When It Really Counts- Differentiating for Physical and Health Education PHE Canada National Conference Halifax, Nova Scotia Justin Oliver Halifax Regional School Board

Today’s Objectives What is it? Why use it? Assessing skills/outcomes Allow choice Examples Tools/Questionnaires

What is Differentiated Instruction?

In PHE Too

Differentiated Instruction is… Challenging and observing substantial growth of students in mixed ability classrooms (Tomlinson) Proactive Rooted in assessment

What to Differentiate? Content- input, what students learn Process- how students go about making sense of ideas and information Product- output, how students demonstrate what they have learned

Why Differentiate? struggling learners natural champions of advanced learners ‘standard’ students Allowing all students to get the opportunities they need so they all have equal access to learning in a way that will lead to their success as well as opportunities to demonstrate their learning that maximize their potential for success

Differentiating the Product Usually more than one way for a student to demonstrate that they have mastered or accomplished an outcome to your satisfaction. When assessing students, it is our responsibility to give the most accurate representation of a student’s demonstrated knowledge

Example #1 in PE Dribbling soccer ball in grade 7 The teacher can create a series of stations in a circuit format each ranging in degree of difficulty-tiering Students choose their starting point in the circuit and as one version of the skill is mastered, students move to the next level of difficulty

Example #2 in PE

What We Know PE and HE is not everyone’s favourite class Diversity is more apparent in our class Students enter with different skill sets (playing sports outside of class to beginners) Different interests

Example #1 in HE SCO B1.2 Grade 4- demonstrate an ability to select nutritious breakfast foods

Perform a skit showing energy levels of a person who eats a nutritious breakfast in the morning compared to someone who does not by using props

Example #1 in HE SCO B1.2 Grade 4- demonstrate an ability to select nutritious breakfast foods

Assessment SCO B1.2 Grade 4- demonstrate an ability to select nutritious breakfast foods 4- Clearly 3- Mostly clear 2- Not very clear 1- Unclear

Example #2 in HE SCO B3.1 Grade 8- identify risks and related precautions of being sexually active Verbal/Linguistic- write a letter to a friend who is or may become sexually active about some of the risks and precautions

SCO B3.1 Grade 8- identify risks and related precautions of being sexually active Musical/Rhythmic- create a rap, cheer, jingle, or rhyme Visual/Spatial- Create a poster or a graphic organizer Logical/Mathematical- top 10 list Body Kinaesthetic- skit or improv Naturalist- create a Venn diagram of pros and cons

Interpersonal- form a position whether boys or girls have more pressure on them to be sexually active early on in life and if there are different precautions for each gender Intrapersonal- write a journal entry about a scenario where a person became sexually active and had trouble dealing with it emotionally

What you Need (and probably already have) Positive and inclusive classroom (try not to say ‘no’) Allow students to work in flexible groupings

When planning a lesson, what do I need to consider? What assessment tool will I use to determine the appropriateness of my students? Can my students be divided into 3 or 4 distinct ability groups? What activities or stations will I create to provide an appropriate challenge for students in each of the groups?

Continued Will the structure of the activity promote cooperation and mutual respect and inclusiveness? When will it be important to have students of similar ability work together? When will it be important for students of diverse abilities to work together?

Learning Inventories Knowing the learning profile and interests of your students is also an essential element in planning for differentiation however, the students knowing their learning profile is equally as essential The goal of differentiating lessons for different learners with varying interests is to offer a variety of choices so students may learn in ways that work best for them about topics of interest within the scope of the curriculum

What Do These Coaches Have in Common? Bruce Pearl- 442 career wins, 2 nd fastest to 300 Vince Lombardi- won 5 Superbowls and had winning percentage of 90 in playoffs John Wooden-won 10 NCAA Championships in 12 years Scotty Bowman career wins, 9 Stanley Cups

Pros of Differentiated Instruction Teach the subject Telling students what to do Teach the student Allowing choice

Resources Differentiation in Health and Physical Education- Walsh Multiple Intelligence Test Multiple Intelligences Chart

Conclusion Does differentiated instruction make sense to you? Can using differentiated instruction help your students? Will differentiated instruction add to your workload?