From Daunting to DoAble Differentiation

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From Daunting to Do-Able Differentiation

• Presented by
• Michael P. Ford, Ph D
• University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
• FORD_at_UWOSH.EDU

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Part One Reading

• Part Two Instruction

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Remember

• By intentionally addressing issues beyond the
  school wall (like access and momentum), you
  reduce the demands on differentiation within the
  classroom.

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Framework for Reading Adapted from National
Reading Panel, 2000 Put Reading First, CIERA, 2001
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Vocacabana by Mike Ford

• I started reading
• There was no meaning.
• I saw words on that first page
• That meant nothing to my brain.
• Nobody taught me vocabulary
• So when I took a running start
• And I tried with all my heart
• Nothing I did made sense
• I couldnt make a dent
• I tried one word after another
• But it was nonsense.

• I needed vocab
• Vocabulary
• The key to unlocking word meaning
• Just teach me vocab
• Vocabulary
• So getting the meaning form words I am reading
• Will be easy
• And this might be fun.

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The Issue of Identity

• Anything but Lazy New Understandings about
  Struggling Readers, Teaching and Text
• by Leigh Hall
• 2006 IRA Outstanding Dissertation
• Conclusion
• The ways in which each student transacted with
  the reading task demands of his/her classroom
  were influenced by
• his or her perceptions of his or her abilities as
  a reader,
• how he or she wanted to be seen as a reader and
• his or her desire to comprehend and learn from
  text.

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The Role of Identity in Reading

• Students construct their identities as readers at
  an early age.
• Reading identities are often constructed in terms
  of skills with little attention to the social and
  cultural factors that can influence individuals
  reading development (OBrien, 2006 Street,
  2005).
• Students understandings about who they are as
  readers contributes to their beliefs about what
  they can or cannot do with texts.

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Hall also says

• You can teach your butt off, but at the end of
  the day, the student is the one who decides how,
  when and where to use what you teach. They have
  the power to decide what theyll do with what you
  give them.
• A Sense of
• Agency

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So are there any school-based factors that cause
students to stop seeing themselves as readers
and/or writers?

• What causes students to disengage from even the
  best literacy instruction?

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Kelly Gallagher

• Readicide
• How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can
  Do About It

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So how do you get to know their literate lives?

• Idea 1
• Book Club
• Order Assessment

• Idea 2
• Texts
• Lineages

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Text Lineage
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How can we foster positive identities?

• Super Readers
• Divide kids into five groups with each group
  being assigned on day of the week
• Students helped to prepare one book to share the
  day before their assigned day
• On assigned day, Super Readers share in large
  group what book they will read to others.

• Super Readers move to predetermined corners of
  the room.
• Remaining students chose which Super Reader they
  will listen to (with teacher guiding choices to
  keep balance.)
• Teacher can observe each Super Readers session
  and engage students in some simple thumbs up
  evaluation at the end

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P. David Pearson

• Kids are who they are. They bring what they
  bring. They know what they know and we need to
  stop seeing this as an instructional
  inconvenience.

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Kids not ready for kindergarten cost Minnesota
schools 113 million a year 

•  A Wilder Research study adds to the argument
  for
• more early childhood education.  By EMILY
  JOHNS, Star Tribune   December 29, 2008  
• Every year in Minnesota, thousands of the
  state's children enter school unprepared for
  kindergarten. 
• And every year, the cost to the K-12 system of
  those children not being ready is about 113
  million, according to a study released Monday.
    

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Allington says all educational research can be
boiled down to four words..

• 1 Kids Differ
• 2 Teachers Matter
• If 1 and 2 are true than differentiation is a
  key!

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One morning in kindergarten

• Student One
• These are my favorite pjs and I like my slippers
  and my slippers are special to me and I never let
  me sister play with them cause they are too
  special to me but I once did.
• 23 of 37 conventionally spelled

• Student Two
• Y X A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V
  W X Y Z

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Key Component of Effective Reading Instruction
The Teacher
The key is finding the teacher who can best
address those differences for the kids who happen
to be his or her responsibility each year.
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How do we move from reaching many with much of
what they need to

• reaching ALL with EVERYTHING they need?

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Belief Number One

• Differentiation during reading instruction
  needs to address the complex relationships among
  the four critical elements reader, text,
  activity, and context.

