Whatever It Takes a Village Differentiated Instruction in Stone Mountain Middle Schools Mixed-Ability Classrooms Content, Process, and Product Presented by C. K. Goolsby and G. Simmons-Jones At the Summer Leadership Retreat June 26, 2007

What is Differentiation of Instruction? Shaking up what goes on in a classroom so that students have multiple options for taking in information, making sense of ideas, and expressing what they learn.

How is Differentiated Instruction related to this cartoon strip? from Differentiated Instructional Strategies: Gayle H. Gregory, Carolyn Chapman, Corwin Press, 2002.

A differentiated classroom provides different avenues … to acquiring CONTENT. to PROCESSing or making sense of ideas. to developing PRODUCTS so that each student can learn effectively.

CONTENT WHAT we want students to learn and HOW we give them access to it in response to Readiness Interest Learning Profile

Readiness Matching the material or information to the students capacity to read and understand it

Interest Including in the curriculum ideas and materials that build on current student interests or extend student interests

Learning Profile Matching materials and ideas to a students preferred way of learning

Strategies for Differentiating Content Concept-Based Teaching Curriculum Compacting Varied Text and Resource Materials Learning Contracts Mini-lessons Varied Support Systems (includes peer help, graphic organizers, highlighted text, adult mentors)

PROCESS Making sense of it all As students try to analyze, apply, question, or solve a problem using the material, they have to make sense of it before they can take ownership of it.

The Activity is interesting to the students calls on the students to think at a high level causes the students to use a key skill to understand a key idea

Strategies that Support Processing learning logs journals graphic organizers creative problem solving cubing learning centers role play mind mapping mathematical manipulatives science laboratories tiered lessons from The Georgia School Standards Implementation Resource: Kathy Cox, State Superintendent of Schools, Georgia Department of Education, 2006.

PRODUCT Students, either individually or in groups, re-think, use, or extend what they have learned over a long period of time

Creating High-Quality Product Assignments Determine core expectations for the content and outcome of the product Determine how you can assist the students as the product assignment progresses Present the product assignment by modeling what a quality product will look like

Transforming Stone Mountain Middle Schools Classrooms Identify familiar strategies Make a conscious effort to use these strategies for student achievement Make use of available resources

Whatever it takes We cant change our students until we change our minds.