D IFFERENTIATION : P ROVIDING RICH LEARNING EXPERIENCES FOR ALL STUDENTS. Helen Baber SPCC July 2011

A IMS OF TODAY ’ S SESSION : To look at curriculum differentiation and its implications for the way we cater for students in our classrooms by answering the following questions: 1. What is differentiation? 2. Why is differentiation important? 3. How can I differentiate the curriculum? 4. Where can resources be found? Provide an opportunity to adjust programs.

1. W HAT IS D IFFERENTIATION ? Differentiation is: the provision of a variety of ways to explore curriculum content; the provision of an array of processes for understanding and ‘owning’ information; the provision for options for demonstrating what has been learnt. Differentiation is a qualitative, not quantitative, change.

D IFFERENTIATED PROGRAMMING IS : having high expectations for all students permitting students to demonstrate mastery of material they already know and to progress at their own pace through new material providing different avenues to acquiring content, to processing or making sense of ideas, and to developing products providing multiple assignments within each unit, tailored for students with differing levels of achievement allowing students to choose with the teacher’s guidance, ways to learn and how to demonstrate what they have learned flexible – teachers move students in and out of groups, based on students’ instructional needs Tomlinson, C.A. & Allan, S.D. (2000). Leadership for differentiating schools and classrooms. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

D IFFERENTIATED PROGRAMMING ISN ’ T individualised instruction – it is not a different lesson plan for each student each day assigning more work at the same level to high– achieving students all the time – often it is important for students to work as a whole class using only the differences in student responses to the same class assignment to provide differentiation giving a normal assignment to most students and a different one to advanced learners limited to subject acceleration – teachers are encouraged to use a variety of strategies Tomlinson, C.A. & Allan, S.D. (2000). Leadership for differentiating schools and classrooms. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

W HO ARE OUR STUDENTS ? The spectrum of children in our classrooms includes a range of: cultures gender abilities/gifts disabilities ages socio-economic backgrounds personalities physical appearances/development learning styles thinking styles interests birth orders range of educational opportunities received range of general life experiences What are some of the differences between our students?

2. W HY IS D IFFERENTIATION IMPORTANT ? What would happen? What do we do to ensure the best outcome? How is this similar to teaching? An analogy...

W IKI TIME What ways do we make programming alterations to meet the needs of students? Give examples. ki/f632a/Differentiation_PD_with_Helen_Baber.html

M ODELS OF C URRICULUM D IFFERENTIATION Anderson / Krathwohl: A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s educational objectives Maker Model Williams Model Kaplan Model Look for the writing of Tomlinson or Heacox.

3 H OW CAN I D IFFERENTIATE THE CURRICULUM ? Students should be offered a curriculum matched to their learning needs. To achieve this we: A. 1. differentiate the curriculum content B. 2. differentiate the learning process C. 3. differentiate student products D. 4. differentiate the learning environment

A ) DIFFERENTIATING THE CURRICULUM CONTENT Different templates to assist your design Encourage abstractness, complexity, variety, study of people, study methods of enquiry within disciplines and organise the content around concepts (integrated curriculum). On the wiki, add “CONTENT” modification note.

B) DIFFERENTIATING THE LEARNING PROCESS Modifications include facilitating: higher levels of thinking creative thinking open-endedness group interaction variable pacing variety of learning processes debriefing freedom of choice metacognition Discovery Learning Include opportunities to refine skills ie cognitive, motor, communication, etc. On the wiki, add “PROCESS” modification note.

C ) DIFFERENTIATING STUDENT PRODUCTS Incorporate: real problems real audiences real deadlines transformations appropriate evaluation a variety of products encourage self-selected products Handout On the wiki, add “PRODUCTS” modification note.

D) DIFFERENTIATING THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT Create a responsive learning environment that is: student-centred encourages independence open accepting complex mobile A key point to remember is flexibility! On the wiki, add “LEARNING ENVIRONMENT” modification note.

S UMMARY OF D IFFERENTIATION All students have the same right to curriculum matched to their learning needs Differentiation = tailoring the curriculum to match student interests, needs and abilities Qualitative differentiation - four elements include: modification of content, process, product and the learning environment Differentiation is a qualitative change, not quantitative.

4. RESOURCES? Cash, R.M. (2010). Advancing Differentiation: Thinking and Learning for the 21st Century. Free Spirit Publishing. Advancing Differentiation: Thinking and Learning for the 21st Century Heacox, D. (2008). Differentiating Instruction in the Regular Classroom: How to Reach and Teach All Learners Grades Free Spirit Publishing. Differentiating Instruction in the Regular Classroom: How to Reach and Teach All Learners Grades 3-12 Heacox, D. (2009). Making Differentiation a Habit: How to Ensure Success in Academically Diverse Classrooms. Free Spirit Publishing. Making Differentiation a Habit: How to Ensure Success in Academically Diverse Classrooms Tomlinson, C.A. (1999). The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners Tomlinson, C.A. (2001). How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed Ability Classrooms (2nd Edition). Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed Ability Classrooms (2nd Edition)

LET’S DIFFERENTIATE! In Stages or Faculties work on your programs adding content, process, product and environment alterations.