One Size Does Not Fit All: An Introduction to Differentiated Instruction

1. One Size Does Not Fit All:An Introduction toDifferentiated Instruction Facilitated By Sara Fridley & Kathleen West Region 3 Education Service Agency sara.fridley@k12.sd.us kathleen.a.west@k12.sd.us Workshop 1

2. Take Care of Business • Introductions • Expectations of Trainers • Graduate Credit • Service Agreements

3. Workshop Outcomes • Increased understanding of what Differentiated Instruction IS & IS NOT • Add to our Instructional Strategies Toolbox • Increased understanding of theories of multiple intelligence/learning styles • Begin planning a differentiated lesson/unit for your own classroom

4. “Currently, students are required to adapt . . . to the prevalent teaching practices and instructional materials and assessment instruments. Those who can’t adapt are viewed as being deficient in their ability to learn.” - Marie Carbo, Educating Everybody’s Children

5. Differentiation IS NOT . . . • The same as individualization • Just another way to group kids • Expecting less of struggling learners than of typical learners • A substitute for specialized services • Chaotic • New

6. Good Differentiation IS . . . • Varied avenues to content, process, product • Respectful of all learners • Proactive • Student-centered • A blend of whole class, small group, and individual instruction • Based on students’ readiness, interests, and/or learning profile

7. Essential Question • What diversity impacts and influences curriculum and instruction?

8. 3 Key Ways to Differentiate Instruction • Process • Activities • Calls on students to use key skills • Content • What we teach students • Materials and methods used • Product • How students show what they have learned • Should also allow students to extend what they learned

9. Key #1 – Adapt Process • Students use key skills • Bloom’s Taxonomy • Multiple Intelligence Theories • Common focus • Vary student activities • Teacher uses a variety of methods

10. Process Differentiation Examples • Tiered Assignments • Layered Curriculum (Nunley) • Learning Centers • Jig Saw Assignments • Learning Logs • Graphic Organizers • Modify their environment (fidgets)

11. Key #2 – Adapt Content • Refers to both materials & methods • Accommodate students’ different starting points • Some students ready for more complex or abstract levels • Some students ready for independent work

12. Content Differentiation Examples • Multiple texts • Interest centers • Learning contracts • Support systems • Audiotapes • Mentors • Study partners

13. Key #3 – Adapt Product • Culminating learning experience that occurs after many days or weeks of study • Demonstration and extension of what they know, understand, and are able to do

14. Product Differentiation Examples • Variety of assessment types • Tiered Assignments • Independent Study

15. Variables to Consider • Readiness – in reading, math, & beyond • Complexity & Challenge of both process & product • Pace of learning and production • Grouping practices • Use of assessment results to inform teaching and learning

16. Principles to Guide Differentiated Classrooms • Focus on essentials • Attend to student differences • NO strategy works on ALL students • Assess often and use it to make adjustments/modifications • Mutual respect • Be flexible • Doesn’t happen 100% of the time!!!!

17. Simple Ways to Start • Add an interdisciplinary element to a favorite unit • Collaborate with other teachers • Offer students a variety of presentation options • Apply Multiple Intelligence thinking to group/individual projects

18. A Few Fun Strategies Lefties Rule! Creature Comforts! Teach In Color!

19. Left Handed – In a Right Handed World • One person in 10 is left handed • Hand preference is evident by age 5 • Most common items/tools are designed for right handed people • Scissors • Rulers • Musical instruments

20. Creature Comforts Grades K-12 • Tolerance for sitting will ALWAYS be at different levels for different people. • Even adults benefit from Fidgets or Movement • Set ground rules in the classroom. • Remove “it” if/when it becomes a toy or distraction

21. Tactile FidgetsGrades K-12 • Paper clip • Cellophane tape rolled backwards around a finger • Pipe cleaners • Stress balls • Pocket Fidget (small item kept in the child’s pocket) • Carpet square under desk

22. Visual FidgetsGrades K-12 • Lava lamp • Fish tank • Mobile

23. Nomadic Learners • “If we build in enough movement during the class period, students will be less likely to move on their own.” • Motion resources • Minds in Motion • Learning on Their Feet

24. Ideas for the Nomadic Learner • Mini Field Trip • A Home Away From Home • The Office • Music Stand Learning • Rocking Chair Reversal

