Transcript part 2
Honoring Cognitive Diversity
by Differentiating Instruction
P HI L I P P E ER N EWEI N
WW W .R E M EM B ER I T.O R G
O C TO B E R 29 , 20 12
Think/Pair/Share
Please think for a minute and select two students
that you teach or have taught who don’t or didn’t fare
so well in school.
Tell a colleague who the students are (pseudonyms
are fine) – and perhaps why they didn’t flourish in
school.
Making sure we are on the same page:
Differentiated Instruction applies an approach to
teaching and learning so that students have multiple
options to take in information and make sense of
ideas.
Because we know students:
Learn at different rates
Need different degrees of difficulty
Have different interests
Learn in different ways
And need different support systems
At the Core of Differentiated Instruction…
Student Traits
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Readiness Level
Interest
Learning Profile
Affect
Classroom Elements
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Content
Process
Product
Learning Environment
Think back to your student…
Can you identify his/her readiness level,
interests and learning profile?
How could you find out during a lesson,
during a day or during a week?
Tiered Approach: definition
An instructional approach designed to have
students of differing readiness levels work with
essential knowledge, understanding, and skill, but
to do so at levels of difficulty appropriately
challenging for them as individuals at a given point
in the instructional cycle.
Tiered Approach: critical elements
Clearly establish what students should know,
understand and be able to do
Share a clear target with the students
Think about readiness levels: pre-assessment/on-going
Develop enough versions of original task/product to
challenge a range of learner
“The Equalizer”
PACE Project Steps
Identify
-Diagnostic learning profile, learning modalities,
personality inventory, MI survey, formative
assessment, exit slips.
Facilitate
-Dedicate classroom workshop time, offer examples,
conduct conferences, environmental structure.
Celebrate
-Create on-going opportunities for students to share
process and final products.
Math & Science Projects
Stairs Project: slope, equation of a line
Cookie Project: multi-step equations, point of
equilibrium, TOV
Postcard Project: estimating profit, price-setting,
supply & demand, equations
Mural Project: scale, ratios, proportions
Medium Prep: RAFT Activities
Acronym: Role, Audience, Format & Topic
Students take on a particular role, develop a product
for a specified audience in a particular format and on
a topic that gets right at the heart of what matters
most in a particular lesson.
RAFT: examples
Role: Student Reporter at Copenhagen Summit
Audience: Congress
Format: Email
Topic: Climate Change
Role: Polar Bear
Audience: Congress
Format: Twitter
Topic: Climate Change
Low Prep Action Steps
Activate and build background
Pre-teach vocabulary
Include words and visuals in your lessons
Most students are not auditory, so write
down what you say.
Provide a graphic organizer and/or guided
notes whenever possible
Low Prep Action Steps
Offer students time and tools to process ideas
(every 7-15 minutes)
Integrate a way for students to express
themselves other than writing (draw, teach,
give analogy, etc)
Give directions in manageable chunks
A: active prior
knowledge
Model: model G: guided
strategy
practice
B: build background P: prompt
knowledge
students to
practice
C: concentrate on
vocabulary
D: describe strategy
E: explain why it is
helpful
Workshop: collaboration & application
What might a PACE Project (or medium or low prep
action) look like in your classroom?
During a lesson, unit or course?
Low Prep
Medium Prep
High Prep
Key words & visuals
in daily lessons
Journal
Incorporate MI
projects into
units/courses
Graphic Organizers
RAFT
What’s on your checklist?
Resources:
Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated
Classroom by Carol Ann Tomlinson
Winning Strategies for Classroom Management by
Carol Cummings
PowerPoint and related hand-outs available at
www.rememberit.org
The Cogs of Differentiation
The Teacher
Responds
Curriculum
&
Instruction
as Vehicle
The Student Seeks