Differentiation & Accommodations at St Gabriel’s School – Across the KLAs

What is Differentiation? At St Gabriel’s School, we offer individualised learning to cater for our diverse learners. Individualising does not mean one to one instruction. It means using curriculum, teaching and assessment alongside a knowledge of individual students and their needs. This is often referred to as differentiation. Ashman and Elkins (p.198. 2007)

What do we mean by accommodations? Accommodations, modifications and adjustments are terms that refer to the changes that a teacher can make when teaching diverse learners.

Key Domains for Differentiation and Accommodations Curriculum Communication Mobility Personal Care Social Skills

Key Domain - Curriculum Assessment: Alternative format, concrete materials, pre-teach concepts, reduced tasks, different task Teaching Instruction: More time to process, deeper level of scaffolding, simplified and explicit instruction, alternative materials, visual supports, concrete materials Environment: Furniture arrangement, grouping of students, location in classroom, time of lesson, increased movement breaks Curriculum Content: Reduced curriculum, content adjusted to a lower stage level, pre-teaching skills, knowledge and vocabulary Curriculum – Differentiated Practice

Where do we begin?

Early Learning Number Groups Mae-4NA Counts to 30, and orders, reads and represents numbers in the range of 0-20 CLASS FOCUS CONTENT: Compare, order and make correspondences between collections, initially to 20, and explain reasoning (ACMNA289) Count with one-to-one correspondence’ Recognise that the last number represents the total number in the collection when counting (communicating)

CONSIDERATIONS: Break up content into smaller skill sets based and consider students strengths and challenges. Children progress through developmental levels as they master new skills Uneven pattern of development with non-verbal skills being a strength. INITIAL ASSESSMENT - Knowing my students to give initial target. After trials, worked up and down from there “How many…” beginning with a group of 3 objects (nonverbal students provide numeral cards to select from) “Give me 3…”. (non verbal students count out loud for them as they are handing you the objects) Number Identification and Sequencing 1-10 - including rote counting for able students. ”What number?” (verbal, AAC device, sign), point to / give.”

GROUP 1 - Simple Matching and Sorting: Learning to match / sort / classify before moving onto work that involves numbers; they need to know what they are counting before they are actually able to count them GROUP 2 - DIFFERNTIATED COUNTING SCAFFOLDS Teach 1:1 correspondence Reinforce that the last number counted is total Introduce key language with concrete examples GROUP 3 – COUNTING BEYOND 10 Counting beyond 10 – introduce teen numbers Counting and building groups of 11, 12 etc. Introduce longs and ones Explicitly teach comparative language Begin pairing with number lines (moving from arrays)

Science and Technology Stage 2 topic – Friends and Foes Students in class – Years 4 to 6 From my pre-assessment – students are working towards Early Stage 1, Stage 1 or Stage 2 outcomes in Science and Technology

Life Cycle of a Butterfly – Science Lesson How do I teach it? Use a variety of formats – Big book (Butterfly is born), Magnetic life cycle, visuals, concrete objects, watching time lapse video, make the life cycle Simple life cycle (egg – caterpillar – chrysalis – butterfly) to more complex life cycle (complete metamorphosis)

Life Cycle of a Butterfly – Science Lesson Assessment – different for each student Non-verbal students to point to visuals to order the life cycle or put objects in order Sequence pictures – label the life cycle – egg, caterpillar, cocoon, butterfly Writing is difficult for many of our students Verbally tell me the life cycle of the butterfly Create a smart notebook/powerpoint to tell me Some students may type to tell me the life cycle of a butterfly

Key Domain - Communication Receptive language (facilitate understanding) Explicit teaching of listening skills, allow more time for processing, simplify language Expressive language (facilitate expression) Augmentative Alternative Communication Device, e.g.. iPad with Proloquo App, visuals, repetition and rephrasing, explicit modelling of oral or AAC responses

Mobility -Adjustments to cater for a student’s physical disability. Key Domain - Mobility Adjustments: Modified teaching and learning activities to enable physical components of activities, frequent movement breaks between or during a lesson, risk management plan, additional support for an excursion Mobility -Adjustments to cater for a student’s physical disability.

Key Domain – Personal Care Adjustments: Explicit teaching in relation to a health management issue, visual cues, prompts, sequence to develop appropriate eating or toileting routines

Key Domain- Social Skills Adjustments: Behaviour contracts or plans, communication or environment strategies to manage anxiety, anger, stress, social stories, visuals, social scripts, access to a mentor, school counsellor, etc. adjustments to playgrounds Social Skills