1. Layered Curriculum
For teachers with more than one style of student in their classroom.
2016 Show-Me Professional Learning Conference
Stacy Rusche, Ed.S.
Clinton Middle School

2. How many “regular” students are in a typical classroom?
3 with IEPs
3 “unidentified”
1 with ADD
1 ELL
6 visual
4 auditory
2 read/write
10 kinesthetic

3. Key Concepts Voice and Choice Students want control.
If you don’t offer control, they take control.

4. Key Concepts Novelty
“If students know what to expect before coming to class, you have already lost them.”
-Dr. John Penick

5. Key Concepts Accountability Students learning rather than just doing
Students responsible for their own learning

6. Key Concepts Encourage Higher Level Thinking Bloom’s taxonomy
Remember/Knowledge
Understand/Comprehend
Apply
Analyze
Evaluate/Synthesize
Create

7. The of Layered Curriculum
Layers
Layer C -- Remember, Know, Comprehend, and Understand
Basic content & vocabulary
Layer B – Apply and Analyze
Labs & projects
Layer A – Evaluate, Synthesize, and Create
Critical thinking & problem solving

8. Layer C – for Visual Learners
Read the chapter and explain the illustrations
Find a magazine article and highlight the key ideas
Complete a concept map for the topic
Watch video and do follow-up assignment
Fill out a character chart
Create a “Wanted!” poster for a character

9. Layer C—for Auditory Learners
Listen to the book via youtube, Librivox, etc.
Listen to a lecture.
Watch/listen to a video.
Debate concepts in small groups.
Read a magazine article with a friend taking turns reading out loud.
Layer C—for Auditory Learners

10. Layer C—for Readers and Writers
Read the text and answer questions
Write a chapter summary/diary entry
Listen and take notes (use Cornell method to assist visual learners)
Complete “guided reading” worksheets
Read supplemental articles and write a report
Write alternative endings or extra chapters

11. Layer C—for Kinesthetic Learners
Complete a scavenger hunt through the chapter
Read chapter and highlight key concepts.
Play vocabulary/character charades with a friend
Play chapter trivia games
Create a game incorporating motion (search for language arts middle school energizers for a great pdf file!)

12. Layer B – Apply and Analyze
Activities
Labs
Webquests
Videos/vlogs/blogs
Presentations/powerpoint/prezi
Write test questions and provide an answer key

13. Layer A – Evaluate and Create
Pose critical thinking questions
Extensive projects
Individualized Research Questions
Interdisciplinary projects

14. So where do I start? Pick a unit to think about.
Pull out all of your resources.
Divide them up for C, B, & A layers.
Look at meeting learning preferences and intelligences.

15. Visual/Spatial Intelligence
It is the ability to perceive the visual. These learners tend to think in pictures and need to create vivid mental images to retain information. They enjoy looking at maps, charts, pictures, videos, and movies. Skills include: puzzle building, reading, writing, understanding charts and graphs, a good sense of direction, sketching, painting, creating visual metaphors and analogies (perhaps through the visual arts), manipulating images, constructing, fixing, designing practical objects, interpreting visual images.
Visual/Spatial Intelligence

16. Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence
It is the ability to use words and language. These learners have highly developed auditory skills and are generally elegant speakers. They think in words rather than pictures.
Skills include:
listening, speaking, writing, story telling, explaining, teaching, using humor, understanding the syntax and meaning of words, remembering information, convincing someone of their point of view, analyzing language usage.
Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence

17. Logical/Mathematical Intelligence
It is the ability to use reason, logic and numbers. These learners think conceptually in logical and numerical patterns making connections between pieces of information. Always curious about the world around them, these learner ask lots of questions and like to do experiments.
Skills include:
problem solving, classifying and categorizing information, working with abstract concepts to figure out the relationship of each to the other, handling long chains of reason to make local progressions, doing controlled experiments, questioning and wondering about natural events, performing complex mathematical calculations, working with geometric shapes

18. Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence
It is the ability to control body movements and handle objects skillfully. These learners express themselves through movement. They have a good sense of balance and eye-hand co-ordination. (e.g. ball play, balancing beams). Through interacting with the space around them, they are able to remember and process information.
Skills include:
dancing, physical co-ordination, sports, hands on experimentation, using body language, crafts, acting, miming, using their hands to create or build, expressing emotions through the body
Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence

19. Musical/Rhythmic Intelligence
It is the ability to produce and appreciate music. These musically inclined learners think in sounds, rhythms and patterns. They immediately respond to music either appreciating or criticizing what they hear. Many of these learners are extremely sensitive to environmental sounds (e.g. crickets, bells, dripping taps). Skills include: singing, whistling, playing musical instruments, recognizing tonal patterns, composing music, remembering melodies, understanding the structure and rhythm of music
Musical/Rhythmic Intelligence

20. Interpersonal Intelligence
It is the ability to relate and understand others. These learners try to see things from other people's point of view in order to understand how they think and feel. They often have an uncanny ability to sense feelings, intentions and motivations. They are great organizers, although they sometimes resort to manipulation. Generally they try to maintain peace in group settings and encourage co-operation. They use both verbal (e.g. speaking) and non-verbal language (e.g. eye contact, body language) to open communication channels with others.
Skills include:
seeing things from other perspectives (dual-perspective), listening, using empathy, understanding other people's moods and feelings, counseling, co-operating with groups, noticing people's moods, motivations and intentions, communicating both verbally and non-verbally, building trust, peaceful conflict resolution, establishing positive relations with other people.
Interpersonal Intelligence

21. Intrapersonal Intelligence
It is the ability to self-reflect and be aware of one's inner state of being. These learners try to understand their inner feelings, dreams, relationships with others, and strengths and weaknesses. Skills include: Recognizing their own strengths and weaknesses, reflecting and analyzing themselves, awareness of their inner feelings, desires and dreams, evaluating their thinking patterns, reasoning with themselves, understanding their role in relationship to others
Intrapersonal Intelligence

22. Sample C Level Assignments for Beowulf
Create a set of flash cards of 10 vocabulary words from Beowulf and prepare for an oral vocabulary quiz.
Create an artistic timeline of the era in which Beowulf was written.
Create an epitaph for Beowulf or Grendel.
Write a storybook version of Beowulf for a small child.
Create a movie poster depicting a scene from Beowulf.
Write an original poem or song about Beowulf's or Grendel's deeds.
Construct a board game based on the epic poem.
Construct a diorama of a scene in Beowulf.
Create an ad campaign, complete with visual and auditory advertisements, promoting Beowulf as a monster slayer.
In a group, perform a 5– to 10-minute skit of the epic poem (this may be done in front of the class or recorded on video).
Create a 5– to 10-slide PowerPoint presentation about the history of England during the Anglo-Saxon era.

23. Sample B Level Assignments for Beowulf
Write a one-page character analysis of Beowulf, Grendel, or Grendel's mother.
Write an essay question on one of the themes found in Beowulf (good versus evil, Christianity influences, the effect of Paganism, and so forth) and answer in two to three paragraphs.
Write a comparison/contrast essay on Christian and pagan symbols found in Beowulf.

24. Sample A Level Assignments for Beowulf
Do you think Beowulf's deeds make him a good role model?
By keeping Beowulf's memory alive in the poem, how does a culture keep its values alive?
How might Beowulf's defeat of Grendel be described as the defeat of the "dark side" of Beowulf's life?
How does the contrast between Beowulf and Grendel turn their conflict into a fight between good and evil?
Examine some Christian and pagan beliefs. How do these beliefs influence the epic poem of Beowulf?

25. Resources www.help4teachers.com www.brains.org