The teach to the middle or one size fits all approach to education Another typical school day? The teach to the middle or one size fits all approach to education Boy am I glad to see you Hobbes Boy am I glad to see you Hobbes

Match how you teach to those you teach. Strategies to support Differentiation Match how you teach to those you teach. Differentiated learning is about a robust instructional repertoire. It is not new. Its about having a an assortment of teaching tools and techniques to meet the diverse needs of students. I’s about change challenge and choice in today’s classrooms. It isn’t just trying anything. There are key principles. It assumes a positive mindset. Let’s assume all kids can do good work and let’s attend to the ways that they need us to teach them in order to get there. We are figuring out a way to have all students reach their potential. September 2011

6-18 month strategy: P-10 improvement schedule Consider: This strategy promotes a differentiated approach to literacy and numeracy learning and teaching. Differentiating learning (is) based on addressing student need as determined by analysing assessment data, (and) is supported by the Ultranet. Purposeful teaching: Data-informed learning and teaching plans are developed to provide differentiated, focused teaching and open-ended learning challenges for all students. Instruction should be driven by pre-assessment, formative assessment, and data analysis

Key Characteristics of Effective Literacy Differentiating support for all students International research indicates that to respond effectively to the diversity of student learning needs and aspirations at all stages of learning, teachers need to consider systematically ‘two phases of teaching’: The first phase–quality differentiated classroom teaching for all students. The second phase–additional short-term intervention for students not achieving the expected level in literacy in order to accelerate their learning. specifies the nature of quality differentiated classroom teaching for students in Years Prep to 6 and Years 7 to 10 in literacy across a range of domains.

Breakthrough Framework and Differentiation Classroom teaching and learning programmes can be adjusted to respond to the needs of all learners. Where do I start? Know the learner – assessment provides necessary information Good instruction as a basis for differentiated teaching Flexibility Planning Choices Resources Differentiated instruction allows us to raise the bar and close the gap Where do I start?  Know the Learner - The starting point for providing for diverse student learning needs is broad based identification of the characteristics of the learner. Effective learning and teaching is founded on the understanding of the learner. Assessment and instruction are inseparable (discuss by referencing on demand) Struggling learners focus on essential understandings and skill Advanced learners don’t spend time repeating work they already know Differentiation is not Differentiation doesn’t mean A different program for each student in the class Fixed Ability grouping to reduce differences Modification of activity   Differentiation does mean Using what we know about learning and each student to improve outcomes Zone of proximal development Assessment provides necessary information All students participate in respectful work Teachers and students collaborate in learning

To improve our understanding of Differentiation Learning Intentions To improve our understanding of Differentiation To analyse teaching methods according to their capacity to differentiate To identify methods that we can use to differentiate well As we work this together this afternoon have in mind your kids, your space and those who you work with.

A Working Definition of Differentiation Differentiation has come to mean “consistently using a variety of instructional approaches to modify content, process, and/or products in response to learning readiness and interest of academically diverse students.” Tomlinson, Carol Ann. The Differentiated Classroom

A story that tells the story of differentiation Imagine three mysterious intriguing prizes hanging on a wall. They are all hanging from a level bar, all at the same height, which represents the idea of a standard. Now three students reach for the prizes. One student, the tallest of the three, reaches the prize with little or no effort at all. The second student reaches the prize, but only after stretching as high as they possibly can standing on their tip toes. Finally, the third student is not able to reach the prize, even when standing on their tip toes and stretching as much as they can. In terms of differentiating learning, the question is this: Does the teacher lower the prize or do they give the student a chair?

A class is not differentiated when assignments are the same for all learners and the adjustments consist of varying the level of difficulty of questions for certain students, grading some students harder than others, or letting students who finish early play games for enrichment. It is not appropriate to have more advanced learners do extra math problems, extra book reports, or after completing their "regular" work be given extension assignments. Asking students to do more of what they already know is hollow. Asking them to do "the regular work, plus" inevitably seems punitive to them (Tomlinson, 1995a Key features or general principals of differentiation – respectful tasks, quality curriculum, building community , flexible grouping, flexible thinking, continual assessment, teaching up.

