Developed by Colleen Murphy Mauston School District Know Your Students Differentiation Tools for Determining Readiness, Interests, and Learner Profile Developed by Colleen Murphy Mauston School District

Let’s Review . . .

What does Differentiation mean? Delivering instruction that honors different learning styles Providing multiple options for accessing content Allowing a variety of performance options to demonstrate understanding

What Differentiation is NOT New Individualized instruction Tracking Static Reactive

What Differentiation is Multiple approaches Qualitative Rooted in assessment Student centered Proactive

Why do we differentiate? To meet the needs of all learners To maximize learning for all students To help all students achieve success

Who do we differentiate for? Struggling students Gifted/Talented students ELL/Bilingual students At-Risk students All students

Before you begin you must… Determine what you want your students to Know, Understand, and be able to Do Assess you students for Readiness, Interests, and Learning Profiles Plan for Content, Process, and Product

KUD What we want the students to KNOW, UNDERSTAND, and be able to DO With any given curriculum, what knowledge should the students acquire? What skills will they master? What big ideas and concepts will they understand?

Getting to know your students… Assess for READINESS Readiness refers not to ability but to what the student knows, understands, and can do in light of the curriculum to be covered

Getting to know your students… Assess for INTERESTS Assessing for interest involves looking for connections between the curriculum to be covered and those things the student finds appealing, intriguing, relevant, and worthwhile

Getting to know your students… Assess for LEARNING PROFILE Learning profile involves more than just modality preference but is influenced as well by intelligence preference, gender, and culture

Getting to know your students… Given these 3 characteristics, how do we go about gathering this information on each of the 24 students in our class. Better yet, how about the 117 students we see in the course of a day?

Getting to know your students… To assess for Readiness try using: What Do You Know About….? Who Is It? Brainstorm and Sort Background Knowledge Backpack Anticipation Guides Personal assessment K-W-L

Getting to know your students… To assess for interests, try using Student Interest Surveys Who Am I? This Is Me posters The Slip Game Getting to Know Group Members People Hunt Puzzle Me Out What Are Your Interests? Personal discussion

Getting to know your students… To assess for Learning Profile, try using: Interaction Inventory Learning Profile Questionnaires Theory of Multiple Intelligences Self Assessment Triarchic Theory of Intelligences Modality Preferences Instrument Personal observation

REMEMBER: Readiness Learning Profile Interests Find out what they already know and meet them there Learning Profile Determine the best avenue for delivering instruction Interests Look for aspects of the subject that interest or intrigue

Resources Tomlinson, Carol Ann – How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms, 2nd Ed., ASCD, 2001 Strickland, Cindy A. – Tools for High-Quality Differentiated Instruction, ASCD, 2007 Zwiers, Jeff – Building Reading Comprehension Habits in Grades 6-12: A Toolkit of Classroom Activities, IRA, 2004 Wood, Karen D., Lapp, Diane, Flood, James, Taylor, D. Bruce – Guiding Readings Through Text: Strategy Guides for New Times, 2nd Ed., IRA, 2008 Gibbs, Jeanne – Tribes: A New Way of Learning and Being Together, CenterSource Systems, 1995