Differentiated Instruction

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1 Differentiated Instruction

2 What is differentiated instruction? and What does differentiated instruction mean to you?

3 Think about a time you ve needed support in your teaching. What kinds of supports were there?.

4 Support #1? Retrieved from:

5 Differentiated Instruction a flexible approach to teaching in which the teacher plans and carries out varied approaches to content, process and product in anticipation of, and in response to student differences in readiness, interests, and learning needs. (Tomlinson, 1995, p. 10)

6 Differentiated instruction teacher proactively plans varied approaches to what students need to learn, how they will learn it, and/or how they can express what they have learned in order to increase the likelihood that each student will learn as much as he or she can as efficiently as possible. (Tomlinson, 2003, p. 151)

7 Differentiated Instruction is a teacher s response to learners needs

8 General principles of differentiation Clear learning goals Flexible grouping Positive learning environment Achievable tasks Ongoing assessment

9 How to differentiate By: Content Process Product Based on students Readiness Interest Learning profile

10 There are as many ways of learning as there are students

11 Least-Effective Teaching Presenting large amounts of material at a time Failing to guide student practice Giving little time for student processing of the new material Expecting all students to get new material the first time Failing to prevent students from developing misconceptions J.W. Lloyd, E.J. Kameanui, and D. Chard (Eds.) (1997) Issues in educating students with disabilities.

12 Most-Effective Teaching Presenting smaller amounts of material at any time Guiding student practice as students worked problems Providing for student processing of the new material Checking the understanding of all students Attempting to prevent students from developing misconceptions J.W. Lloyd, E.J. Kameanui, and D. Chard (Eds.) (1997) Issues in educating students with disabilities.

13 Teachers may therefore need to modify their approaches to accommodate all learners

14 Definitions Accommodations refer to the actual teaching supports and services that the student may require to successfully demonstrate learning. Accommodations should not change expectations to the curriculum grade levels. Modifications refer to changes made to curriculum expectations in order to meet the needs of the student. Modifications are made when the expectations are beyond the students level of ability. Modifications may be minimal or very complex depending on the student performance.

15 Accommodations Do not fundamentally alter or lower expectations or standards in instructional level, content or performance criteria. Modifications :/ ;070 / 8, Do fundamentally alter or lower expectations or standards in instructional level, content or performance criteria. Changes are made in order to provide equal access to learning and equal opportunity to demonstrate what is known. Changes are made to provide student meaningful & productive learning experiences based on individual needs & abilities. Grading is same Grading is different

16 What it is and what it is not: Differentiated instruction is proactive. The teacher assumes that students have differing needs and therefore plans a variety of ways for learners to express learning. Differentiated instruction is more qualitative than quantitative. Simply adjusting the quantity of the assignment is usually less effective than adjusting the nature of the assignment to match student needs.

17 Differentiated instruction is rooted in assessment. Throughout the unit teachers use a variety of methods to assess students developing readiness levels, interests, and modes of learning. Learning experiences are then designed based on their best understanding. Differentiated instruction provides multiple approaches to content, process, and product. Teachers offer different approaches to what students learn, how they learn it, and how they demonstrate what they ve learned. Commonly, all of

18 Issues with differentiating instruction

19 Class Size It is hard to implement differentiated instruction in a large class. The value of differentiated instruction lies in the grouping of students by academic ability and need. The ideal size for learning groups is three to five, no more than seven. Therefore, a class of 30 students would necessitate four or more groups, which is hard to manage and teach effectively. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT WE SHOULD NOT TRY!! Issues

20 Issues Resources Differentiated instruction requires that a variety of materials and resources be available for students with differing learning styles. For example, some students may learn a skill through the use of manipulatives and hands-on activities, and others may need to see a videotape of a skill being practiced. Whatever the method, these strategies require that teachers have a great number of available resources.

21 Differentiating Instruction for.. a special group of students

22 Something to think about what comes to mind when you read/hear these words in the classroom context? At risk marginal endangered crisis level underachieving

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24 I was in my house, at the sink, when two of my three sons rushed in the back door. My middle son, who was ten, yelled He s gonna pummel us, he s gonna pummel us! He was grinning and running, and so was his brother. Then in ran my husband with a snowball in his hand. The boys and their father had been throwing snowballs and the boys, covered in snow, couldn t wait to be pummeled. All my boys ran out the front door, throwing snowballs and making a huge mess. I remember thinking Do they have to use the word pummeled? Laurie Washington From: The minds of boys (Gurian and Stevens, 2000)

25 What does pummelling tell us about boys?

26 Worldwide ideas about BOYS Underachieving and underpriviledged (Australia) Boys culture less study oriented than girls (Belgium) deal with the academic underachieve-ment of boys (UK)

27 Worldwide ideas about.how to protect our boys (USA) need to develop social competence and democratic understanding of boys (Sweden) especially boys simply cannot read; girls score better in exams and stay in school longer (Jamaica) BOYS

28 What do our local statistics say about males? ( and females?)

29 Enrolment numbers in high schools 80.00% 72.90% 70.00% 60.00% 58.50% 50.00% 50.40% 49.50% 40.00% 41.40% Males females 30.00% 27.10% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00%

30 Grade One Readiness Inventory (2008) 35.00% 30.00% 29% 25.00% 22.80% 20.00% 15.00% 18.30% 13.90% males females 10.00% 5.00% 0.00% G1-RI (all) G1-RI (0)

31 Grade Four Literacy Test Results (2008) 90% 82.90% 80% 70% 60% 61% 50% 40% males females 30% 20% 13.50% 10% 4.30% 0% GFLT (all) GFLT (0)

32 % of entries for all subjects - CSEC 70.00% 62.30% 60.00% 54.30% 50.00% 45.70% 40.00% 30.00% 37.70% males females 20.00% 10.00% 0.00%

33 Passess in "female" and "male" related subjects 90.00% 80.00% 81.40% 74.10% 82.80% 80.40% 76.40% 70.00% 60.00% 60.70% 50.00% 40.00% 38% 46.80% % 40.80% 35.10% males females 30.00% 20.00% 18.60% 10.00% 0.00% English English Physics Physics Biology Math

34 Passes in subjects offered by gender 90.00% 84.80% 80.00% 70.00% 60.00% 50.00% Subjects offered 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 15.15% 10.00% 0.00% males females

35 Think about this These are not just numbers.. these are the lives of our boys. lives

36 Read the article entitled: Underachieving boys: Problems and solutions by Holland (2000) in the Support for Learning Journal, Vol. 13 No. 4 (1998), p Share your views