Dare to Differentiate

Animal School

Stage 1- Desired Results

Stage 2- Assessment Evidence

Stage 3- Learning Plan

Standard(s):

Understandings Essential questions

Knowledge Skills

Performance-based Task + Rubric

Other Evidence (quiz, write up, report, etc.)

Self assessment/self monitoring

Daily lesson plans

Should NOT bedifferentiated

May bedifferentiated

May bedifferentiated

Should be differentiated

if assessment data tells you there

is a need

Understanding by Design

Parkway Look-Fors

Elements and Characteristics of and Strategies for Differentiating Instruction

Assessing the

Learner

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Product/Performance(the means by which students will

communicate understanding)

• Open-ended tasks • Authentic/real world solutions • Extension, innovation, creation of new ideas and products• Multiple forms and formats using varied techniques and materials

Learning Environment(the context in which learning occurs)

• Safe, challenging, and collaborative community • Access to resource-rich classrooms

• Flexible movement and use of space • Multiple settings and environments • Flexible scheduling Process

(strategies for engaged learning and sense-

making)

Content(strategies for

delivering content)

• Flexible Grouping• Questioning for Critical Thinking• Problem-Based Learning• Contracting• Learning Centers

• Planning for differentiation• Tiering• Compacting• Accelerating• Enhancing content for depth, complexity, and novelty

Assessing the Learners’ - readiness - interests - learning styles/ preferences

Why Pre-Assess?•To make instructional decisions

about student strengths and needs.

•To determine flexible grouping patterns.

•To determine which students are ready for advance instruction

What does Pre-Assessment look like?

• Running records• Entrance cards• KWL Charts and

other graphic organizers

• Standardized test information

• Portfolio analysis

• Teacher prepared/text prepared pre-tests

• Traditional tests• Teacher

observation/checklist• Most difficult first• Writing

prompts/samples/pre-writing activity

In Your Toolbox

Pre-Assessment Ideas

A Sample from Our Amazing 2nd Grade

Team…Letter to Parents

Contract for Students

Unit 7 Objectives and GLES

Pre-Assessment

Pre-Assessment Data Analysis

Where do I begin?• Pre-assessment should begin early in the year,

term, or unit of study. • Pre-assessment should be on-going – not just a first

step, but a constant one. • Pre-assessment should be comprehensive,

examining readiness (strengths and needs), interests, and learning preferences.

• Pre-assessment should be appropriate for various cultures, ages, genders, abilities or disabilities, and so on.

• Pre-assessment should directly match the intended learning experiences: content, process, and product.

• Pre-assessment should rely upon a variety of methods – not a singular approach.

When do I pre-assess?

• 2-3 weeks before the information is to be taught

• This gives the teacher time to plan for the novice to the expert and those along the way.

• By administering the test early, the seeds of excitement have been planted about all the interesting things the students will be learning.

CURRICULUM COMPACTINGPhase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

Exploratory Phase

Pre-Assessment:

Test

Conference

Portfolio conference

To find out what the learner

Knows

Needs to know

Wants to know

Analyze Data

Mastery: skills, concepts

What have they mastered

Needs to Master:

What else do they need to know?

How will they learn it?

Gain with whole class

Independent study

Homework

Mentor/buddy in or out of school

On-line learning

Advanced Level Challenge

Investigation

Problem-based learning

Service Learning

Project

Contract

Opportunities for Successful Intelligence

(Sternberg, 1996)

Analytical

Practical

Creative

Assessment

PACING: Curriculum PACING: Curriculum CompactingCompacting

Modify and/or streamline regular curriculum to:

• eliminate repetition of previously mastered material

• upgrade the challenge level of the regular curriculum

• determine student “readiness”

• provide time for enrichment and/or acceleration activities

Curriculum Compacting

1) What’s important? 2) What do students already know or are able to do?3) What will they grasp at a faster rate?4) What skill or task can be accomplished quickly?

Tools for Compacting Curriculum

• Assessments (Pre, Ongoing, Formative, Summative)

• Menus of Challenging Activities • Product Choices Chart • Tiered Lessons• Working Agreements or Learning

Contracts• Anchor Activities

Write the first chapter and the general outline of a historical novel based on the time period we are studying. All aspects of the characters, location, and setting must be accurately portrayed within the time period in which it is set.

Create enough questions from our curriculum for the class to use in its next College or Academic Bowl game. Give your questions to the teacher to use. Be sure the answers are included.

Illustrate or demonstrate several articles of clothing that would have been worn by 5 characters in a novel about this time period.

Discover how schools were run during this time period. Teach a lesson to the class in the same style that would have been used at this particular time.

StudentChoice

Study The Timetables of History by Bernard Grun. Design a way to make your classmates aware of what was going on in the rest of the world during a significant period of American history.

Create a newspaper that contains stories and features about actual events written in ways authentic to the period of time we are studying.

Compare and contrast 2–3 novels written about the same time period and determine which version is closest to the ways in which events actually happened.

Understand ways in which the expansion of multiculturalism in America has impacted our politics and literature.

Winebrenner-Differentiating Content for Gifted Learners in Grades 6-12: CD of extension menus and guides by content areas

Examples of Choice Boards

Dare to Differentiate

2nd Grade’s Menu

Learning ContractsLearning Contracts• A written agreement between the student and

the teacher which includes opportunities for the student to work relatively independently on primarily teacher-directed material.

The student has:– Some freedom in acquiring skills and understandings– Responsibility for learning independently– Guidelines for completing work– Guidelines for appropriate behavior– Expectations tailored to readiness level

Anchoring Activities

• Self-paced, purposeful, content-driven activities that students can work on independently throughout a unit, a grading period, or longer

• Meaningful ongoing activities related to the curriculum– A list of activities that a student can do at

any time– A long-term project – An activity center/learning station located in

the room• These activities must be worthy of a

student’s time and appropriate to their learning needs

Tiered Activities

Tiered Instruction features:Whole group introduction and initial instruction Identification of developmental differencesLadder Analogy (bottom – up;

challenge/complexity) Increase or Decrease the:

Abstraction/Challenge Levels (ie. application, analysis & synthesis)

Extent of SupportComplexity of:

outcomes resources (reading levels, types of text [on-line, magazine, etc…],

based on prior-knowledge levels) processes (way in which students obtain information) products (M.I. products)

Sample

Using UbD to Plan Tiered Assignments

•Clarify your essential learnings, and how they will be assessed.•Create the on-level task first. Then adjust up and down as needed.

Below-LevelTask

On-LevelTask

Above-LevelTask

“Adjusting theTask”