Differentiation in the classroom

It is important to permit movement between groups because of which of the following?

A student's performance will vary according to the task or skill.

Carol Ann Tomlinson has said that the most important ingredient in successful teaching is what?

Active planning

Flexible grouping best meets the needs of which age students?

All grade levels

The key to differentiated instruction is to do which of the following?

Assess students' prior knowledge before planning the details of a lesson.

Tier 2 Example:

Choose two or three heroes and compare them in a Venn diagram.

Working in a structured way to understand a concept is called which of the following?

Concept attainment

What are the three things that teachers often differentiate in the curriculum?

Content, Process, and Product.

Differentiated Instruction

Differentiated instruction means targeting the various learning and environmental needs of all students in the classroom. This can include students who qualify for Special Education, 504, and Gifted and Talented services, as well as English Learners. But it also includes students without a label—students who need more time, students who learn through different methods of instruction, students with attention difficulties, and students who have not been successful on standardized state assessments

ELLs and differentiation

Differentiation of process is necessary for English language learners as they are in need of sheltered instruction and language support in order to understand and make sense of the content.

A student's readiness varies depending on personal talents and the task at hand. Thus, groups should be__________________________.

Flexible

Learning Environment

Formal vs informal noise vs quiet temperature bright vs dim Mobility concrete-sequential sociological

Pre-learning assessments

KWL chart graphic organizers journals

Pre-tests for differentiation can include all of the following EXCEPT which one?

Lecture

Tier 3 Example:

List personal characteristics exhibited by heroes and rank them from most important to least important.

Tier 1 Example:

Make a chart of specific heroes and what they did to make them become a hero.

In a differentiated process, the enrichment level might involve which of the following?

Open-ended exploration and activities designed to answer the "why."

Differentiating content requires that students are:

Pre-tested to assess background knowledge.

When arranging the furniture in the classroom for differentiated instruction it is important to do all of the following EXCEPT which one?

Provide an area for an isolated desk.

The differentiation process involves which of the following?

Providing choice in learning activities.

Differentiating the product means which of the following?

Providing choice to students in how they will demonstrate their learning.

Clear, identifiable characteristics for scoring that provide consistency and communicate expectations are called __________________________.

Rubric

The first step in differentiating instruction is to consider your students individually, and then create lessons that account for these differences. Using the commonalities, you will plan lessons for different groups. You should consider four factors:

Student Readiness to Learn. Student Background. Student Learning Style. Student Interest.

Differentiation of instruction is important for which of the following reasons?

Students learn differently, have different backgrounds, and varied learning needs but all must be accountable.

Differentiation allows us to let learning be driven by which of the following?

Students' readiness to learn, their interests, and their learning profile.

In flexible grouping, students do not stay in the same groups all year; groups are based upon which of the following?

Students' understanding of the skill or objective.

Differentiated instruction is designed to do which of the following?

Target the various learning and environmental needs of all the students in the classroom.

Readiness to learn is best defined as which of the following?

The student's skill level, background knowledge, and base understanding of content to be learned.

TIERS AND TOOLS OF THE DIFFERENTIATING PROCESS

Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3

Tier 1

Tier 1, concept attainment: This is working in a structured way to understand a concept. This might involve completing worksheets, creating vocabulary flash cards, and scoring a particular percentage, for example, 70 percent on a worksheet. Special Education students who are expected to learn the same amount of standards are provided simplified activities of key concepts in concept attainment.

Tier 2

Tier 2, mastery: This tier involves students' working on a thinking task, one that requires their working at the application or analysis level of Bloom's Taxonomy. This could be using a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting various elements of the concepts being studied. It might be applying lessons of measurement to draw the dimensions of a room or creating a collage of healthy behaviors.

Tier 3

Tier 3, enrichment: This tier involves open-ended exploration, activities designed to answer "why." For example, students might research why particular species of fish have been disappearing from various rivers and streams around the country.

How to gauge a student's interests

What do you do in your spare time? What do you do when you get together with your friends? What are your hobbies? What is your favorite story? Movie? Sport? Game? Toy? Subject? What do you want to be when you grow up?

Learning Styles

auditory visual tactile kinesthetic

Differentiation of the curriculum falls into three main categories

content process product

When creating rubrics to evaluate student performance, teachers should...

differentiate rubric elements to meet the needs of all students, better yet, student groups. In reality, differentiating is essential for the diverse mix of elements that need to be targeted for improvement or the areas where they are struggling - organization, lack focus, writing elements, vocabulary development, language, etc. After identifying which rubric elements certain groups of students need to focus on, they can work together on common rubric elements while allowing time for teachers to conduct mini-workshops based on what the groups need to grow.

Make your own rubric!

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php

Differentiating the product means

providing choice to students in how they will demonstrate their learning. This is also an opportunity for the teacher to vary the complexity of the product that students create to demonstrate mastery of the concepts