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Differentiation

Students and teachers benefit from differentiation because students are being taught at a level that is appropriate for their cognitive abilities. When this occurs students are more motivated to stay on task. It reduces behavioral problems. Howard Gardner's work with multiple intelligences was also discussed in the workshops. Use of student's most pronounced modality also increases student achievement..

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Differentiation

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    1. Differentiation Myth or Savior for educators and students?

    2. Students and teachers benefit from differentiation because students are being taught at a level that is appropriate for their cognitive abilities. When this occurs students are more motivated to stay on task. It reduces behavioral problems. Howard Gardner’s work with multiple intelligences was also discussed in the workshops. Use of student’s most pronounced modality also increases student achievement.

    3. I have done some additional research in how to differentiate. Click on the following links for assistance

    4. Alternative Spelling Ideas Students who can pass a spelling pre-test should be given alternative activities: Here is a site with ideas for that: http://webtech.cherokee.k12.ga.us/littleriver-es/ewilliams/alternate_spelling.htm

    5. Ideas for Self Evaluation The ideas below should serve as a MENU of possible questions to use when allowing a student to conduct a self-evaluation of a task/activity/unit. Please CHOOSE the ones that best each specific situation. What did you like the most about this activity? What did you like the least about this activity? What is the most important thing you learned? If you could change anything about this activity, what would you change? Did you want to learn about something or do something that we didn't do? Explain. Evaluate your PERFORMANCE: outstanding, excellent, good, fair, poor Are you satisfied with your PERFORMANCE? Why or why not? How might you have improved your use of time? How might you have improved your commitment to task? How might you have improved your independence of thought? How might you have improved your cooperation with others? How might you have improved your wise use of materials? How might you have improved your willingness to think creatively? On what parts of this activity did you need help from others? What kind of help did you need? From whom? Evaluate the PROCESS by which you accomplished your task: outstanding, excellent, good, fair, poor Evaluate your PRODUCT: outstanding, excellent, good, fair, poor

    6. Are you proud of your product? What might you have done to improve your product? Did you find this assignment too easy, too hard, or about right? Have you discussed what you learned with parents, friends, and others? Of what value has this activity/unit been to you? What grade do you think you earned for amount of work done? What grade do you think you earned for quality of work done? What grade do you think you earned for attitude toward work done? Is there anything else that you'd like to tell me about your work on this activity/unit?  

    7. Performance Design There are three main focus questions which much be addressed in designing performance tasks: What is really important for the students to know, understand, and be able to do that is applicable in multiple contexts? What evidence is necessary and sufficient to prove that learning has occurred? What is an authentic, or at least simulated, and rich way in which people outside of school use this learning? In designing your performance task, you must develop a clear, aligned, and meaningful scenario or situation.  You can do this by... Describing a ROLE, such as an environmental engineer, and a corresponding point of view or perspective the students are to assume as they carry out a prescribed task. Describing a TASK to be completed with any appropriate point of view or perspective to be assumed. Describing a situation or scenario in which the students are to function (or pretend they are functioning) and a PROBLEM or task that they are to resolve or complete as a result of the situation described.  The TASK:

    8. Must address the kind of significant learning that can manifest itself within a performance; Should address content information and skills that are best taught and assessed through application; Must be structured to replicate the way people function in real life; Must have a purpose of trying to accomplish something, rather than just doing something. Should be transferable. Must be rigorous. Examples of types of tasks: Solve an important problem using logical process. Teach people something important. Discern and use patterns or trends. Make others aware of an important situation or condition . Persuade people regarding an important matter Create and use something to accomplish a predetermined purpose . Develop and conduct a service to accomplish a predetermined purpose. Draw and use and/or report conclusions . Read, interpret, and use nonfiction. Make and use generalizations for a predetermined purpose . Make and use/report summaries. Determine and use/report cause and effect for a predetermined purpose . Develop and use a plan of action for a predetermined purpose. Compare, contrast, analyze, organize, classify, prioritize, deduce, or categorize for a predetermined purpose. Learn, practice, and use content area skills for a predetermined purpose. Make and support recommendations. Decide, predict, solve, resolve for a predetermined purpose.

    9. Role Performance Guide 1.  In this task, you are seeking an answer to the question...   2.  You are acting as...   3.  Whose point of view or perspective is...   4.  As such, you are expected to...   5.  You are then expected to...   6.  You will know you have successfully finished when...   7.  Challenges you may encounter are...   8.  Resources you can depend on are...   9.  You will need...   10.  The final completion date is...

    10. Task Performance Guide In this task, you are seeking an answer to the question...   The point of view or perspective you are to assume is...   As such, you are expected to...   You are then expected to...   You will know you have successfully finished when...   Resources you can depend on are...   You will need...   The final completion date is...