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The Complexity of Reading
Context Factors Setting Environment
Reader Factors Motivation Subject
Knowledge Background experience Vocabulary Purpose
Activity factors Task Outcome
Text Factors Content Format Concepts Organization
Authors Purpose
All Contribute to the Potential Success of the
Reader with Texts 5 X 5 X 2 X 2 100
combinations
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Belief Number Two

• Differentiation during reading instruction
  should target key outcomes of a balanced literacy
  program local, global and affective knowledge of
  reading.

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What is this thing called balance?

• by Jill Fitzgerald
• in The Reading Teacher
• October 1999

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What is Balanced?
Variations in Local Knowledge
The teacher arranges instruction and
learning opportunities so that the students can
acquire or create as many kinds of knowledge as
possible.
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Belief Number Three

Differentiation during reading instruction must
address contemporary classroom demands.
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Preventive Instruction
The best intervention is effective instruction.
(National Research Council)
Intensive Intervention
Differentiated Intervention
Differentiated Instruction
Resources
Instructional Continuum
Initial Instruction
Time
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LevelsPotential Gaps in of Time with
Appropriate Text
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Keep in mind what happens to the gap

• If I dont differentiate texts during small group
  instruction
• 60 minutes drops to 40 minutes vs. 120 minutes
• If I dont provide accessible texts during
  independent reading time
• 40 minutes drops to 0 minutes vs. 120 minutes

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Belief Number Four

Differentiation during reading instruction needs
to address the needs of the English Language
Learners.
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HELPING THE NONNATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER WITH
READING(Christine Sutton in The Reading Teacher,
May 1989)

• Four Crucial Areas1. Word Recognition2.
  Language Competence
• 3. Expanding Conceptual Framework
• 4. Introducing Strategies

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Belief Number Five

• Differentiation during reading instruction is
  the dependent upon the teacher.
• TEACHERS MATTER!

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All students get differentiated instruction but
do they get standardized opportunities to learn?

• Instruction differs in quantity
• (see Rowan Coreenti)
• Instruction differs in quality
• (see exemplary teacher research)
• The primary difference is the teacher
• Even in standardized programs
• (see Irvine Larson)

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Unintended Consequences

• Variations among buildings within districts and
  classrooms within
• buildings unintentionally differentiate both the
  quantity and quality
• of instruction students receive impacting
  individual outcomes for
• students
• 1 in 4 first-grade classes reach high-quality
  standards
• (ASCD SmartBrief (3/09/2009)
• Only 23 of first-grade classes were considered
  of high quality for their academic, social and
  emotional climate, according to a study of 820
  classrooms published in the Elementary School
  Journal. An additional 31 were socially
  supportive but of low academic quality, while the
  rest were rated as either mediocre (28) or of
  low quality (17). Education Week

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Why Do Some Students Fail to Learn to Read?
(Cambourne 2001)

• The students received faulty demonstrations of
  how to read and write.
• The student received quality demonstrations but
  not engage with them.
• The student has low expectations of him/herself
  as a reader and writer.
• The student receives faulty feedback to grow
  stronger.
• The student will not or can not take
  responsibility for their learning.
• Any combination of the above

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Unfulfilled Expectations Home and School
Influences on Literacy(Snow et al, 1991)
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For more information on differentiation

• Differentiation Through
• Flexible Grouping
• Successfully Reaching All
• Readers
• (Learning Point Associates, 2005)
• www.ncrel.org/litweb/
• flexiblegrouping.php

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Why Differentiated Instruction?

• Any one who thinks there is one right way to
  teach
• Has never worked with TWO children
• And it makes us wonder whether they have ever
  worked with ANY children?

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• Good question
• Which is the best way to teach children?
• Better question
• How many different ways can we find to teach?
• The best way to have a good idea is to have lots
  of ideas. -- Linus Pauling--

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Models of Differentiation
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Models of Differentiation

• Model One Grouping without Tracking
• Model Two Jigsawing
• Model Three Connected Literature Circles
• Model Four Focused Reading Workshop

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Model OneGrouping without TrackingSame Text for
All Students

• Where Have All the Bluebirds Gone? How to Soar
  with Flexible Grouping
• by Caldwell and Ford
• (Heinemann, 2002)

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Option One Same Text for All Students Grouping
without Tracking
FRONTLOADING All students involved in a variety
of activities in large group, mixed small groups,
pairs and individually

