Professional Learning Team Workshop #4 Differentiation 11th September 2017

Differentiation - Review Just as everyone has a unique fingerprint, each student has an individual style of learning. Not all students in a classroom learn a subject in the same way or share the same level of ability. Differentiated instruction is a method of designing and delivering instruction to best reach each student. All students are able to access the learning and there are no ceilings preventing a students’ ability to excel.

Differentiation in practice Differentiating instruction may mean teaching the same material to all students using a variety of instructional strategies, or it may require the teacher to deliver lessons at varying levels of difficulty based on the ability of each student. Formative assessment is an essential ingredient of this method. Teachers who practice differentiation in the classroom may: Design lessons based on students’ learning styles. Group students by shared interest, topic or ability for assignments. Assess students’ learning using formative assessment. Manage the classroom to create a safe and supportive environment. Continually assess and adjust lesson content to meet students’ needs.

Examples of Differentiated Teaching & Learning Parallel Tasks Blooms/Gardner Triangulated Open questions

Parallel Tasks Parallel tasks are sets of two or more related tasks that explore the same big idea but are designed to suit the needs of students at different developmental levels. The tasks are similar enough in context that all students can participate fully in a single follow-up discussion. Parallel tasks need to be created with variations that allow struggling students to be successful and proficient students to be challenged.

Blooms Taxonomy Bloom’s Taxonomy was originally designed as a means for identifying the degree of abstraction of questions that are typically asked in educational settings, this hierarchical model of thinking is now widely used to assist in the design of assignments and tasks that address different levels of readiness. Bloom’s Taxonomy can be applied to almost anything teachers create: for example, discussion questions, homework assignments, items for tests, and projects. The trick in using this thinking structure, as with any instructional tool, is to make sure to offer students adequate and appropriate challenges. This means that we focus on students working at as high a level of thinking as possible given their readiness with regard to the content being studied. It is important to keep in mind that Bloom did not intend for his model to be used as a means for labeling students. That is, we should not consider some students to generally be “knowledge-level learners” while others might be labeled “synthesis and evaluation learners.” Rather, we should keep in mind that there are times when even our most struggling thinkers are capable of thinking at higher levels. Similarly, there are certainly times when our most gifted learners must focus on basic recall of information, or lower-level thinking.

Blooms/Gardener Triangulated Bloom’s Levels of Thinking SYNTHESIS –   EVALUATION – ANALYSIS – APPLICATION – COMPREHENSION– KNOWLEDGE - VERBAL/ LINGUISTIC LOGICAL/ MATHEMATICAL VISUAL/SPATIAL BODILY/ KINESTHETIC MUSICAL/ RHYTHMIC INTERPERSONAL NATURALIST (Environmental Aspect) Invent a computer game that… Design a board game that Compose a song or rap about. Find out about ...and draw a cartoon or poster that presents your point of view. Investigate the ... Compare and contrast to ... Represent your data as graphs. Re-enact ... Role play ... Compare the past with present day. Write a report about ... Hand out hard copy subject related example as a reference Draw a Paint a Make a video of Design a Read a novel about .... and write a summary. Present it with illustrations. - Read and retell in your own words Organise a glossary of at least 20 important words or expressions and provide definitions. Draw a timeline. Record important dates in ... Draw a graph or map that shows .... Work in a group. Design a computer crossword puzzle

Open questions Open questions are broad based questions that invite meaningful responses from students at many developmental levels. All open questions must allow for correct responses at a variety of levels. 1. You add two numbers and the answer is negative. What two numbers might you have added? Prompting questions can be: What makes an integer negative? Could the two numbers you add both be positive? Explain? How could you use your knowledge that 3 + 4 = 7 to help you answer this question? Questions and tasks should be constructed in such a way that all students can participate together in follow- up discussions. 2. Would you calculate (-20) – (-3) the same way you would calculate 20-(-4)? Explain your thinking.

Creating your own differentiated learning experience Within your teaching team and your PLT group, have professional conversations about the learning needs of your students and how to support differentiated learning within your classes. At the end of this session, you should have developed a plan for incorporating differentiated teaching and learning within your classes, considered how these ideas will be acted upon and what achievement of this goal will look like. Your team will then enter this information into the relevant section of the LSERT.

Group Task Within your group complete the A3 prompt map collaboratively. Elaborating on: Examples of own differentiated practice Ideas that resonate with the group How can these ideas be acted upon What would achievement of this goal look like. What wonderings do you still have. Individually complete the A4 prompt card for your own personal reference. Collaborative in PLT

LSERT Your team can now complete the relevant section of LSERT.

Thank you.