Differentiation is … “…shaking up what goes on in the classroom so it’s a better fit for everyone. It is not a pedagogical ‘bag of tricks.’ It is a way of thinking about teaching and learning.” Carol Ann Tomlinson

GRADUAL RELEASE OF RESPONSIBILITY Role of the teacher MODELLING The teacher demonstrates and explains the literacy focus being taught. This is achieved by thinking aloud the mental processes and modelling the reading, writing, speaking and listening SHARING The teacher continues to demonstrate the literacy focus, encouraging students to contribute ideas and information GUIDING The teacher provides scaffolds for students to use the literacy focus. Teacher provides feedback APPLYING The teacher offers support and encouragement when necessary The student works independently to apply the use of literacy focus DEGREE OF CONTROL Students work with help from the teacher and peers to practise the use of the literacy focus Students contribute ideas and begin to practise the use of the literacy focus in whole class situations 11 The student participates by actively attending to the demonstrations Pearson & Gallagher Role of the student

LITERACY ELEMENTS Read Aloud Shared Reading Guided Reading SPEAKING & LISTENING OBSERVATION & ASSESSMENT Read Aloud Shared Reading Guided Reading Independent Reading Write Aloud Shared Writing Guided Writing Independent Writing .

Facilitating Engagement by Differentiating Independent Reading Michelle J. Kelley, Nicki Clausen-Grace

Teachers Can Differentiate Content Process Product According to Students’ Readiness Interest Learning Profile Use data to drive instruction, assessing readiness, skill levels and content knowledge – pre planning Adapted from The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners (Tomlinson, 1999).

Assessment Consider: Know the learner Rubrics, checklists, learning logs, portfolios, ondemand, peer reviews, self editing, rating scales and a host of other strategies can be used as both formative and summative assessments. How they are used is the distinguishing facto in whether they are formative or summative

Assessment (Formative) On going Student reflection Explicit feedback To guide practice Assessment (Formative) Rubrics Student reflection – learning logs, pass out Guide Practice - Assessment data is the starting point for curriculum planning and differentiated instruction. Use moderation of work samples to support On – going - Reading – Blake – Plock (p3) previously used paper pencil assessment now using blogs with his kids and fnds he knows so much more in the way they are moving and thinking which helps to drive his instructiom Use Mastery testing to monitor whether students have mastered the learning covered in the curriculum you have offered. Use Summative testing to: monitor the effectiveness of your teaching, and place students at some point along the curriculum continuum. Use Diagnostic testing to determine what students already know and what they don’t know which should then be used to inform your teaching.

On Demand Data Analysis – Data Wall   Level 2 Beg of Grade 3 Level 2.5 End of Grade 3 Level 3.0 End of Grade 4 Level 3.5 End of Grade 5 Level 3.75 Mid of Grade 6 Level 4 End of Grade 6 Level 4.25 Mid of Year 7 Level 4.5 End of Year 7 Level 4.75 Mid of Year 8 Level 5 End of Year 8 Level 5.25 Mid of Year 9 Level 5.5 End of Year 9 Level 5.75 Mid of Year 10 Data Analysis Reflection   1. Identify students who are performing above expected levels of achievement. Identify possible strategies that will cater for the students individual learning needs. 2. Identify students who are performing below expected levels of achievement. Identify possible strategies that will cater for the students individual learning needs.  3. Identify other individual students who may require also require attention. Identify possible strategies that will cater for the students individual learning needs.  4. Plan of action for Semester 2 - How can I improve the whole class student data next semester?

On Demand Report

Analysis of Individual Student Data. Student Name:   What level is the student working at? What are the students’ specific learning needs? What implications does the students’ individual data have in your teaching domain?  How do you think you could cater for them within the teaching of your domain?

Choosing the right starting point for “Adaptive” Tests

The Student Response Report

Data sorted by Item Difficulty and Student Ability Mostly correct Mostly incorrect Increasing Level of Ability Increasing Level of Difficulty

Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky) The known: What students can already do independently. Increasing Level of Difficulty Increasing Level Ability What students are capable of learning with the assistance of explicit instruction from the teacher (scaffolding). Zone of Proximal Development: The unknown: What students are incapable of learning before prior concepts are taught.

Differentiation across the whole class Process Content product “By thoughtfully using assessment data, the teacher can modify content, process or product” Before grouping students for any activity, ask yourself: “What is the learning outcome of this activity, and what is the best type of grouping to meet this learning outcome?” Then group your students accordingly.

