DIFFERENTIATION: PROVIDING RICH LEARNING EXPERIENCES

FOR ALL STUDENTS.

Helen Baber

SPCC

July 2011

AIMS OF TODAY’S SESSION:

To look at curriculum differentiation and its implications for the way we cater for students in our classrooms by answering the following questions:

1. What is differentiation? 2. Why is differentiation important?3. How can I differentiate the curriculum?4. Where can resources be found?

Provide an opportunity to adjust programs.

1. WHAT IS DIFFERENTIATION? Differentiation is:

the provision of a variety of ways to explore curriculum content;

the provision of an array of processes for understanding and ‘owning’ information;

the provision for options for demonstrating what has been learnt.

Differentiation is a qualitative, not quantitative, change.

DIFFERENTIATED PROGRAMMING IS:

• having high expectations for all students • permitting students to demonstrate mastery of material they

already know and to progress at their own pace through new material

• providing different avenues to acquiring content, to processing or making sense of ideas, and to developing products

• providing multiple assignments within each unit, tailored for students with differing levels of achievement

• allowing students to choose with the teacher’s guidance, ways to learn and how to demonstrate what they have learned

• flexible – teachers move students in and out of groups , based on students’ instructional needs

Tomlinson, C.A. & Allan, S.D. (2000). Leadership for differentiating schools and classrooms. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

DIFFERENTIATED PROGRAMMING ISN’T

• individualised instruction – it is not a different lesson plan for each student each day

• assigning more work at the same level to high–achieving students

• all the time – often it is important for students to work as a whole class

• using only the differences in student responses to the same class assignment to provide differentiation

• giving a normal assignment to most students and a different one to advanced learners

• limited to subject acceleration – teachers are encouraged to use a variety of strategies

Tomlinson, C.A. & Allan, S.D. (2000). Leadership for differentiating schools and classrooms. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

WHO ARE OUR STUDENTS?

The spectrum of children in our classrooms includes a range of: cultures gender abilities/gifts disabilities ages socio-economic backgrounds personalities physical appearances/development learning styles thinking styles interests birth orders range of educational opportunities received range of general life experiences

What are some of the differences between our students?

2. WHY IS DIFFERENTIATION IMPORTANT?

What would happen?What do we do to ensure the best outcome?How is this similar to teaching?

An analogy...

WIKI TIME

What ways do we make programming alterations to meet the needs of students? Give examples.

https://wiki.waratah.spcc.nsw.edu.au/groups/teacherpdstaffeastm2011generalpdmaterials/wiki/f632a/Differentiation_PD_with_Helen_Baber.html

MODELS OF CURRICULUM DIFFERENTIATION

Anderson / Krathwohl: A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s educational objectives

Maker Model Williams Model Kaplan Model

Look for the writing of Tomlinson or Heacox.

3 HOW CAN I DIFFERENTIATE THE CURRICULUM?

Students should be offered a curriculum matched to their

learning needs. To achieve this we:

A. 1. differentiate the curriculum content

B. 2. differentiate the learning process

C. 3. differentiate student products

D. 4. differentiate the learning environment

A) DIFFERENTIATING THE CURRICULUM CONTENT

Different templates to assist your design

Encourage abstractness, complexity, variety, study of people, study methods of enquiry within disciplines and organise the content around concepts (integrated curriculum).

On the wiki, add “CONTENT” modification note.

B) DIFFERENTIATING THE LEARNING PROCESS

Modifications include facilitating:

higher levels of thinking creative thinking open-endedness group interaction variable pacing variety of learning processes debriefing freedom of choice metacognition Discovery Learning Include opportunities to refine skills ie cognitive, motor,

communication, etc.On the wiki, add “PROCESS” modification note.

C) DIFFERENTIATING STUDENT PRODUCTS

Incorporate:

• real problems

• real audiences

• real deadlines

• transformations

• appropriate evaluation

• a variety of products

• encourage self-selected products

Handout

On the wiki, add “PRODUCTS” modification note.

D) DIFFERENTIATING THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Create a responsive learning environment that is:

• student-centred

• encourages independence

• open

• accepting

• complex

• mobile

A key point to remember is flexibility!

On the wiki, add “LEARNING ENVIRONMENT” modification note.

SUMMARY OF DIFFERENTIATION

All students have the same right to curriculum matched to their learning needs

Differentiation = tailoring the curriculum to match student interests, needs and abilities

Qualitative differentiation - four elements include: modification of content, process, product and the learning environment

Differentiation is a qualitative change, not quantitative.

4. RESOURCES?

Cash, R.M. (2010).Advancing Differentiation: Thinking and Learning for the 21st Century. Free Spirit Publishing.

Heacox, D. (2008). Differentiating Instruction in the Regular Classroom: How to Reach and Teach All Learners Grades 3-12. Free Spirit Publishing.

Heacox, D. (2009). Making Differentiation a Habit: How to Ensure Success in Academically Diverse Classrooms. Free Spirit Publishing.

Tomlinson, C.A. (1999). The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Tomlinson, C.A. (2001). How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed Ability Classrooms (2nd Edition). Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

LET’S DIFFERENTIATE!

In Stages or Faculties work on your programs adding content, process, product and environment alterations.