Differentiated+Instruction+-+Thinking+Template


 * Essential Questions**

1) To what extent do you believe that all students can learn?

2) How are the key principles of differentiated instruction related?

3) How does differentiated instruction raise the bar for all students?

4) How can differentiated instruction be fair to all students?

5) How does differentiated instruction encourage students to be more critical and creative thinkers?

6) What is the role of assessment?

7) How do teachers plan for and manage differentiated instruction at all levels?


 * Key Concepts**

//". . . the emphasis should be on a few powerful ideas that students are unlikely to discover on their own and that can help them make sense of a wide variety of more specific ideas" (Putnam & Borko, 1997, p. 1271).//

Equal and Equitable Access Responsive Teaching Content, Process, Product Readiness, Interest, Learning Profile Respectful Tasks Flexible Grouping Learning Environment Multiple Intelligences Alignment to Standards Student Input Ongoing assessment Clarity of Learning Goals


 * Guiding Principles**

1) Differentiated instruction honors multiple pathways to learning. 2) Learning occurs when a teacher effectively responds to individual needs. 3) Individual students' needs are defined by their readiness levels, their interests and their learning profiles, which are continually assessed. 4) Ongoing assessment provides the teacher with data to design respectful tasks and to use flexible grouping. 5) Respectful tasks and flexible grouping give students equitable access and support. 6) Equitable access and support to standards-aligned content for all students are the goals of differentiated instruction.

1. 2. How does a teacher vary instruction and assessment in order to be responsive to a student's individual needs? 3. 4. What does ongoing assessment mean in a differentiated classroom? 5. What do respectful tasks and flexible grouping look like in a differentiated foreign language classroom? 6. Differentiated Instruction Article page
 * Possible questions for article**


 * Personal Reflections**

//"For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are" (Lewis, 1955, p. 136).//

Toni : For years I had a Level 4/5 French class. I was always frustrated with dealing simultaneously with two levels as well as the individual levels of the students. I never felt that students were growing and learning to meet their needs. When I discovered differentiated instruction I began designing a series of tiered lessons that met the needs of both levels and for individuals. I started using flexible grouping strategies both within the levels and among the levels. When I matched the ability of students, no matter if in level 4 or 5, I found that students begin to thrive. Then I included activities to match interests. Over the years I found that students really did reach higher levels. I also realized that I started thinking “outside the box” to make this combined class more meaningful.

Greta: I am a pretty traditional visual learner with a good memory. The need for differentiated instruction did not hit home for me until my daughter hit high school. She is intelligent and creative, but the AP track curriculum at her high school catered to students like me, and she was not a learner like me. No differentiated process was allowed; no differentiated product was allowed, and student choice/interest/learning profile was not considered in instructional planning. The sequence and lessons had been developed by a team of teachers in the 1980's, and that was good enough for almost every teacher. The classes my daughter excelled in were AP Physics & Geometry (she made a C in Algebra 1 and 2) and AP English 3 (C in AP Eng 2). Those classes had teachers responsive to their students, who recognized differences in learning profile, and who valued thinking & concepts rather than rote recall and facts. They worked on engaging their students' interests in respectful meaningful tasks, and 'busy-work' was non-existent.

Martha: I learned during a Halloween assignment that just because I didn't like to do certain things did not mean that my students wouldn't like to do them. My students showed me that they do learn differently and their strengths were not apparent to me because I was trying to make them become the type of learner I was.

Susann: One model of differentiated learning with which I have a little experience is the Montessori Method. In the Montessori classroom students learn at their own pace and are allowed to select their own lessons based on their individual interests. Learning stations have tactile objects for the children to manipulate and students may return to a station as many times as they want. Another area of interest for me is TPRS. I have attended multiple workshops and I am impressed with the fact that TPRS teachers are able to keep advanced students engaged while still teaching to the barometer student. The key to TPRS is repetition. The demos I have seen in French have been really impressive. I remember as much French from the demo as I do from a year of French taken not so long ago.


 * Quality Models** **of Differentiated Instruction in Action**

//". . . we teach who we are" (Palmer, 1998, p. 2).//

1) NEAG-Center for Gifted and Talented Education at the University of Connecticut: http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/mmm/mmm.html

2) There are lesson plans on the Ohio Department of Education that have differentiation and extensions built into them. http://ims.ode.state.oh.us/ode/ims/Default.asp?bhcp=1

3) The Montessori School: [|**http://www.montessori.edu/**]

4) Site with many links to model programs and strategies: http://www.gpschools.org/ci/diff/resources.htm

5) This is a website which students can use to find out how they learn.. The disadvantage to this site is that it only recognizes four intelligences. http://vark-learn.com/English/index.asp

6) This website helps the learner discover the connections between differentiated instruction and Understanding by Design by leading learners through an analysis of several chapters of the new text, //Integrating Differentiated Instruction & Understanding by Design: Connecting Content and Kids.// http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/menuitem.b71d101a2f7c208cdeb3ffdb62108a0c/template.book?bookMgmtId=c724f0c6245c8010VgnVCM1000003d01a8c0RCRD

7) This website is full of excellent resources needed to implement differentiated instructions. http://www.internet4classrooms.com/di.htm

8) Great graphic organizers. http://www.graphicorganizers.com/downloads.htm


 * Powerful Quotations**

//"The voice of the mentor becomes the internal voice of the protégé" (Lipton & Wellman, 2003)//

"Children already come to us differentiated. It just makes sense that we would differentiate our instruction in response to them." (Tomlinson, 1999, p. 24).

“Build a career. Plan to be better tomorrow than today, but don’t ever plan to be finished.” (Tomlinson, 1999, p. vi).

