Instructional Differentiation Strategies for English Speaking and LEP Students

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Instructional Differentiation Strategies for
English Speaking and LEP Students

• Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and School
  Leadership
• August 21, 2007
• District-Wide Professional Development
• Johnny E. Brown, Ph.D.
• Superintendent

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Purpose of Training

• To provide guidance to teachers in creating
  learning environments that address the diversity
  typical in all classrooms.
• To enable teachers to learn how to differentiate
  instruction in order to make certain that every
  student grows in all key skills and knowledge
  areas.

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Desired Outcomes

• To provide each teacher with strategies in
  order to give each student in PAISD an
  opportunity to maximize his or her success in the
  required academic content through differentiated
  instruction.

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Why differentiated instruction?

• Our student population is diverse and has diverse
  needs.
• Todays classrooms are comprised of
  second-language learners and students whose
  primary language is English
• Others come with an array of physical handicaps.
• A greater number of students are being diagnosed
  with attention-deficit and related disorders
• Still others come to school with different
  problems from home

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Why Differentiate?

• All students are different.
• One size does not fit all.
• Differentiation provides all students with access
  to all curricula.

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What is differentiated instruction?

• Differentiated instruction is a process of
  teaching and learning that begins with the
  premise that not all students are alike. Based
  on the readiness, learning preferences and
  interests of the student, it requires you to vary
  your approach and adjust the curriculum and the
  presentation of the material to give students
  access to multiple paths to the same goals or
  outcomes.
• Differentiation meets each student where he or
  she is and maximizes his/her opportunities for
  success.

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What does differentiated instruction provide?

• Differentiated instruction provides MULTIPLE
  APPROACHES to content, process, and product.
• Content deals with input, what students learn
• Process how students go about making sense of
  ideas and information
• Product output, how students demonstrate what
  they have learned

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Rationale for Differentiated Instruction

• How people learn best is the engine that drives
  effective differentiated instruction
• We know that the meaning-making process is
  influenced by the students prior understanding
  (National Research Council, 1990).
• We know that leaning happens best when a
  learning experience pushes the learner a bit
  beyond his/her independence (Howard, 1994).
• We know that motivation to learn increases when
  we feel a kinship with, interest in, or passion
  for what we are attempting to learn (Piaget,
  1978).
• We go about learning in a variety of ways
  influenced by how our individual brains are
  wired, our culture, and our gender (Delpit,
  1995 Gardner 1983 and Sullivan, 1993).

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Differentiated Instruction for English Speakers
LEP

• Instructional Strategies are basically the same
  for both learning groups.

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Limited English Proficient (LEP) Students

• LEP students do not have a learning disability.
• LEP students have limited English language
  proficiency.
• Teachers of LEP students must make modifications
  in the language to deliver comprehensible
  lessons.

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Differentiation Strategies for LEP (Limited
English Proficiency) Struggling Students

• Texas Education Agency is pushing the Sheltered
  Instruction Approach to differentiate instruction
  for LEP students.
• Sheltered Instruction (SI) is a set of
  instructional strategies that support the needs
  of LEP students.
• These SI strategies are helpful not only for LEP
  students, but also for special education students
  and other struggling learners.

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What is Sheltered Instruction?

• Sheltered instruction is a process in which
  students are given support until they can apply
  new strategies independently.
• When students are learning new or difficult
  tasks, they are given more assistance until they
  demonstrate task mastery, the assistance or
  support is decreased gradually in order to shift
  the responsibility for learning from the teacher
  to the students
• As the students assume more responsibility for
  their learning, the teacher provides less support.

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Sheltered Instruction

• SI strategies are included in the following
  phases of the lesson cycle
• Preparation Phase
• During Lesson Delivery
• Lesson Summary

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Lesson Preparation Strategies

• Develop both Content (TEKS) Objectives and
  Language Objectives to integrate language skills.
• Use supplementary materials to make lessons clear
  like graphs, models, and visuals.
• Plan to have activities that address different
  learning and lesson concepts with language
  practice opportunities.

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Lesson Delivery Strategies

• During instruction, teachers can use the
  strategies listed below to make the content of
  the lesson comprehensible.
• Activate students prior knowledge and link the
  new concepts to the students background and
  experience.
• Scaffold instruction in the following ways
• Simplify the language (simple words and
  sentences)
• Identify and teach key vocabulary and repeat key
  points
• Check for understanding
• Use a number of visuals supports like real
  objects, pictures, tables, graphs, multi-media
  technology, timelines, maps, graphic organizers
  etc.
• Provide manipulatives and hands-on activities to
  help students understand the content
• Create opportunities for interaction, cooperative
  learning groups, etc.

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Differentiated Activity-Engaging Learners

• Select a content area developing a questioning
  activity using all levels of Blooms Taxonomy
• Knowledge
• Comprehension
• Application
• Analysis
• Synthesis
• Evaluation

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Campus-Wide Implementation Activities of
Instructional Differentiation

• Flexible Grouping includes whole class, ability
  or readiness groups, cross ability or
  heterogeneous groups, student selected groups,
  topic interest groups and students working
  independently.
• Scaffolding Instruction Modified directions
  listening stations, modeling, graphic organizers,
  manipulatives, reading buddies, leveled reading
  materials, modified texts, highlighted
  materials.

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Campus-Wide Implementation Activities of
Instructional Differentiation

• Contracts
• Struggling learners
• Limit the scope of the contract
• Set a specific time limit (preferably short)
• Write it out and discuss with the students
• High ability learners
• Collect enrichment extension activities and
  provide students with a list
• Allow student to choose from these activities
• Have students use folders or journals to keep
  track of contract work
• Supply answer sheets so the student can check
  his/her work
• Meet regularly with the student to discuss
  evaluate the contract work

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Campus-Wide Implementation Activities of
Instructional Differentiation

• Adjusted Questions Use the students readiness
  as the basis for the kinds of questions asked
  according to Blooms.

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Sharing Ideas on How to Plan for Differentiation

• Develop a summary/statement of a strategy you
  would like to use in your classroom
• Provide an example of how the strategy could be
  used in your classroom

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• District-Wide Monitoring Expectations

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Differentiation of Instruction
Is a teachers response to the learners needs
guided by general principles of differentiation?
Respectful tasks
Flexible grouping
Continual assessment
Teachers Can Differentiate Through
Process
Product
Content
According to Students
Readiness
Interest
Learning Profile
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Differentiated Instruction

• According to Tomlinson (2001), "In the end, all
  learners need your energy, your heart and your
  mind. They have that in common because they are
  young humans. How they need you however, differs.
  Unless we understand and respond to those
  differences, we fail many learners.

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Any Questions?

• The End

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Reference

• Tomlinson, C.A. (2001). How to differentiate
  instruction in mixed ability classrooms (2nd
  Ed.). Alexandria, VA ASCD.