Catering for the Range of Learners: Differentiation
Whole School Action Planning• School Action Plan – - includes a statement of beliefs about inclusive practices
– strategies used to implement inclusion– indicates how needs will be met– involves parents, teachers and support personnel in the planning, on-
going monitoring and evaluation of the plan– Involves students in decision making
• Effective leadership by principal and staff• Coordinated strategies• Attention to inquiry and reflection• Teachers responsibility for the design and
documentation of the classroom teaching program• Capacity building
I am the Teacher
• Clear learning intentions
• Challenging success criteria
• Range of learning strategies
• Know when students are not
progressing
• Providing feedback
• Visibly learns themselves
John Hattie 2010
Students …
• Understand learning intentions
• Are challenged by success criteria
• Develop a range of learning strategies
• Know when they are not progressing
• Seek feedback
• Visibly teach themselves
John Hattie 2010
Six Principles for Differentiation
1. Every child can learn
2. Every teacher can learn
3. Learning is a dynamic process which requires mutual responsiveness
4. Progress will be expected, recognised and rewarded
5. Every child is entitled to high quality education
6. Environments and people can change
(O’Brien 2003)
Knowing the Learner
• Knowing student strengths & affinities• Knowing what students know, understand &
can do in the learning areas/curricula• Understanding the issues that impact on their
learning• Knowing their social/emotional state, self
esteem, self concept
Types of Students in the Classroom
• Successful• Social• Dependent• Alienated• Phantom
Range of Assessment Tools• Psychometric assessment• Observation• Peers assessment• Product assessment – conferencing, interviews• Anecdotal records/checklists• Criteria based assessment video/photo assessment• Norm-referenced tests• Informal assessments
Barriers to Learning
• Language based difficulties
• Attention based difficulties
• Executive function difficulties
Appropriate Challenge
• Too easy - Success takes very little effort• Too difficult - Effort doesn’t pay off• On target - Effort leads to success• Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development
Adapted from Tomlinson, C. 2006
Teachers can differentiate at least four classroom elements based on student readiness, interest, or learning profile:
• Learning environment / how class feels
• Content / what to learn, how to access
• Process / learning experiences
• Products / final level of thinking task
(Tomlinson, C. 2000)
Learning & Teaching
Learning Environment
• What does the learning area look like?• Desk arrangement, visual information, word
walls etc, atmosphere.
Content- the Big Ideas
• What will all students learn- information, concepts, rules, skills, strategies.
• Know your curriculum area thoroughly• Identify what
– All students will learn– Some will– A few will
Process
How the students will learn and how you teach.• e.g. the language you use, importance of
vocab.• Use of visuals• Direct and explicit instruction
Product
• Detailing the outputs required- rubrics• Personalise learning goals• Variety of formats available to demonstrate
learning
Wiggins & McTighe (1998)
Plan learning experiences &
activities
Determine acceptable evidence
Identify desired results
Learning & Teaching What do you need to do to have all students
achieve?
• Program for all• Differentiate the curriculum• Provide explicit teaching• Strategy Instruction with scaffold• Technology• Participation
Levels of InstructionLevels of Instruction
All, Most, Some Planning Matrix
Outcomes Activities Assessment
All
Most
Some
Resources
Alternative Teaching Methods to Whole Class Instruction
• Peer tutoring/reciprocal tutoring• Cross-age tutoring• Small learning groups – teacher lead
groups of 3 to 10 students• Combined grouping formats
Group Instruction
• Groups need to be fluid with opportunities for interchanging roles
• Contracts• Learning Centres• Support personnel
Program Modification
• Content• Methodology• Expectations (?)• Time• Resources• Outcomes
Program Adaptation
• If modifications aren’t providing a high level of success, adaptations may be required:
• Substitute a similar but easier task• Provide an alternate task with a similar
outcome
STRATEGIES FOR MANAGING A DIFFERENTIATED CLASSROOM
tasks and products designed with a multiple intelligence orientation
group / peer investigation
assessment for/as/of learning
rubrics & moderation
use of multiple texts and supplementary materials
use of technology interest centres / authentic experiences
product criteria negotiated jointly by student and teacher
Explicit teaching, Prior Knowledge,
independent learning contracts / goals
Questions, Practice
Learning Styles
• All students benefit from being taught to their learning style strength.
• Teaching students about their personal learning styles empowers them to learn more effectively.
• Providing opportunities for students to select and use the most effective learning style as they are working and learning.
EFFECTIVE STRATEGIESKnow your Student Learning Styles
VISUAL LEARNERS
Student can use
• Clear visual cues
• See the big picture cues
• See information on WB
• Notetaking / visual images
• Computer typing
• Concept mapping
• Genre / report processes
Teacher can offer
• Charts, worksheets,diagrams
• Webbing, mapping, graphic
organisers
• Seating in class
• Use Frameworks
• Diary notes,
• Organizational checklists
• Assessment timetables
Know your Student Learning StylesTHE AUDITORY LEARNER
Student can use
• Clear instructions & directions
• Oral Expressive Language
• Listening oral presentation /
multimedia supports
• Praise
• Sight word vocabularly
• Computer programs
• Calculators
• Reading aloud
Teacher can offer
• Brief - to the point verbal cues
• Written supports
• Media supports - video’s
• Spelling supports
• Computer programs
Know your Student Learning StylesTHE KINESTHETIC LEARNER
Student can use
• Hands on activities
• Quick writing activities
• Memory strategies
Teacher can offer
• Responsible rules
• Breaks
• Workbook requirements
• ICT & Assistive Technology
• Seat changes
• Guided practice support
• Meta-cognitive strategies.