Process Higher levels of thinking Pacing and Open- variety endedness Freedom of choice Debriefing Discovery Open- endedness Higher levels of thinking Process Group Interaction Process modification: The aim is to promote creativity and higher level cognitive skills, and to encourage productive use and management of the knowledge the students have mastered. This can be facilitated by encouraging: higher levels of thinking - involving cognitive challenge using Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Processes (1984 - logical problems, critical thinking and problem solving, creative thinking - involving imagination, intuitive approaches and brainstorming techniques, open-endedness - encouraging risk-taking and the response that is right for the student by stressing there is no one right answer, group interaction - with highly able and motivated students sparking each other in the task, with this sometimes being on a competitive and sometimes on a cooperative basis (depending on the task and its objectives), variable pacing - allowing students to move through lower order thinking more rapidly but allowing more time for students to respond fully on higher order thinking tasks, variety of learning processes - accommodating different students' learning styles, debriefing - encouraging students to be aware of and able to articulate their reasoning or conclusion to a problem or question, and freedom of choice - involving students in evaluation of choices of topics, methods, products and environments.

PROCESS is the “how” of teaching PROCESS is the “how” of teaching. Process refers to the activities that you design to help students think about and make sense of the key principles and information of the content they are learning. Process also calls on students to use key skills that are integral to the unit. When differentiating process, students are engaged in different activities, but each activity should be directed to the lesson’s common focus on what students should come to know, understand, and be able to do. All students are engaged in meaningful and respectful tasks. Carol Ann Tomlinson

Envoy Snow- ball Cascade Goldfish Carousel Paired tutoring Students as teachers Pair swapping Allocated roles Jigsaw

Content Abstractness Respectful tasks Complexity Content Organisation Study of methods Variety Complexity Abstractness Content Content modification: The aim is to remove the ceiling on what is learned, and use the student's abilities to build a richer, more diverse and efficiently organised knowledge base. This building can be facilitated by encouraging: abstractness - with content shifting from facts, definitions and descriptions to concepts, relationships to key concepts, and generalisations, complexity - with content shifting to inter-relationships rather than considering factors separately, variety - with content expanding beyond material presented in the normal program, Respectful tasks- Everybody’s work need to be equally engaging, equally appealing and equally important. We want every student to be thinking about their task to be completed study of methods of inquiry - including procedures used by experts working in their fields.

CONTENT is what we want students to:. - know (facts and information) CONTENT is what we want students to: - know (facts and information) - understand (principles, generalizations, ideas) - be able to do (skills) Content is differentiated (a) when you preassess students’ skill and knowledge, then match learners with appropriate activities according to readiness; (b) when you give students choices about topics to explore in greater depth; (c) when you provide students with basic and advanced resources that match their current levels of understanding. Curriculum compacting – the key to curriculum compacting is pre-assessment – test, KWL, other graphic organiser – those who know it need a higher level activity

Appropriate evaluation Product Appropriate evaluation Transformations Real Deadlines Real Audiences Real Problems Product Product modification: The aim is to facilitate opportunities for talented students to produce a product that reflects their potential. This can be encouraged by incorporating: real problems - real and relevant to the student and the activity, real audiences - utilising an "audience" that is appropriate for the product, which could include another student or group of students, a teacher (not necessarily the class teacher), an assembly, a mentor, a community or specific interest group, real deadlines - encouraging time management skills and realistic planning, transformations - involving original manipulation of information rather than regurgitation, and appropriate evaluation - with the product and the process of its development being both self-evaluated and evaluated by the product's audience using previously established "real world" criteria that are appropriate for such products.

PRODUCTS are the way students show what they have learned or extend what they have learned. They can be differentiated along a continuum: - simple to complex - less independent to more independent - clearly defined problems to fuzzy problems Carol Ann Tomlinson

Also consider: Learning Environment Grouping Assessment

Encouraging independence Learning Environment Student Centred Encouraging independence Highly Mobile Complex Accepting Open Learning Environment 1. Learning environment: The aim is to create a learning environment which encourages students to engage their abilities to the greatest extent possible, including taking risks and building knowledge and skills in what they perceive as a safe, flexible environment. It should be: student-centred - focusing on the student's interests, input and ideas rather than those of the teacher, encouraging independence - tolerating and encouraging student initiative, open - permitting new people, materials, ideas and things to enter and non-academic and interdisciplinary connections to be made, accepting - encouraging acceptance of others' ideas and opinions before evaluating them, complex - including a rich variety of resources, media, ideas, methods and tasks, and highly mobile - encouraging movement in and out of groups, desk settings, classrooms, and schools. A sense of community

Grouping Able Mixed Ability Grouping Expert Gender Co-operative Flexible grouping is essential in the differentiated classroom but before grouping ask yourself – what is the learning outcome of this activity and what is the best type of grouping to meet this learning outcome Well functioning groups do not just happen Groups in a differentiated classroom should be thought of as flexible and temporary,not permanent.  Flexible groups are established based on the learning outcomes for a particular activity. Able and mixed ability groups Single gender and mixed gender groups Friendship group Expert group Age group Collaborative vs co-operative work Flexible grouping is consistently used. In a differentiated class, students work in many patterns. Sometimes they work alone, sometimes in pairs, sometimes in groups. Sometimes tasks are readiness-based, sometimes interest-based, sometimes constructed to match learning style, and sometimes a combination of readiness, interest, and learning style. In a differentiated classroom, whole-group instruction may also be used for introducing new ideas, when planning, and for sharing learning outcomes.

