How to Differentiate Instruction Dave Puckett National Middle School Association 2010

As you listen to my friend Monte Selby, try to figure out which child you were.

Brain Research Confirms what Good Teachers Already Know … No two children are alike. No two children learn in the identical way. An enriched environment for one student is not necessarily enriched for another. In the classroom we should teach children to think for themselves.

This session provides an understanding and application of the principles and strategies needed to set up a classroom that provides success and challenge for academically diverse students.

Differentiated Instruction IS: 1. Having a vision of success for our students 2. Providing a variety of assignments within units of instruction, realizing that students do not all learn in the same way. 3. Recognizing the variance in learning styles of our students. 4. Allowing students to choose, with teacher direction, the route to their learning.

5. Providing opportunities for students to demonstrate proficiency in an area they already know and allowing them to move forward 6. Offering tiered lessons, of varying degrees of difficulty, dealing with similar content. 7. Qualitative

Differentiated Instruction is NOT: 1. Individualization. It is not a different lesson for each student each day. 2. Giving all students the same work or even identical assessments all of the time. 3. Assuming that all students learn by listening. 4. Merely having centers in the classroom.

5. Assigning more work to students who have demonstrated mastery in an area. 6. Only for students who demonstrate a need for acceleration. 7. Quantitative

All students are regularly offered CHOICES. Based on the student's readiness levels, interests, and learning profile, we modify the content, process, product and/or learning environment. Differentiating instruction makes teaching more interesting and effective as YOU meet the needs of your students.

Mapping a Route Toward Differentiated Instruction Triad Activity (HO)

Task Group yourselves in triads. Choose a way to read the article. Complete the “Sum It Up!” Activity Sheet. Large Group reflection on learning

Considerations Student Readiness Student Interests Student Learning Profiles Content Process Product

Student Readiness Ensuring that the tasks closely match the students’ skills and understanding

Student Interest Ensuring that the tasks ignite student curiosity and passion

Student Learning Profile Ensuring that assignments encourage students to work in a preferred manner Learning Style: how students acquire new information; how they first take it in. Processing Style: how students make sense of new information; how they work with it to make connections and understand it. Product Style: how students communicate what has been learned; how they demonstrate learning by articulating it in a different way.

Let’s take a silent Jeopardy Break!

Content: What the student learns Process: How the student learns Product: How the student demonstrates what s/he has learned

And the crucially important RELATIONSHIP piece: knowing the learner Chronological age Gender Socio-economic level Learning pace/rate Personal qualities (personality, temperament, motivation, persistence) Potential learning disabilities/ handicapping conditions Health and well-being Family circumstances English language learner

The goal of all we do in differentiation … “to provide different avenues to acquiring content, to processing or making sense of ideas, and to developing products so that each student can learn effectively.” Carol Tomlinson, 2001

How to Plan For Differentiated Instruction Use the information and web references on this handout to further explore the step-by-step process.