Recent Scholarship on Differentiated Instruction

An Electronic Scrapbook

by Ryan Peterson

EDE 360

Summer 2013

Differentiated Instruction: Can Differentiated Instruction Provide Success For All

LearnersBy Olga N. De Jesús

http://ftp1.whitworth.edu:2238/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=f3e5808d-614a-4481-b801-9d848c1b7f32%40sessionmgr13&vid=5&hid=26

Details Worth Remembering

• Support for Differentiated Instruction spawned from the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1997, and was originally geared to include special education students in the general classroom (p. 5).

• Cooperative Learning helps students of different skill levels and talents work together to accomplish a common goal (p. 7).

• Project-Based Learning prepares students for the workplace through problem-solving exercises related to real-world issues. Again, students must work together to meet collective goals (pp. 7-8).

• Olenchak’s 2001 study showed how Differentiated Instruction benefits Gifted and Talented students as well (p. 9).

Differentiated Instruction: Can Differentiated Instruction Provide Success For All LearnersBy Olga N. De Jesús

Important to Know• “Differentiation is the practice of modifying and

adapting materials, content, student projects and products, and assessment to meet the needs of students” (p. 6).

• Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences explains how students show learning in eight different ways. It challenges educators to develop curricula and lessons that could bring out skills that each student possesses (pp. 7-8).

• Differentiated Instruction has proven to more effectively help students utilize higher order thinking skills than traditional methods. Traditional methods often only develop lower-level thinking skills, such as memorization (pp. 6-7).

Differentiated Instruction: Can Differentiated Instruction Provide Success For All LearnersBy Olga N. De Jesús

Enduring Understandings

• Differentiation meets the needs of all students, no matter what their learning style, background, or need. It gives them appropriate levels of challenge, accommodation, and support to help them find success.

• Schools and teachers that differentiate instruction respect all students as individuals with unique abilities that can benefit the rest of the group. Rather than purveyors of content, teachers must see themselves as creative facilitators of individualized student learning.

Differentiated Instruction: Can Differentiated Instruction Provide Success For All LearnersBy Olga N. De Jesús

Differentiated Instruction: Three Teacher’s PerspectivesBy Jennifer P. Bailey and

Thea Hayes Williams-Blackhttp://ftp1.whitworth.edu:2238/ehost/detail?vid=4&sid=9853e385-93d3-4ab7-9014-3786bc4d3796%40sessionmgr14&hid=26&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=

ehh&AN=33435085

Details Worth Mentioning• Dr. Williams-Black conducted “interest inventories” at the beginning of her course to tailor content to her students’ particular interests (p. 135).

• Only 3 of the 14 survey respondents in this study adequately differentiated their literacy instruction (p. 138).

• Teachers must strike a balance between allowing students to work at their own pace versus imposing a deadline (p. 136).

• Graphic organizers are effective tools to aid students, especially visual-spatial students, with reading comprehension (pp. 144-145).

Differentiated Instruction: Three Teacher’s PerspectivesBy Jennifer P. Bailey and

Thea Hayes Williams-Black

Important to Know• Teachers may differentiate for content in reading by providing different resources that match students’ skill level or interest. These may replace standardized grade-level textbooks (p. 144).

• Students who have chosen their own content to learn or activities to show their learning will acquire vocabulary and higher-order thinking at a faster rate (p. 135).

• Frontloading activities and student self-progress methodslead to greater student independence and a stronger knowledge of academic language (pp. 145-146).

Differentiated Instruction: Three Teacher’s PerspectivesBy Jennifer P. Bailey and

Thea Hayes Williams-Black

Enduring Understandings

• Teachers who differentiate the content, process, and/or product of their classroom instruction, according to students’ needs, modalities, and interests, generally have more motivated and successful students.

• Many simple instructional strategies, such as workstations and learning logs, simultaneously applied, help students gain confidence and control of their own learning.

• Differentiated Instruction helps students take more responsibility for their own learning because they have played a role in choosing materials and activities.

Differentiated Instruction: Three Teacher’s PerspectivesBy Jennifer P. Bailey and

Thea Hayes Williams-Black

The Promise and Pitfalls of Differentiated Instruction for Undergraduate Political

Science Courses: Student and Instructor Perceptions of an Unconventional Instructional Teaching Strategy

By Howard R. Ernst and Tracey L. Ernsthttp://ftp1.whitworth.edu:2238/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=9853e385-93d3-4ab7-9014-3786bc4d3796%40sessionmgr14&vid=7&hid=26

Details Worth Mentioning• Several empirical studies support differentiation related to the connection between student interest, readiness-targeted instruction, and academic success (p. 41).

• Opinion surveys, reading-response questions, and mini-presentations are a few examples of continuous assessments in differentiated education (p. 45).

• It is easy to underestimate differences in student readiness and modalities in classes where most students have similar socioeconomic backgrounds (p. 50).

• “Guide on the side” not “sage on the stage” (p. 44).

• Many educators hesitate to embrace differentiation because it holds different students to different standards. They fear that some students may “game” the method to earn high grades (p. 56).

The Promise and Pitfalls of Differentiated Instruction for Undergraduate Political Science Courses: Student and Instructor Perceptions of an Unconventional Instructional Teaching Strategy

By Howard R. Ernst and Tracey L. Ernst

Important to Know

• Traditional assessments measure knowledge at specific intervals. They often do not influence later assessments. Differentiated assessments occur continuously and shape future assessments (pp. 42-43).

• Tracking classifies students into long-term, homogeneous groups, whereas flexible groupings are temporary, may contain various skill levels or learning styles, and give each student a distinct role to serve in a group activity (p. 43).

• “Equality” in differentiation refers to an appropriate level of difficulty, not identical activities or “sameness” (p. 43, 55).

• The practicality of differentiated instructional methods will differ depending upon the level of the students, class sizes, and the amount of contact hours between the teacher and students (p. 55).

The Promise and Pitfalls of Differentiated Instruction for Undergraduate Political Science Courses: Student and Instructor Perceptions of an Unconventional Instructional Teaching Strategy

By Howard R. Ernst and Tracey L. Ernst

Enduring Understandings

• Differentiated lessons must adapt continuously based on students’ formative assessments. Teachers must arrange differentiated reviews or supplementary activities based on students’ needs.

• The differentiated classroom counts on purposeful, flexible groupings to maximize student learning. These link students based on learning profile, interests, and readiness.

• Differentiated assessments, particularly as related to assigning grades, have some ethical concerns, especially at the secondary and post-secondary levels.

The Promise and Pitfalls of Differentiated Instruction for Undergraduate Political Science Courses: Student and Instructor Perceptions of an Unconventional Instructional Teaching Strategy

By Howard R. Ernst and Tracey L. Ernst

References

• Bailey, J. P., & Williams-Black, T. (2008). Differentiated instruction: Three teacher’s perspectives. College Reading Association Yearbook, 29, 133-151.

• De Jesus, O. N. (2012). Differentiated instruction: Can differentiated instruction provide success for all learners? National Teacher Education Journal, 5(3), 5-11.

• Ernst, H. R., & Ernst, T. L. (2005). The promise and pitfalls of differentiated instruction for undergraduate political science courses: Student and instructor impressions of an unconventional teaching strategy. Journal Of Political Science Education, 1(1), 39-59.