piece of paper. In turn, the students will write what is heard in English and translate it to Spanish. 2. The teacher differentiates the lesson by having the student use technology. To explain, utilizing technology to play a game in Spanish allows students to match words from English to Spanish in level 1 and then move on to more complex levels.

Future Goals According to Gregory & Burkman (2012, p. 38), socialization and environmental experiences influence the learners’ preferences during learning. Therefore, it is important that everyone understand how to improve differentiating strategies to help all students. To that end, the author of this presentation has three recommendations for future goals. First, the author recommends that teachers read two books by 2017. The first book explains differentiated strategies for English learners by Gregory & Burkman (2012) titled “Differentiated Literacy Strategies for English Language Learners for Grades 7–12.” The second book “Differentiated Assessment Strategies: One Tool Doesn't Fit All” explains more about assessment (Chapman & King, 2012). Second, it is recommended to take a professional development course on differentiated instruction to examine issues and strategies necessary for students (ASCD, 2016). Third, teachers can stays up to date by reading the latest peer review articles available at the Post Library site (Post Library, 2016).

Summary Differentiated instruction is difficult and challenging as every classroom includes a wide range of learners with abilities, learning styles, and interests (Loeser, 2016). However, the plan outlined in this presentation can help teachers achieve higher success rate. When teachers are given proper training and support, success increases (Loeser, 2016). Similar to what Tomlinson (2012) explains that learning styles help teachers differentiate instruction, Ghaedi & Jam (2014) explain that the more the instructor knows about the students, the better the teacher can plan lessons.

References ASCD. (2016). Professional Development Online Courses. Retrieved October 9, 2016, from   http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/marketing/PDSourcebook_2016.pdf Chapman, C., & King, R. (2012). Differentiated assessment strategies: One tool doesn't fit all.   Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Gardner, H. (2009). Howard Gardner of The Multiple Intelligence Theory. Retrieved October 09, 2016, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2QtSbP4FRg Ghaedi, Z., & Jam, B. (2014). Relationship between Learning Styles and Motivation for Higher Education in EFL Students. Theory & Practice In Language Studies, 4(6), 1232-1237. http://dx.doi.org/10.4304/tpls.4.6.1232-1237. Hoffman, J. (2002). Flexible Grouping Strategies in the Multiage Classroom. Theory Into Practice, 41(1), 47. Johnson, A. (2010). Bloom’s Taxonomy to Create Tiered Instruction. [YouTube Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anLc37a8WOE

Gregory, G., & Burkman, A. (2012). Differentiated Literacy Strategies for English Language   Learners, Grades 7–12. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Corwin. Loeser, J. W. (2016). Differentiated Instruction. Differentiated Instruction -- Research Starters Education, 1. McCarthy, B. (2010). Introduction to 4MAT by Bernice McCarthy. Retrieved  September 28, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpqQ5wUXph4 Post Library. (2016). Retrieved October 14, 2016, from http://post.edu/resources-for-current- Students/library Stanford, P., Crowe, M. W., & Flice, H. (2010). Differentiating with Technology. Teaching Exceptional Children Plus, 6(4), 1-9. Tomlinson, C. A. (2001). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms.  Alexandria, Va: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.  Tomlinson, C. (2012). Getting Started on Differentiated Instructions. Retrieved September 30, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGYa6ZacUTM