Differentiated Instruction

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Differentiated Instruction

• Based upon work by Carol Ann Tomlinson

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Differentiated Instruction

• Is a way of teaching in which teachers
  proactively modify curriculum, teaching methods,
  resources, learning activities, and student
  products to address the needs of individual
  students and/or small groups of students to
  maximize the learning opportunity for each
  student in the classroom.

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Differentiated Instruction

• Is a way of thinking about teaching and learning
  that seeks to recognize, learn about and address
  the particular needs of each student -- the
  teacher uses varied approaches to curriculum,
  instruction assessment.

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Differentiated Instruction

• Differentiation adapts what we teach, how we
  teach and how students learn, and how students
  show what they have learned based on the
  readiness levels, interests, and preferred
  learning modes of students.

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Differentiated Instruction

• Differentiation means starting where the kids are!

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What Differentiated Instruction (Dif.I) Isnt

• Dif. I. is NOT Individualized Instruction
• Something different for 30 students exhausted
  teachers and created fragmentation
• Dif. I. sometimes calls for whole group,
  sometimes small group, and sometimes individual
  instruction.

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What Differentiated Instruction (Dif.I) Isnt

• Dif. I. is NOT Chaotic
• Teachers manage and monitor activities
  simultaneously. It demands teacher leadership.
• Students are not disorderly, but have purposeful
  student movement and purposeful student talking.

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What Differentiated Instruction (Dif.I) Isnt

• Dif. I. is NOT another way to provide homogenous
  grouping
• Not the bluebirds, robins and magpie groups.
• Uses flexible grouping with different
  configurations over time and students experience
  different groups.

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What Differentiated Instruction (Dif.I) Isnt

• Dif. I. is NOT another way to provide homogenous
  grouping
• Not the bluebirds, robins and magpie groups.
• Uses flexible grouping with different
  configurations over time and students experience
  different groups.

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What Differentiated Instruction IS

• Dif. I. is Proactive.
• The teacher assumes different learners have
  different needs.
• The teacher proactively plans ways to get at
  and express learning.
• It will address a range of learner needs and will
  flex to meet learner needs.

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What Differentiated Instruction IS

• Dif. I. is more QUALITATIVE than quantitative
• It is not giving two book reports to the talented
  and one to the struggling.
• Simply adjusting the quantity of an assignment
  is less effective than adjusting the nature of
  the assignment to match learner needs.

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What Differentiated Instruction IS

• Dif. I. is ROOTED in ASSESSMENT
• The teachers seeks opportunity to know students
  better.
• The teacher sees conversations with individuals,
  classroom discussions, student work, observation
  and formal assessment as a way to gather insight
  into what works for students.

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What Differentiated Instruction IS

• Dif. I. is ROOTED in ASSESSMENT
• Assessment is routine -- starting the unit,
  during the unit, after the unit.
• Culminating products or other other forms with
  the goal of finding a way for each student to
  successfully share his/her learning.

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What Differentiated Instruction IS

• Dif. I. provides MULTIPLE APPROACHES to content,
  process and product.
• Differentiating
• Content - what students learn.
• Process - how students go about learning it.
• Product - how students demonstrate what theyve
  learned.

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What Differentiated Instruction IS

• Dif. I. is STUDENT CENTERED
• Engaging, Relevant and Interesting lessons -- not
  all students find the same avenues to learning
  equally engaging, relevant or interesting.
• Later understanding are built upon previous
  understandings.

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What Differentiated Instruction IS

• Dif. I. is STUDENT CENTERED
• Engaging, Relevant and Interesting lessons -- not
  all students find the same avenues to learning
  equally engaging, relevant or interesting.
• Later understanding are built upon previous
  understandings.
• Students take increasing responsibility for their
  learning.

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What Differentiated Instruction IS

• Dif. I. is a BLEND of whole-class, group and
  individual instruction.
• Engaging, Relevant and Interesting lessons -- not
  all students find the same avenues to learning
  equally engaging, relevant or interesting.
• Later understanding are built upon previous
  understandings.
• Students take increasing responsibility for their
  learning.