“Perhaps only when people can enjoy their differences as a resource of cultural enrichment do they become truly civilized.” (C.A.S.L. Publication, Kane, 2001, p. 28).

“Evidence of student understanding is revealed when student apply (transfer) knowledge in authentic contexts.” (Tomlinson and McTighe, 2006, p. 5).

“Systemic change requires both leadership and administration.” (Tomlinson and Allan, 2000, p. 40).

“The teacher involves her students in understanding the nature of the classroom and in making work for everyone.” (Tomlinson and Edison, 2003, p. 7).

“..And so we are so eager to do it right-to figure out how to personalize our teaching-to learn to differentiate instruction.” (Tomlinson and Allan, 2000, p. v).

Differentiation "is making sure that the right students get the right learning tasks at the right time. Once you have a sense of what each student holds as 'given' or 'known' and what he or she needs in order to learn, differentiation is no longer an option; it is an obvious response." (Earl, 2003, pp. 86-87).

"A group of differentiated activities, without teachers understanding and embracing the rationale and reasoning behind them, comprise little more than a cookbook. Once the activities have all been used, teachers have no way to generate others effectively." (Tomlinson, 2003, pp.12-13).

"Learning occurs best in an environment that contains positive interpersonal relationships and interactions, comfort and order, and in which the learner feels appreciated, acknowledged, respected, and validated." (Earl, 2003, p. 39).

"Complex international influences, changing and emerging employment issues, and interpersonal and social conditions all require us to read, write, speak, and listen for a variety of purposes and then take action based on the acquisition of that understanding." (Gregory & Kuzmich, 7).

"...four major competencies in literacy that help us weave student learning strategies into the future: 1) functional literacy; 2) content area literacy; 3) technological literacy; 4) innovative literacy." (Gregory & Kuzmich, 7).

"What is called for is not a teaching method, but a teaching repertoire." (Galloway and Labarca 1990, p. 115).

"Assessment always has more to do with helping students grow than with cataloging their mistakes." (Tomlinson, 1999, p.11).


 * Resources & Materials**

//"The selection of a material or activity is also the selection of an array of forces that will influence how students will be challenged to think . . . the curriculum is a mind-altering device" (Eisner, 2004, pp. 13, 72).//

The TOP TEN resources and materials that we recommend to foreign language educators who are interested in understanding and using differentiated instruction to improve their practice.

Heacox, Diane. //Differentiating instruction in the regular classroom.// Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing CO, 2002.

Gregory, G., & Chapman, C. //Differentiated instructional strategies: One size does not fit all.// Thousand Oakes, CA: Corwin Press, Inc, 2002.

Richards, Jack C., & Theodore S. Rodgers. //Multiple intelligences in// a//pproaches// //and methods in language teaching.// Multiple Intelligences (pp 115-124). New York: Cambridge University Press: 2001.

Tomlinson, Carol Ann. //How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms//. Alexandria: ASCD, 1995.

Tomlinson, Carol Ann. //The differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners.// Alexandria: ASCD, 1999.

Tomlinson, Carol Ann. //Fulfilling the promise of the differentiated classroom.// Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2003.

Tomlinson, Carol Ann, & Allan, Susan D. //Leadership for differentiating schools & Classrooms.// Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2000.

Tomlinson, Carol Ann, & McTighe, Jay. //Integrating differentiated instruction and understanding by design.// Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2006.

Tomlinson, Carol Ann, & Edison, Caroline C. //Differentiation in Practice: A resource guide for differentiating instruction, grades 5-9.// Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2003.

Tomlinson, Carol Ann, & Edison, Caroline C. //Differentiation in Practice: A resource guide for differentiating instruction, grades K-5.// Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2003.

Tomlinson, Carol Ann & Strickland, Cindy A. //Differentiation in Practice: A resource guide for differentiating instruction, grades 9-12.// Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2005.


 * References**

Center for Advanced Student Learning. //C.A.S.L. Cache: A collection of tools and templates to differentiate instruction//. Longmont, CO. Centennial BOCES: Author, 2001

Earl, Lorna M. (2003). //Assessment as learning: Using classroom assessment to maximize// //student learning.// Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Eisner, Elliot W. (2002). //The arts and the creation of mind.// New Haven: Yale University Press.

Gregory, G & Kuzmich, L. (2005). //Differentiated literacy strategies for student growth and achievement in grades 7-12//. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Littky, Dennis. (2004). //The big picture: Education is everyone's business.// Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Lewis, Clive S. (1955). //The magician's nephew.// NY: Scholastic.

Lipton, Laura, & Wellman, Bruce. (2003). //Mentoring matters: A practical guide to// //learning-focused relationships (2nd ed.).// Sherman, CT: MiraVia.

Palmer, Parker. (1998). //The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher's life.//San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Putnam, Ralph T., & Borko, Hilda. (1997). Teacher learning: Implications of new views of cognition. In B.J. Biddle, et. al. (Eds.), //International handbook of teachers// //and teaching// (pp. 1223-1297). Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Omaggio Hadley, Alice. (2001) //Teaching Language in Context: Proficiency-oriented Instruction//, 3rd ed, Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle.

Tomlinson, Carol Ann and Allan, Susan D. (2000). //Leadership for differentiating schools// //and Classrooms.// Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Tomlinson, Carol Ann and Edison, Caroline C. (2003). //Differentiation in Practice: A resource guide for differentiating instruction, grades K-5.// Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Tomlinson, Carol Ann and McTighe, Jay. (2006). //Integrating differentiated instruction and understanding by design.// Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Wiggins, Grant. (April/May 2006). "//Healthier Testing Made Easy//." Edutopia online magazine:. http://edutopia.org/magazine.