    11. Using varied questioning techniques will aid in Differentiation of instruction also. Not only must students be able to understand what they are doing..they should also have the parameters within which they are working clarified to them. Questioning techniques used by teachers will facilitate this skill acquisition. I found a page that will help our teachers with questioning techniques.

    12. The presenters also referred to terms that are used when differentiating. However they did not provide us with definitions for those terms. Here is a brief list that I found online: Glossary of Differentiation of Instruction Terms For further information on many of the strategies defined in this glossary, please refer to Eulouise’s web site:  http://webtech.cherokee.k12.ga.us/littleriver-es/ewilliams .  Go to Strategies and search for information on strategies of interest to you.  Each Fact Sheet contains directions for use and resources for further information. Adjusting Questions:  A teacher--in class discussions, tests, and/or homework--adjusts the sorts of questions posed to learners based on their readiness, interests, and learning profile. This strategy is an excellent "get your feet wet" differentiation strategy because it builds on strengths and abilities readily used by most teachers. Anchor Activities:  activities which may extend the curriculum or which may simply be valuable in their own right and in which students may participate if they have spare time while waiting for the teacher’s help or after they’ve completed a task.

    13. Carousel Brainstorming: a strategy where students brainstorm responses to prompts or questions written on butcher paper and placed at five different stations around the room.  Students rotate from station to station and discuss their responses with others in their group.  Teachers may use carousel brainstorming as a pre-assessment tool or as a review opportunity. Cluster Grouping: a grouping method in which a small group of 4-10 identified gifted students are grouped for instruction within an otherwise heterogeneous classroom; within this group a gifted-endorsed teacher differentiates instruction to accommodate specialized needs of gifted learners. Compacting:  a  strategy which allows a student to demonstrate what he/she already knows or can do, provides opportunity to learn or master what he/she does not already know, and then allows the student to spend the time earned from compacting to participate in enrichment or extension activities or accelerated study. Contract:  an agreement between one or more students and their teacher; it specifies learning objectives, activities, resources, deadlines/timelines, assessment procedures, working conditions, and places for signatures.  The teacher agrees to allow a student the freedom to pursue an area of special interest; and the student, in turn, agrees to follow certain independent learning conditions.

    14. Cubing: a versatile strategy, similar to a contract, which allows a teacher to plan different activities for different students or groups of students based on student readiness, learning style, and/or interests. The teacher creates a cube-usually different colored cubes--for different groups of students. On each of the cube’s six faces, the teacher describes a different task related to the subject and/or concept being learned. Exit Cards:  an assessment technique whereby students fill out a 3x5 card at the end of class and respond to open-ended questions posed by the teacher; a great way for the teacher to assess student understanding and readiness for the next lesson. Flexible Grouping: a method of grouping and regrouping students according to differences in readiness/performance, interests, and learning profiles.  Students may work in groups with different students several times in a day or week. Functional Spelling:   provides alternate spelling words for students who have already demonstrated mastery of traditional spelling words on a pre-test. Throughout the week, individual students maintain and add to a list of words that they misspell in their writing or words that they encounter that they do not understand. This list then becomes their spelling words for the week.  This idea could be adapted to functional writing--in which students’ grammar/language activities center on their mistakes in daily writing--or functional vocabulary, in which students learn the unfamiliar words that they encounter in their reading.

    15. Graphic Organizers:  mental maps that represent key skills such as sequencing, comparing and contrasting, and classifying; they involve students actively in the thinking process.  They also provide tools to help students organize and structure information. Independent Study:  opportunities for students at all readiness levels to pursue topics that interest them.  Susan Winebrenner suggests that students use structured independent studies to become “resident experts.” Interest Centers:  a classroom area that contains a collection of exploration activities related to specific interests of students. Interest Inventory:  an assessment tool designed to help a teacher determine student interests.  These may be open-ended or very controlled and specific. Jigsawing:  a type of collaborative work in which students read and examine a portion of a reading assignment and report what they've learned to the entire group; an effective way to vary content according to complexity or depth of content to match reading readiness levels; a great way to involve students in subject matter presented in text.  KWL Charts: a pre-assessment tool consisting of three vertical columns.  Students list in one column what they know about a topic or idea and in another column, what they want to know about the topic or idea.  Then, after a lesson or series of lessons, they return to the chart to list in the third column what they learned about the topic or idea.

