Using Technology to Differentiate

Summer WorkshopJune 14, 2005

What is Differentiated Instruction?• Three variables:

– Content• Same Concept, Different Exemplars

– Process• Same Concept, Different Modalities

– Product• Different ways to show what was learned

Carol Tomblinson

Essential Questions• Do students have any choice?

• How are different needs addressed?

• If learning isn’t happening, how can teaching be done in alternate ways?

• How are the needs of students ready to advance being addressed?

• Are there technological solutions or enhancements to what is being taught?

No Teacher Left Behind

“We have as much as educators ever had to offer our students in terms of critical thinking, love of the beautiful and the complex, unlocking meaning, perceiving subtlety, communicating clearly, transcending the obvious…”

No Teacher Left Behind“… But if we teach in the 21st century with

the equipment of the 20th century, then we will mismatch ourselves to our students. Teaching with technology is transformative. It is we who must transform. Society already has.”

Amy Benjamin

How Technology Supports

Differentiation• Privacy

• Collaboration and Communication

• Organization

• Learning Styles

• Choices

• Authentic Learning

Techniques that Support

Differentiation• Tiered Tasks

• Unit Menus

• Learning Centers / Stations

• Project Based Learning

• Tests

• Prescriptives

• Communication

Tiered Tasks• Structure: Time and resource

management

• Philosophy: Grading and grouping

• Process: Directions

Tiered Tasks• Organizing the tiers by principles:

– Bloom’s Taxomony– From Concrete to abstract– Decreasing support– Increasing complexity– Classifying and Categorizing

Unit Menus• Array of project choices that

demonstrate core knowledge

• Each choice must:– Be substantial enough to demonstrate

knowledge and advance learning– Require comparable amounts of time and

energy– Be challenging

Learning Centers/Stations

• Centers are a place to extend or reinforce knowledge. Stations are one stop in a series.

• Reinforcing and reviewing• Less complex, more concrete• Applications, investigations, cases and

problems• More sophisticated, deep, and complex• Adjustment for special needs• Socializing the learning

Whole Class Projects• Virtual museum

• Virtual field trip

• Virtual zoo

• Virtual expedition

• Real time data projects

Sage or Guide?“A good teacher knows when to act as Sage on

the Stage and when to act as a Guide on the Side. Because student-centred learning can be time-consuming and messy, efficiency will sometimes argue for the Sage. When students are busy making up their own minds, the role of the teacher shifts. When questioning, problem-solving and investigation become the priority classroom activities, the teacher becomes a Guide on the Side."

The WIRED Classroom   Jamie McKenzie

Project-Based Learning

• Curricular content

• Multimedia

• Student decision-making

• Collaboration

• Real world connections

• Extended time frame

• Innovative assessment

DifferentiatingTests• Item analysis

• Test question banks

• Different types

• Follow-up– Rewrite– What I was thinking… What I should have

been thinking

Prescriptives• Speak directly to student• Give him something to do that can’t be

copied• Think SKILLS• Be respectful and careful about time

management• Require and reward• Make it look good• Don’t forget advanced students

Communication• Whole class

– Website– Online information board– Classroom library– Prescriptive lesson center

• Intraclass / Blogs• Teacher-student

– Net Classroom– Email