Differentiated Instructional Strategies in the Mathematics Classroom

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Differentiated Instructional Strategies in the
Mathematics Classroom

• Conference for the Advancement of
• Mathematics Teaching (CAMT) July 2006
• Dr. Dawn Parker
• Texas AM University

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In the Differentiated Classroom

• Students are never finished!
• Learning is a process that is
• on-going and never ends!

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What have you tried?

• What worked and what didnt? Working in small
  groups, take a minute and share your efforts.
• Make a chart recording group responses.
• Chart
• Content Grade Strategy Comments

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What is differentiation?

• Instruction can be differentiated in
• Content
• Process
• Product
• According to the students
• Readiness
• Interests
• Learning profile

• Differentiated instruction is an organized yet
  flexible way of proactively adjusting teaching
  and learning to meet students where they are and
  help all students achieve maximum growth as
  learners.

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Differentiation
Is a teachers response to learners needs
Guided by general principles of differentiation
Respectful tasks
Flexible grouping
Continual assessment
Teachers can differentiate through
Quality Curriculum
Building Community
Content
Process
Product
Affect/Environment
According to students
Readiness
Interest
Learning Profile
Through a variety of instructional strategies
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Learning Cycle and Decision Factors Used in
Planning and Implementing Differentiated
Instruction
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Terms defined as...

• Content
• Material that is being presented
• Process
• Activities that help students practice or make
  sense of the content
• Product
• Outcome of the lesson or unit, such as a test,
  project, or paper
• Readiness
• Prior knowledge and a students current skills
  and proficiency with the material presented in
  the lesson
• Interests
• Teacher aligns key skills and material for
  understanding from a curriculum segment with
  topics or pursuits that intrigue students
• Learning profile
• Teacher addresses learning styles, student
  talent, or intelligence profiles

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Circle MapCreating an Integrated Response for
Challenging Learners Equitablya model by Adams
and Pierce (Mathematics Teaching in the Middle
School, NCTM October 2005)
Circle Map
Classroom Management Techniques
Anchoring Activities
Differentiated Instructional Strategies
Differentiated Assessment
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Classroom Management Component

• Must include rules for working in a variety of
  configurations
• Flexible grouping arrangements (pairs, triads, or
  quads)
• Whole-group
• Small-group
• Two important rules to include
• Six inch voices
• Ask three before me
• Flexible use of time allows students to proceed
  to a natural conclusion of lesson rather than
  complete in a set block of time

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Anchoring Component

• Anchoring activities can also be called sponge
  activities.
• Used when students are waiting for help
• Used when students have completed lesson and are
  waiting to begin new lesson
• Activities include relevant extensions and
  enrichment work, individual assignments, practice
  with specific skills, teacher-selected and
  student-selected activities

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Differentiated Assessment Component

• Formative assessment
• Observing and taking notes as students share
  answers
• Completing a checklist of student concept
  understanding during a lesson
• Summative assessment
• Given at the end of a unit or large block of
  study
• Rubric can be used to assess project
• Paper-and-pencil test (set of questions to whole
  class and set of questions from which students
  can select a subset to answer)

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Differentiated Instructional Strategies Component

• Compacting
• Teacher assesses students before beginning a unit
  of study or development of a skill. Students
  that do well on the preassessment do not continue
  work on what they already know.
• Flexible Grouping
• TAPS (Total group, Alone, Partner, Small group)
• Grouping based on
• Knowledge of subject
• Ability to perform task or skill
• Interest in a specific area of the content
• Peer-to-peer tutoring
• Cooperative learning groups
• Sharing groups

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Cooperative Learning

• Four key components
• Positive interdependence
• Individual accountability
• Equal participation
• Simultaneous interaction
• Other strategies Jigsaw Role-Playing

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Strategies for Differentiation

• Centers
• Area that contains a collection of activities or
  materials designed to teach, reinforce, or extend
  a particular skill or concept.
• Stations
• Different spots in class where students work on
  tasks simultaneously.
• Agendas
• Personalized lists of tasks a student completes
  in a specified time, usually two to three weeks.
  Agendas can have similar and dissimilar elements.
• Orbital Studies
• Independent investigations, generally lasting
  three to six weeks, that revolve around some
  facet of the curriculum.
• Entry Points
• A strategy suggested from Howard Gardner that
  proposes student exploration of a given topic
  through as many as five avenues narrational
  (presenting a story), logical-quantitative (using
  numbers or deduction), foundational (examining
  philosophy and vocabulary), aesthetic (focusing
  on sensory features), and experiential (hands-on).

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More Differentiation Strategies

• Problem-Based Learning (PBL)
• Teacher presents students with an unclear,
  complex problem. Students seek additional
  information, define the problem, locate and use
  resources, make decisions about solutions, pose a
  solution, and assess the solutions
  effectiveness.
• Choice Boards
• Work assignments are written on cards that are
  placed in hanging pockets. By asking a student
  to select a card from a particular row, the
  teacher targets work toward student needs yet
  allows student choice.
• Cubing
• Allows students to look at an idea from many
  different angles and perspectives. Offers a
  chance to differentiate by readiness, interest,
  or learning profile by selecting different cube
  colors or by varying sides.
• 4MAT
• Based on several personality and learning
  inventories, this strategy hypothesizes that
  students have one of four learning preferences
  (imaginative learnerexperiencing analytical
  learnerconceptualizing common-sense
  learnerapplying dynamic learnercreating)
• Tiered Lessons

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Tiered Lessons...

• A tiered lesson is a differentiation strategy
  that addresses a particular standard, key
  concept, and generalization, but allows several
  pathways for students to arrive at an
  understanding of these components, based on the
  students readiness, interests, or learning
  profiles.

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How to Tier a lesson...

• Identify the grade level and subject for which
  you will write the lesson
• Identify the standard (national, state, or
  district) that you will target
• Identify the key concept (what is the big idea)
  and generalization (what should students come
  away knowing)
• Identify what background students need to be
  successful--what scaffolding is necessary?
• Determine which part of the lesson (content,
  process, or product) you will tier
• Determine the type of tiering readiness,
  interest, or learning profile
• Based on the choices made above, determine how
  many tiers you will need and develop the lesson
• Develop the assessment component to the lesson