25. Act It Out – Visual CluesGrades 4-12 • Vocabulary strategy for the Kinesthetic Learner • Place students into groups • Provide 60 seconds to figure out how to Act Out a vocabulary word • Example – PERIMETER (walking around edge of room)

26. Color Increases Understanding • Using color for key concepts can increase memory retention up to 25%

27. Experiment

28. Memorize the Pattern30 seconds

29. Memorize the Pattern30 seconds

30. Memorize the Pattern30 seconds

31. Teach in Color • Color Code • Key Concepts • Colored Pens • Color with Sunshine • Highlight grammar • Colored Acetate • Number chart • Sliding mask • Highlighting tape • Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome • Painted Essay

32. A Simple Start • “Color Code” key concepts • Easy in modern classrooms • White boards & computer software • Key terms in all content areas • Math (parts of equations) • Language arts (parts of speech, important vocabulary, editing) • Correct “with sunshine” • Students do their own color coding

33. Words in Color CALEB GATTEGNO

34. Correct “With Sunshine” • Use yellow highlighter to identify incorrect answers • Give student option to correct and receive partial (or whole) credit • Option – require students to explain in writing what they did wrong and how they corrected the problem

36. Use Colored Pens • In writing for peer editing • Each member of group gets a different color • Can instantly see if everyone has contributed • Option – students use colored pen for their own editing/revising • For language study of verbs • Color code the different tenses • Color code the verb endings

37. Je skie Tu skies Il/elle/on skie Nous skions Vous skiez Ils/elles skient Skier(to ski)

38. Verb Tense Sample Jack rides his bike every day. He usually gets up at 7 o'clock and rides to work. As a matter of fact, he is on his way to work at the moment. Look at him riding his bike! Last week, he rode his bike over 100 miles. This week he has ridden his bike only 40, but then again, it is only Wednesday. Jack is going to ride his bike into the countryside this weekend where he hope he will be able to ride on some mountain trails.

39. The Painted Essay

40. Vision & Learning • “25% of students in grades k-6 have visual problems that are serious enough to impede learning.” (American Public Health Association) • “It is estimated that 80% of children with a learning disability have an undiagnosed vision problem.”(Vision Council of America)

41. 20/20 does not mean that vision is perfect! • The 20/20 vision test does not test how well you see at reading distance. In fact, the 20/20 test fails to evaluate many other important aspects of normal vision such as: • Eye focusing • Eye coordination • Eye teaming (binocular vision) • Eye movement • Visual perceptual skills • Color vision

42. Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome • 12% of population • Contrast problems (only 1 symptom) • Black text on bright white paper • Striped patterns on carpet clothes seem to move • Vertical/horizontal blinds • Leads to classroom difficulties • Restlessness • Difficulty staying on task

43. Use Colored Paper or Acetate • Contrast problems (only 1 of many symptoms) • Strategies • Use dull colored paper for writing to reduce glare • Use colored acetate over black text on white paper • Use a bookmark when reading to avoid losing place • http://www.hale.ndo.co.uk/scotopic/ • Has an excellent simulation of Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome • http://www.irlen.com/sss_main.htm

44. Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome • Contrast problems (only 1 symptom) • Strategies • Use dull colored paper for writing • Use colored acetate over black text on white paper • Use a bookmark when reading to avoid losing place • http://www.hale.ndo.co.uk/scotopic/ • http://www.irlen.com/sss_main.htm

45. Multiple Intelligences Begin With the Brain

46. Dots on Grids A B D C

47. Simple Learning Styles • Auditory • Learns best from listening • Visual • Learns best from seeing • Kinesthetic/Tactile • Learns best from doing

48. Why Visual Literacy? • Average youth today • By age 18 - 22,000 hours watching TV • By age 14 has seen 12,000 murders on network TV programming!!!! • By 18 – 12,500 hours in school • Average vocabulary of 14-year-olds is shrinking • In 1950 – 25,000 words • In 1999 – 10,000 words

49. Visual Learner • Images go directly to long-term memory in brain • Humans process visuals 60,000 times faster than text • Words processed sequentially • Keyboard • Images processed simultaneously • Camera

50. Turn Your Paper Sideways • Grades 2-7 (or higher if needed) • A trick for lining up numbers when working with multi-digit numbers in columns • TURN THE PAPER SIDEWAYS & use the lines as column guides • Also provides novelty (brain trigger)