Sharon Walpole Michael C. McKenna Zoi A. Philippakos

Goals Introduce differentiation for upper- elementary teachers Offer resources to guide decisions Relevant research Instructional templates Relevant assessments

In your school... How are your 4 th - and 5 th -grade teams similar to and different from your K-3 teams?

Assumptions about Curriculum Vertically-Articulated Goals and standards at each grade level, in each aspect of literacy, must be progressively more challenging. Teachers must have a deep understanding of how their own grade level extends knowledge, skills, and strategies from the previous one and how it lays the groundwork for the challenges of the next one.

Assumptions about Curriculum Differentiated Classroom teachers can plan for both grade-level instruction (heterogeneous by achievement) and small-group instruction (homogeneous by achievement) every day. Instruction for a small number of students with extensive needs in the areas of word recognition and fluency may demand intensive interventions outside of the classroom curriculum.

Assumptions about Curriculum Collaborative Grade-level teams can and should work together to decide exactly how to use the resources they have: time, curriculum materials, classroom libraries. Data on student achievement should influence teacher collaborations and inform their reflection on the success of their work.

Assumptions about Children In the upper elementary, Authentic children’s literature, read aloud, provides essential language-building and knowledge-building experiences. Children can easily read and write to build comprehension and vocabulary and sentence structures and text structures – without any worksheets or workbooks. Peer discussions and collaborations are important avenues for learning. For upper-elementary children, it is very simple to differentiate their reading practice.

Plan Tier I (Grade-level) Instruction Evaluate the extent to which classroom instructional materials inform and support explicit, systematic, challenging instructional tasks. FCRR’s Guidelines for Reviewing a Reading Program provides a succinct summary of research to inform instruction through grade 6. The process of reviewing a reading program provides meaningful professional development for grade-level teams.

Look at the 4 th - and 5 th -grade templates What do you see as similar to the K-3 plan you have at your school? What is different?

PA and Word Recognition Word Recognition and Fluency Fluency and Comprehension Vocabulary & Comprehension A Stairway to Proficiency

Make a General Template for Time Consider the total time that you have for reading instruction. Divide that time into grade-level and differentiated time. Consider ways that an interactive read- aloud can provide avenues for children to engage in meaningful reading and writing.

Tier I min? Grade-Level Instruction Interactive Read-Aloud Tier II min? Written Response WR & F Reading Practice F & C Reading Practice Written Response Literature Circle V & C

Where’s the teacher?

Tier I min? Grade-Level Instruction Interactive Read-Aloud Tier II min? Written Response WR & F Reading Practice F & C Reading Practice Written Response Literature Circle V & C

Make a General Template for Grade-Level Instruction Core programs typically have a story of the week, with many choices for skill work. It is possible to plan instruction that uses that grade-level story as the anchor, but simplifies the instructional planning and routines. The trick is to have a “story introduction” schedule (lasting one or two days) and then a “rest-of-the-week” schedule.

“Story Intro” Schedule 5 min Strategy introduction Teacher explains a focal comprehension strategy or text structure. 15 min Interactive read-aloud Teacher reads aloud from a piece of authentic literature and stops when needed to model the use of the comprehension strategy or text structure. 3 min Introduce written response Teacher provides the students with a higher-order question or prompt to engage their thinking about the read-aloud. 10 min VocabularyTeacher introduces basal vocabulary for the week. 12 min Choral reading of the story Students and teacher read the selection together. The teacher stops when needed to monitor and develop comprehension. If the story is long, this same procedure is used again the next day – with the rest of the story.

“Rest-of-the-Week” Schedule 2 min Strategy Introduction Teacher reviews a focal comprehension strategy or text structure. 10 min Interactive Read-aloud Teacher reads aloud from a piece of authentic literature and stops when needed to model the use of the comprehension strategy or text structure. 10 min Vocabulary Review Teacher reviews or extends basal vocabulary for the week 10 min Choral Reading Students and teacher read the selection together. The teacher stops when needed to monitor and develop comprehension. 10 min Partner Reading Students reread with a partner and purpose – to improve their expression and their understanding. 3 min Introduce Written Response Teacher provides the students with a question that they are to answer by applying the taught strategy. The students are to reread the selection and respond.

How do you think your 4 th - and 5 th -grade teams would respond to this?

Identify Your Students’ Needs Screen all in fluency Identify Benchmark students Plan to extend comprehension and vocabulary – no diagnostic assessment is necessary

Use an informal measure of multisyllabic decoding to investigate word recognition For students with strong word recognition and weak fluency, plan to build comprehension and fluency For students with weak word recognition and weak fluency, plan to build multisyllabic word recognition and fluency For students who do not respond to this instruction, consider intensive decoding interventions

This is a lot! Pace yourselves! Reviewing the instructional program, planning Tier I instruction, and assessing and grouping for Tier II will take time. But get started! A routine for management of groups and tasks is an essential prerequisite to differentiation.

Teacher Reflection We have been working with teams of third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade teachers to plan differentiation for upper- elementary students. Lilli Fendell, a third-grade teacher, recently reflected on some of the successes and challenges she and the other teachers on her grade-level team have experienced.

Management of Groups

Read-Aloud Books

Collaboration

To what extent does this case reflect your current understanding of grade-level collaboration?