Rationale Meet Needs of Diverse Students & Legal Mandates

Wide range of diversity in America’s classrooms: – This year it is predicted that 3% of people under the age of 18 in the US will be African, Asian, or Hispanic American. – Number of children with disabilities from culturally and linguistically diverse families has increased from 33% (‘92) to 46.7% (‘01) (US Department of Education, 2001) No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act – Require closing the achievement gap with accountability, flexibility, & choice – Disaggregation & review of data for all learners – Highly qualified staff 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act (IDEIA) – Promote inclusion – Access, participate, & progress Thousand, Villa, & Nevin (2007). Differentiating Instruction. Corwin Press.

Rationale Be Ethical in Implementing Democratic Values & Dispel Myths

Teachers can make the content, processes, and outcomes of instruction more accessible to all students- regardless of the students’ race, gender, ethnicity, language, or differing abilities Dispel assumptions about an individual based on a classification (language proficiency, social or economic class, race, or ability or disability) Prevent “Disability spread:” a state where people only see the limitations of a student Thousand, Villa, & Nevin (2007). Differentiating Instruction. Corwin Press.

Rationale Be Effective

Research shows positive academic and behavioral outcomes for diverse learners, increased capability to personalize support for students, and the increased effectiveness of instruction. Encourages teachers to try new arrangements in the presentation of curricular content Create ‘classroom elevators’ that take students to higher & higher levels, rather than as ‘stairwells’ that take students to a certain grade-level landing where they stop (Tomlinson) Thousand, Villa, & Nevin (2007). Differentiating Instruction. Corwin Press.

Definition From Carol Ann Tomlinson

“Differentiated instruction is a teaching philosophy based on the premise that teachers should adapt instruction to student differences. Rather than marching students through the curriculum lockstep, teachers should modify their instruction to meet students’ varying readiness levels, learning preferences, and interests. Therefore, the teacher proactively plans a variety of ways to ‘get at’ and express learning.”

Definition A visual representation

Differentiated Instruction is a teacher’s response to learner’s needs guided by general principles of differentiation, such as flexible groupings appropriate degree of challenge respectful tasks Teachers can differentiate ContentProcessProduct Readiness InterestLearning Profile clear learning goals ongoing assessment and adjustment Carol A Tomlinson Affect

Definition A teacher can differentiate:

 Content – What a teacher teaches for students to learn  Process -Activities a student engages in while learning  Product – Activities the student completes that demonstrate learning has occurred Susan G. Cox. Differentiated Instruction in the Elementary Classroom. Holli M. Levy. Meeting the Needs of All Students through Differentiated Instruction : Helping Every Child Reach and Exceed Standards.

Definition A teacher can differentiate according to a student’s:

Readiness Learning Profile Interest Student’s knowledge, understanding, and skill related to a particular sequence of learning. Topics or pursuits that evoke curiosity and passion in a learner. How students learn best. Those include learning style, intelligence preference, culture and gender. How the students feel about themselves, their work, & classroom as a whole Tomlinson, 2003 Affect

What Differentiation Is For every student

Every student has a particular interest and learning preferences as well as readiness level that varies over time and context. Each learner needs appropriate support. Carol Ann Tomlinson, Kay Brimijoin, & Lane Narvaez. The Differentiated School.

What Differentiation Is At the core of effective planning

Differentiation is not something you do when the real lesson is finished. It’s integral to ensuring that each student has access to success with key content goals. Carol Ann Tomlinson, Kay Brimijoin, & Lane Narvaez. The Differentiated School.

What Differentiation Is Teaching up: supporting students in achieving at a higher level than they thought possible.

Effective differentiation always enables a student to do more than would be possible without it, not less. Carol Ann Tomlinson, Kay Brimijoin, & Lane Narvaez. The Differentiated School.

What Differentiation Is A vehicle for ensuring student success with standards

A goal of differentiation is ensuring that each student succeeds with whatever is important for him to know, understand, and do. Carol Ann Tomlinson, Kay Brimijoin, & Lane Narvaez. The Differentiated School.

What Differentiation Is Use of flexible approaches to space, time, materials, grouping, & instruction

Flexibility is a hallmark of differentiation, but no single instructional strategy is required to differentiate effectively. Carol Ann Tomlinson, Kay Brimijoin, & Lane Narvaez. The Differentiated School.

What Differentiation Is The antithesis of tracking

Differentiation requires use of flexible grouping patterns so that students work in a variety of groups based on readiness, interest, learning preference, random assignments, teacher choice, and student choice. Carol Ann Tomlinson, Kay Brimijoin, & Lane Narvaez. The Differentiated School.

What Differentiation Is Within a classroom

When students are removed from their classrooms and placed with students deemed similar in other classrooms, a kind of tracking is taking place. Real flexibility is lost. Carol Ann Tomlinson, Kay Brimijoin, & Lane Narvaez. The Differentiated School.

What Differentiation Is Systematic attention to readiness, interest, and learning profile

A single approach to intelligence preferences in the classroom is a narrow segment of the big picture of differentiation. Carol Ann Tomlinson, Kay Brimijoin, & Lane Narvaez. The Differentiated School.

What Differentiation Is A balance of teacher choice and student choice

Teachers need to assign some tasks to move the student forward in key ways. Other times students should call the shots and learn about making wise choices. Carol Ann Tomlinson, Kay Brimijoin, & Lane Narvaez. The Differentiated School.

What Differentiation Is Focused on individuals, small group, and class as a whole

Although it is the aim of differentiation to focus on individuals, it is not the goal to make individual lesson plans for each student. Carol Ann Tomlinson, Kay Brimijoin, & Lane Narvaez. The Differentiated School.

What Differentiation Is Varied avenues to the same essential understandings

Differentiation asks students to work with essential understandings at varied degrees of complexity and with varied support systems. Information-based tasks and skills-based tasks should ne congruent with students’ current needs. Struggling students don’t benefit from doing less of what they don’t understand, and advanced learners don’t benefit from doing more of what they already know. Carol Ann Tomlinson, Kay Brimijoin, & Lane Narvaez. The Differentiated School.

What Differentiation Is Something a teacher does in response to particular human beings

Differentiation should be responsive instruction, not mechanical instruction. Carol Ann Tomlinson, Kay Brimijoin, & Lane Narvaez. The Differentiated School.

What Differentiation Is Something that happens when there is a need for it

Whole-class instruction is important and effective at times. Teachers need to build community as well as attend to individual needs. Carol Ann Tomlinson, Kay Brimijoin, & Lane Narvaez. The Differentiated School.

What Differentiation Is Something a teacher plans prior to a lesson based on assessment evidence of student needs (proactive)

The most powerful differentiation is based on pre-assessment and ongoing assessment of student progress toward key goals. The teacher uses the assessment information to make proactive plans to address student needs. Some improvisation is still needed, but it is not a dominant means of differentiation. Carol Ann Tomlinson, Kay Brimijoin, & Lane Narvaez. The Differentiated School.