Assessment To guide practice Explicit feedback Assessment Rubrics On going Student reflection Explicit feedback To guide practice Assessment Rubrics Student reflection – learning logs, pass out Guide Practice - Assessment data is the starting point for curriculum planning and differentiated instruction. Use moderation of work samples to support On – going - Reading – Blake – Plock (p3) previously used paper pencil assessment now using blogs with his kids and fnds he knows so much more in the way they are moving and thinking which helps to drive his instructiom

“The Differentiated Classroom” Carol Ann Tomlinson Chapter 4 – Learning Environments that Support Differentiated Instruction – teaching as a learning Triangle Chapter 5 - Good Instruction as a Basis for Differentiated Teaching – levels of learning and curriculum Chapter 9 – How Do Teachers Make it All Work? - Practical considerations Carol Ann Tomlinson is one of the authors included in the pre reading. S Her books are How to Differentiat instruction in mixed ability classrooms The Differentiated classroom She has a web site Hers are in interview format Key to one article is the need for flexible groupings. I love it when she talks about having kids change their groups often enough that they are never sure what’s coming next – and they don’t feel identified with any one group or peers or one part of the classroom!

Jigsaw Model note 3 key points Home Group – Choose which article you would like to read. Move to ‘expert group’ area. 20 minutes to read and think note 3 key points 10 minutes discussion in expert group Back to home group – Report what you have read and discuss implications for your teaching ( - 3 mins each to tell - 10 mins to discuss (19 mins.)

Why does it work? Differentiation increases the match between where the student is and what they are to learn. Zone of Proximal Development Vygotsky (1962) Varying levels of scaffolding Varying degrees of challenge Varying degrees of autonomy Optimal learning Burns and Purcell, 2002

ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT TASK COMPLEXITY CONTINUUM Totally independent functioning Student succeeds with adult support Task complexity prevents success ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT Where learning occurs. Students should be here 80% of the time.

Which teaching methods differentiate best? The cards you have describe many commonly used teaching methods. Imagine each method being used in isolation.

Your Task Place each method card into one of the following categories assuming the teaching method is used by itself: A. Can differentiate well B. Can differentiate reasonably well C. Does not differentiate well

After categorising Make sure you have consensus Rank them for differentiation within each category, the best at the top, the worst at the bottom. Make sure you have consensus

How can you improve differentiation while using weak teaching methods? For each of the methods you placed in the category: ‘Does not differentiate well’ decide as a group how you could make it differentiate better

Example ‘Question and Answer’, or ‘Teacher Talk’ may differentiate better it were punctuated with ‘Question and Answer’, or short sessions of group work, especially if the questions were high order and sufficient ‘wait time’ and help was given to allow all students to answer the questions.

Share one example from your group

When Differentiating Instruction, The Three Most Important Questions to Continually Ask Yourself... What do I want my students to know, understand, and be able to do? What will I do instructionally to get my students to learn this? Teachers moving toward differentiated instruction in an inclusive, integrated middle school classroom find greater success if they (1) have a clear rationale for differentiation, (2) prepare students and parents for a differentiated classroom, (3) attend to issues of classroom structure and management as they move toward more student-centered learning, (4) move toward differentiation at a pace comfortable to both teacher and learners, and (5) plan with team members and other colleagues interested in differentiation (Tomlinson, 1995b). How will my students show what they know?

Pass Out Name one thing that you are going to put into place based on today’s workshop Write on paper Form a circle Scrunch up paper into a ball and throw into middle of circle Select a ball, not your own Share.

Resources Key Characteristics of effective literacy teaching The e5 Instructional Model Fuse Ultranet Tomlinson, C. A. (2001). How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed Ability Classrooms (second ed.). 2001: ASCD Publications.

Web sites http://differentiationcentral.com/ http://www.ascd.org/ http://www.caroltomlinson.com/ http://daretodifferentiate.wikispaces.com/

when life gives you blizzards http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoNJdSC-j-A&feature=related when life gives you blizzards http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOLwDBcgSjs&feature=related Standardized testing – simpsons http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN7QfjIcVvA&NR=1 Animal school