Differentiation: Adapting Teaching Methods for Diverse Classrooms

1. Does this reflect your classroom? The solution is . . .

2. Easier said than done . . . Differentiation A teacher process to modify teaching methods, learning activities, assessment & student products according to the diverse population of the classroom

3. What do teachers really say and do about differentiation? • Adapting instruction for individual learner needs draws attention to student differences • “It’s not my job” • “What? There are differences in learner needs?” • Don’t know how to modify curriculum • Adapting instruction for learner variance sounds great but it’s not feasible • More likely to plan for whole-class instruction

4. Downside experiences of some teachers : • Modifications were improvised or reactive • Too much to cover made modifications ineffective • Modifying materials, changing instructional strategies, making long range plans, and adapting assessment/grading criteria too overwhelming • Unable to address ways culture and race impact student interest and learning preferences

5. More challenges … • Most gifted students receive no differentiation in the classroom • Dually identified more likely to be negatively perceived by teachers and peers • Modifications more likely to focus on deficits than strengths • Differences viewed as problematic

6. From Mehlinger, 1995 . . . “Most teachers teach every child the same material in the same way, and measure each child’s performance by the same standards…. Thus, teachers embrace the value of treating each child as a unique individual while instructing children as if they were virtually identical.”

7. What have we learned? • That instruction responsive to student readiness, interest, and learning profile stands the best chance for successful differentiation. • That teachers need to reconstruct their understanding of how students learn, how learning varies and how students should be taught. • That consistent, reflective, proactive teacher attention to differentiation makes the difference. • That teachers can’t do it alone. They need each other and they need the support of leadership.

8. Differentiation Strategies The web links to the strategies that follow represent some, but not all, of research-based strategies that work for differentiation. You should pick and choose those strategies that best support your lesson’s success

9. Assigned Questions Author's Chair Balanced Literacy Bloom’s Taxonomy Questioning Book Talks Brain-Based Artistic Approaches Brainstorming Case StudiesCategorizing Cloze ProcedureConcept AttainmentConcept Formation Concept MapsCooperative LearningDebatesDidactic QuestionsDiscussionDrill & Practice Focused Imaging Graphic OrganizersGuided & Assisted ReadingGuided Reading & Thinking Interactive Journaling InquiryIntegrating the Arts Interdisciplinary Approach JigsawJournal Writing K-W-L Learning ContractsLearning LogsLectureLiterature Circles Mind MappingOratory, Public Speaking and Speech Writing Picture Books and Illustrator StudiesPicture Word Inductive Model (PWIM) Quick Writes RAFTRead Aloud Reading for MeaningReaders' Theater Web Links to Differentiation Strategies Reciprocal Teaching Reflective DiscussionResearch ProjectsResponse Journal Role Playing Scaffolding Science FairsScience OlympicsSimulationsStory MappingStorytellingStructured ControversySyneticsThink Alouds Think, Pair, Share Visual Imaging WebbingWebQuestsWord WallsWriting to Inform

10. A number of online resources provide assistance and strategies for instruction for English learners, students with disabilities and advanced learners: • English Learner Initiative: http://csmp.ucop.edu/csp/initiative.html • SDAIE Handbook: Techniques, Strategies, and Suggestions for Teachers of LEP and Former LEP Students http://www.csupomona.edu/~tassi/sdaie.htm • Inclusion Strategies for Students with Disabilities http://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/sitemap.html • Multiple Links to Programs for High Ability Learners http://www.ericec.org/gifted/gt-diges.html