    16. Learning Centers: a classroom area that contains a collection of activities or materials designed to teach, reinforce, or extend a particular skill or concept.Learning Stations:  different spots in the classroom where students work on various tasks simultaneously.  They invite flexible grouping because not all students need to go to ALL the stations ALL the time, and not all students spend the same amount of time at each station.  Stations work in concert with one another, and there are usually several stations related to the same subject. Literature Circles: small, temporary discussion groups of students who are reading the same story, poem, article, chapter, or book. While reading each group-determined portion of the text (either inside or outside of class), each member prepares to take specific responsibilities in the upcoming discussion; and everyone comes to the group with the notes needed to perform that job. The circles have regular meetings, with discussion roles rotating each session. When they finish a book, circle members plan a way to share highlights of their reading with the rest of the class. They then trade members with other groups, select more reading, and move into a new cycle. Once members can successfully conduct their own self-sustaining discussions, formal discussion roles may be dropped.  Literature circles can easily be adapted to nonfiction resources and are another effective way to involve students in textual material.

    17. Math Achievement Team (MAT):  a differentiation strategy in which a heterogeneous group of students compete for points based on individual members' improvement scores.  Most Difficult First:  a very simple first step to full-scale compacting. It is usually used with skill-type activities such as math, grammar, map reading, vocabulary, or spelling. A teacher allows students to demonstrate mastery of the five most difficult problems of an assignment and then to participate in alternate activities without having to do an entire assignment. Personal Agendas:  a personalized list of tasks that a particular student must complete in a specified time; student agendas throughout a class will have similar and dissimilar elements on them. Plus-Minus-Interesting Charts:  a device developed by DeBono in which students summarize their findings about a particular topic or idea by listing what’s good about it, what’s possibly negative about it, and what’s interesting about it.  Portfolio: a collection of student work gathered to exhibit/demonstrate the student’s efforts, progress, or achievement in one or more areas.

    18. Problem-based Learning:  an approach to learning which places students in the active role of solving authentic, real-world problems in much the same way that adult professionals perform their jobs.  Orbital Studies:  independent investigations, generally of three to six weeks, which “orbit” or revolve around some facet of the curriculum.  Students select their own topics for orbitals and work with guidance and coaching from the teacher to develop more expertise on both the topic and on the process of becoming an independent investigator. Rubric:  an assessment tool that is presented to students BEFORE they begin an activity.  The rubric establishes criteria upon which a product will be assessed and levels of competency.  Then, for each criterion, each level of competency is defined operationally, telling exactly what each level of competency looks like and what a student must do to earn certain scores.  Rubrics allow students to know in advance exactly what is required of them for a specific grade or score.   

    19. Tic-Tac-Toe Extension Menu or Choice Board:  a collection of activities from which a student can choose.  It is generally presented in the form of a 3x3 or a 4x4 grid, similar to a tic-tac-toe board, with the center square often allowing for student choice.  This format can be applied to extension activities, contracts, study guides, or independent studies.  They allow a teacher to differentiate content, process and product according to different levels of student performance/readiness, interests, and learning styles. Tiered Assignments: parallel tasks at varied levels of complexity, depth and abstractness with various degrees of scaffolding, support, or direction. Students work on different levels of activities, all with the same essential understanding or goal in mind. Tiered assignments accommodate mainly for differences in student readiness and performance levels and allow students to work toward a goal or objective at a level that builds on their prior knowledge and encourages continued growth. Vocabulary Web:  a graphic organizer based on a single vocabulary word.  The word goes in the center circle; students then define the word, find synonyms and antonyms, write a sentence using the word, create analogies, and analyze the word according to word families, origin, stems, and parts of speech.  For a copy of a blank web template, visit Eulouise’s web site http://webtech.cherokee.k12.ga.us/littleriver-es/ewilliams/vocabularywebexample.htm and click on Strategies—vocabulary Web.

    20. WebQuest:  a programmed, self-contained activity on the Internet that allows students to perform authentic, independent tasks while using the computer.  WebQuests give individuals or small groups of learners the opportunity to use research, problem solving, and basic skills as they move through a process of finding out, drawing conclusions about, and developing a product related to a topic or question.  Each WebQuest consists of the same five parts:  introduction, task, process, resources, and evaluation rubric.  (These can easily be located through Yahoo’s search engine.  Simply type in Webquest + the topic that you want to investigate.  A topic of two or more words should be enclosed in quotation marks.)

    21. Other resources for the differentiation of instruction..

    22. COFFEE.. This workshop focused on using picture word association cues to foster listening comprehension. She stressed the need for the ESOL teacher to be well versed in the English Language in order for him/her to model appropriate articulation. The cue cards are available in the lab. We will need to buy the die for the students to use. This system only works if the students are HEARING appropriate language usage while they are doing the activities. The buddy system was also utilized. The prompt sheet that she used will be available for classroom teachers.

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