INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

By: Mary BatesEDRS 698

Capstone in Reflective TeachingFebruary 2010

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Wolf River Elementary in Denver Suburban district Enrollment was 569 students Population by ethnicity was as follows; 3

American Indian or Alaskan Native, 28 Asian or Pacific Islander, 19 Black (Not Hispanic), 27 Hispanic, and 492 White (Not Hispanic)

1st grade - 26 students (16 boys and 10 girls) 1 student on ILP, 2 students on IEP’s, 2 students

on a behavior plan, and 2 student’s referred to RTI.

Population by ethnicity for first grade was as follows; 4 Asian/Pacific Islander, 5 Black, 4 Hispanic, and 62 White.

INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICE - DIFFERENTIATION

Book box – “Just Right Books”

Writing Journal

Small group work

Individual work

What an Easy, Just Right and Challenging might look like.

Sample of student writing at beginning and mid year.

Notes from small group activities.

Notes from low readers and their and smart goals.

Notes from other readers and writers.

Differentiation Data

INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICE- DIFFERENTIATION

Lesson Plans Two lesson plans on the trait of word choice. They show different

approaches to teaching the same writing trait. (an example of student work)

Differentiation Data

INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICE – GROUPING STRATEGIES

Reading Groups

Writing Groups

Math Groups

Leveled abilities according to # of sight words known and DRA scores.

Mixed abilities or Interests grouped.

Varied from mixed to leveled abilities.

Grouping Data

INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES – ASSESSMENTS

DRA’s Check-lists for math 100 sight words

6+ traits of writing

Assessment book

DRA assessments Class list of tasks Class list with # of

words known Check-list with each

students’ level, and a picture of student friendly rubric on ideas.

1st grade assessments

Assessments Data

“PUZZLES OF PRACTICE”

What is the most effective way to provide differentiated instruction to reach the wide range of all learners?

What is the most effective way to group students for differentiation?

TEACHING PRACTICES

What was happening. What should happen?

Differentiation Grouping Assessment

DIFFERENTIATION

What happened for reading?

Students chose their “just right” books independently, but this was not monitored.

Small groups doing shared reading with teacher. One-on-one conferences doing guided reading. Whole group lessons. A classroom library. Books were coded and

students were taught the levels of the books.

WHAT COULD HAPPEN TO ENRICH DIFFERENTIATION FOR READING.

It is important to conference with students to guide them in picking out appropriate leveled books for Independent Reading (IR).

Develop a routine for working with small groups and meeting one-on-one.

Whole group lessons can consist of choral reading and reader’s theater.

Learning centers to provide more differentiated learning opportunities.

DIFFERENTIATION, CONT.

What happened in writing?

Each student could choose what they wanted to write about on a daily basis. (No writing to prompts on a regular basis.) Students bloomed in their ability to write! (The ability to come up with ideas, and the length of writing.)

Shared writing as a whole class. (ie. Dear Santa letter, describing a person.)

Writing celebrations – a group of students shared their writing every day.

WHAT COULD HAPPEN TO ENRICH DIFFERENTIATION FOR WRITING.

More shared writing opportunities. Interactive writing opportunities where the

students can take turns with the teacher. Writing aloud – where the teacher explains

their thinking and planning before they write and then model their writing.

Constructivist approach to writing lessons. Provide opportunities for students to have more interaction with writing activities.

Paired writing opportunities.

DIFFERENTIATION, CONT

What happened for math?

Wolf River used Investigations for math. Differentiation is built into the curriculum,

allowing students to discover at their own pace. Students who make breakthroughs in their discovery help support their peers through a strong discussion component.

GROUPING

What happened?

For reading, student’s were grouped according to similar abilities. Most attention was given to the low readers.

For math, student groups varied. Sometimes students were in groups because of matching ability and other times in groups with varying abilities to help support their peers.

For writing, students were grouped according to similar abilities.

Groups were changed as students abilities changed.

WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED

A routine for rotating groups for reading and writing should take place so that all students receive differentiated instruction. Students at every level should have the opportunity to be challenged.

ASSESSMENTS

What happened?

The use of the classroom spreadsheets to keep assessment data organized.

A system was developed to determine level of understanding.

. = not understanding / = starting to understand X = understanding * = above average

HOW DID ASSESSMENT DRIVE INSTRUCTION

It facilitated grouping and what the next step was for the student and the group.

It helped determined level of understanding and the need for more practice.

HOW DO THE LARGER SOCIAL CONTEXTS CONSTRAIN OR INFLUENCE THE PRACTICE?

Moderate level of parent volunteers. Fairly strong parental support promoted

these practices that might not occur in lower SES schools

Staff training to support critical thinking. When a thinking routine is developed, each student is thinking at their level, but they are challenged to see others thinking. There are strategies such as; Headlines, 3-2-1 Bridge, Think-Connect-Reflect, and Think-Puzzle-Expl

BIBLIOGRAPHYBrooks, J. G., & Brooks, M. G. (1999). In Search of

Understanding: The Case For Constructivist Classrooms. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Huebner, T. A. (2010). What Research Says About Differentiated Instruction. Educational Leadership.

Routman, R. (2003). Reading Essentials: The Specifics You Need to Teach Reading Well. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Routman, R. (2005). Writing Essentials: Raising Expectations and Results While Simplifying Teaching. Portsmouth, NH: Heinmann.

Tobin, R. & McInnes, A. (2008). Accommodating Differences: Variations in Differentiated Literacy Instruction in Grade 2/3 Classrooms. Literacy 42(1) p. 3-9.

APPENDICES DRA levels on spreadsheet Picture of writing/reading groups Check-list/spreadsheet for math tasks Picture of 1st grade friendly rubric on the Ideas trait 6+1 traits checkpoint list Picture of what it means to be an easy, just right or

challenging book Sample of student work from writing journal Example of what is done in small reading groups Notes from low readers Notes from individual reading/writing folders Lesson plans on the word choice trait 1st grade assessment booklet