The Explicit Teaching Cycle
Feedback Guided Practice
Teaching
Independent Practice
•(DECS,Cornerstones, Mods 6&7 1994-95)
Explicit Teaching
• Lessons should contain 75% known and 25% unknown
• Plan lessons so that students are successful 80% of the time
Guided Practice
• Initial student practice with teacher guidance
• Ask many questions• All students have chance to respond and
receive feedback• Success rate should be 80% and above
Correction/Feedback
• Student errors indicate a need for more practice
• We need to vary responses to student answers- immediate and correct
-hesitant and correct -incorrect• Regular feedback-at least once every half
hour when learning
Purpose of feedback
• provide alternative strategies to understand material
• increase effort, motivation or engagement
• confirm that the responses are correct or incorrect
• indicate that more information is available or needed
• point to directions that could be pursued
• to restructure understandingsJohn Hattie 2010
Feedback is evidence about:
• Where am I going?
• How am I going?
• Where to next?
John Hattie 2010
Independent Practice
• Provides additional practice to increase speed and automaticity
• Practice to over learning (95% and above)
Closure Activities• Key concepts and understandings are
reinforced through closure activities such as:• Turn to a partner and list the 6 most important
points from the lesson• Visualise/reflect on the lesson content –
discuss/share• Highlight work• Use graphic organisers –mind maps, flow
charts
Cumulative Review• We can’t assume that tasks performed
today will be retained next week, month or next term
• Use the 60%, 40%, 25% recall rate over 10 days
• We can’t assume generalization• Need to check understanding on an
ongoing basis Peter Westwood
Strategies for Understanding
• Show me• Tell me in another way• Draw it• Summarise • Key words – Dictogloss• Brainstorm• Retell/recount• Questioning – fat/skinny questions
Wait Time
• If children are slower in answering questions or providing information consider giving extra “wait” or “thinking time”
• Before supplying a word when listening to reading count quietly/slowly to five
• When listening to a child speak/give information count slowly to three before responding, this allows for any further comments/statements to be added
Praise, Prompt, Leave
• Praise on task behavior by describing specifically what the student has done correctly so far
• Prompt by telling the student what is to be done.
• Leave the student to work independently
Summarizing ExperienceActivity: Add, Zoom, Flashback & Squeeze• First person begins recounting “Red Riding Hood”• When they stop, the next person is asked to add,
zoom, flashback or squeeze• Add: continue recalling the story• Zoom: zoom in or add detail to the previous
speaker’s contribution• Flashback: allows the next speaker to return to any
previous point/description• Squeeze: a summarization of all that has been said to
that point Whitehead, D (1994) Language Across the Curriculum An Interactive Approach Australia:
Australian reading Association
Learning Plans, Goals, Assessment
Assessment• What does the goal look like when completed?• What evidence represents each stage of completion? • How will you assess each stage?• Is each stage of achievement equal?
Cognitive: Decision Making Matrix
1.Cooperating 2.Beginning
3.Consolidating 4.Established
5. Transferred 6. Completed
Goal: Is able to successfully complete a set task. SACSA H&PE
Achievement Assessment Strategies Evidence
Cooperating: Accepting assistance
BeginningAttempting a skill
ConsolidatingPractising a skill
EstablishedConsistently demonstrating
TransferredUsing across situations
CompletedAn activity /sequence
Cognitive: Comparison Matrix
How the Task was Completed
• Assisted• Prompted• Independently• Within set time• Required additional time• Verbal response• Written response
STRATEGIES
What scaffolding do I need to put into place to support students to demonstrate their learning?
Self Regulated StrategiesLook Say Cover Write Check
– SMP (self monitoring performance)• Spelling Rocket Bar Graphs• Question: Why important to
practice?• Practice goal setting – each day
Narrative Writing Strategy– www, what = 2, how = 2
• Self talk through content and self-regulation strategy
• Teach self statements to emotionally cope with negative feelings
• Teach how to self-reinforce Graham, Harris & Sawyer
A SELF HELP STRATEGY I must ask myself:
• Do I know this word?• How many syllables can I hear when I
say the word?• Do I know any other word that
sounds almost the same?• Which letter-groups do I need to
write?• Does the word I have written look
correct?• I’ll try again• Does this look better? Let me check.
Participation
• Classroom organisation & routines
• In-class support – “Who manages it?”
• Student Voice
• Leadership opportunities
• Community involvement
• Real life learning experiences
• Homework skills – school bag
• School Counsellor / SSO/ Parent Volunteers
RESOURCES• http://web.seru.sa.edu.au
– SERU UPDATE
– Special Ed Expo
• www.ldonline.org
• www.allkindsofminds.org
• http://cms.curriculum.edu.au/assessment/default.asp
• http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php
• http://www.autismsa.org.au/
• http://www.suelarkey.com/