READING THE TEXT Divide into two groups 1
Students who need support to read and respond 2
Students who can read and respond independently
SUPPORT GROUP Teacher works with homogeneous
small group in need of support
What Do I Do with the Rest of the Kids? Students
are engaged in reading and responding to text
independently
FOLLOW UP Bring all students together to
demonstrate understanding through response in
large group, mixed small groups, pairs and
individually
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Six Box Grid Name
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Individual Story Wheel

• Read Pages 4-7
• STOP THINK DRAW WRITE
• Read Pages 8-11
• STOP THINK DRAW WRITE
• Read pages 12-15
• STOP THINK DRAW WRITE
• Draw and write what might happen next on the back
• Share what you have read and draw with a buddy
• Read extra books

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Support Group

• Review any frontloading activities
• Address additional needs
• Support the reading of the text
• Summarize
• Read Aloud
• Chorally Read
• Readers Theater
• Partner Reading
• At least some Independent Reading
• Support response to the text
• Build confidence, competence and comfort to
  contribute to large group

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Large Group Story Wheel

• Divide into heterogeneous teams
• Each team gets a piece of the text, a piece of
  the pie and a talking bubble
• One team member reads the text aloud
• Members decide what to draw on their piece of the
  pie
• Members draw their scene on their piece of the
  pie
• Members decide on a one sentence summary for the
  talking bubble to describe their scene
• Teams come together in the large group to
  sequence their scenes collectively creating a
  large story wheel.
• Teams add their talking bubbles to add to the
  story wheel.
• Story wheel is reviewed to start the reading of
  the second half of the book on the following day.

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LevelsPotential Gap in Differentiated Whole
Group
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LevelsPotential Gap in Differentiated Whole
Group
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Fluency Oriented Reading Instruction (Stahl
Heubach, 2005)
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Model TwoJigsawing Same Text for All
StudentsDifferent Parts for Different Students

• Reaching Readers
• Innovative and Flexible Strategies for Guided
  Reading
• Opitz and Ford
• Heinemann, 2001

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FRONTLOADING All students involved in a variety
of activities in large group, mixed small groups,
pairs and individually


READING THE TEXT Divide students into
homogeneous small groups. Strategically assign
specific parts of texts to small groups. Provide
support to groups who need it to read and
respond Let other groups operate more
independently
What Do I Do with the Rest of the Kids? Students
are engaged in reading and responding to
different parts of the text in teams.
SUPPORT GROUP Teacher works with homogeneous
small group in need of support
FOLLOW UP Bring all students together so teams
can report out to one another in the large group
or as individuals in remixed small groups
Option Two Same Text for All Students Different
Parts for Different Students Jigsawing
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Jigsaw Plan Title
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Jigsaw Assignments

• Team One
• Should we put out the fires?
• (146-147)
• Team Two
• Yellowstone Aflame
• (148-149)
• Team Three
• Fighting Fires
• (150-151)

• Team Four
• Aftermath
• (153-156)
• Team Five
• The Future
• (156-157)

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Model ThreeConnected Literature
CirclesDifferent Texts for Different Students
Different Levels of SupportSame Topic for All
Students

• Do-able Differentiation
• Varying Groups, Texts and Supports to Reach
  Readers
• Opitz and Ford
• Heinemann, 2008

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FRONTLOADING Teach a large group lesson that
provides modeling, guided practice, focus and/or
interest for small group activity

Option Three Same Topic for All
Students Different Texts for Different
Students Connected Literature Circles

READING THE TEXTS Divide students into
homogeneous small groups. Strategically assign
specific texts to small groups. Assist groups who
need support to read and respond Let other groups
operate more independently
SUPPORT GROUP Teacher works with homogeneous
small group in need of support to guide reading
of assigned text and completion of assigned
common tasks.
What Do I Do with the Rest of the Kids? Students
are engaged in small groups reading and
responding to assigned texts to accomplish
assigned common tasks.
FOLLOW UP Bring all students together so teams
can share in the large group or as individuals in
remixed small groups and have common
conversations across texts
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Structured Journal Page
One higher-level strategy embedded open ended
question
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Annettes Small Group

• Reading task prepared and strategically
  disseminated as students come to the table
• Examples
• Read a part that was a favorite part of yours.
• Find a place where you did some thinking. Read it
  to me and tell me about your thinking

• Read something that surprised you.
• Read a part that tells about one of the
  characters.
• Read a part that tells how one of the characters
  is unlike you. Explain how the two of you are
  different.
• Free choice. You choose a part you want to read.

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Annettes Small Group

• As students prepare their tasks,
• Annette can drop in on students one at a time,
  assess oral reading and understanding, and
  scaffold instruction as needed.
• As students demonstrate competency and confidence
  with their tasks, they are invited to share in
  the small group where Annette can continue to
  monitor and scaffold instruction.

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Gregs Fourth Grade Small Group

• Posted near the table, language prompts
• I like/disliked because
• I wonder why
• I have a connection
• I think the authors message is
• To add on to ___s thought

• Thats a good thought but I still think
• Can you give me more evidence
• Can you explain that more
• Why do you think that?

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Gregs Fourth Grade Small Group

• Greg tapes the session with understanding that
• He is checking himself as he tries to reduce his
  teacher talk
• So students can check their participation against
  a book discussion rubric
• Greg monitors discussion as it happens and can
  reassess when the recoding is played back

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Potential Gaps in Text Sets
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Potential Gaps in Text Sets
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Better Text Sets
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Model FourFocused Readers WorkshopDifferent
Texts Different levels of support for students

• Behind the Lesson Inferring
• for
• Into the Book series
• by
• Wisconsin Educational Communication board
• 2006

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Reading Workshop

• Focus Lesson
• SSR
• Activity log and response journal
• Book sharing partners and small groups
• Teacher conferencing assessment, differentiated
  instruction, goal-setting
• Community Sharing
• Focus lesson

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Strategy Lesson on Inferring

• Phase One Introduction
• Phase Two Explicit Instruction
• Phase Three Modeling
• Phase Four Guided Practice (LG)
• Phase Five Independent Practice (LG)
• Phase Six Transfer (Independent)
• Phase Seven Closure

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Inferring Lesson
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Informal Teacher Observation Grid
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Self evaluation
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Joyful Reading Differentiation and Enrichment
for Successful Literacy Learning

• by Sally M Reis
• (Corwin Press, 2009)
• School Enrichment Model in Reading

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Elements Common to All Models

• Frontloading
• Time invested on the front end of the lesson
  guarantees that more students will be better able
  to work independently away from you
• Gradually turn over the responsibility for the
  reading and responding to the text over to the
  students by moving from modeling to guided
  practice to independent practice.
• Make sure the purpose and directions for
  independent reading and writing are clear for all
  students before turning over the activity to
  students and starting any instruction with a
  small group

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Elements Common to All Models

• Reading and Responding
• Engagement activities should be developed so that
  they encourage students or teams to actually read
  the assigned texts, assist them in processing the
  texts and create a paper trail that can be used
  in responding to the text.
• Hold the same expectations for all students and
  then differentiate the level of support and/or
  texts during reading and responding.
• Discourage the use of activities that lead to
  disengagement (e.g., round robin reading).
• Allow for some choice in how students can respond
  their reading.

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Elements Common to All Models

• Extending
• Extension activities should be selected so
  that they allow all students to contribute to the
  follow-up activity in mixed-achievement groups.
  Extension activities should be selected so that
  they allow all members of a team to play a role
  in sharing what was learned with others.
• Select an extension activity that allows for
  students to build on instruction provided during
  the frontloading and practiced during the
  reading.
• Select an extension activity that allows for
  teams, partners or individuals to use this text
  as a springboard for additional inquiry.
• Encourage teams or individuals to reflect on
  their work together to improve team and
  independent work skills throughout the year.

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Observation

• Sometimes differentiation is not enough. We need
  to think also about acceleration.

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So who are you as a reader and writer?

• Be memorable!
• I can remember a teacher I had who really loved
  reading.
• Agree 77
• Disagree 13
• Unsure 10

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Being Memorable
Oletha Scanlan Taught Elementary School in
Southeastern Minnesota during the 1930s Born
January 9, 1912 Died January 9, 2009
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Final Thought

• look at things that are in focus, things that
  are getting a lot of attention, look at them and
  try to get out of them their very best features.
  And then, as teachers put those things together
  in your own way that makes sense for you and
  for the children who happen to be your
  responsibility this year
• --Dolores Durkin--

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A Final Thought