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Differential Instructions

Kristy Gearhart, Belinda Jennings and Jason Palazzi

MTE/533

September 29, 2014

Dr. Sylvia Hill

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Topics

• Four trends in differential instructions that are tailored to meet the needs of all learners

• Determining if the trend can be used for math & science or both

• Instructional issues using the identified trend for diverse learners

• Lesson plan outline that implements one of the trends

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Learning Objectives:

• Students will become familiar with vocabulary related to differentiated instruction.

• Understand basic principles of differentiating

content, process, and product in an

academically diverse classroom.• Be able to implement one or more

instructional strategies that support

differentiation.

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0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011Prior Knowledge

DIVERSE LEARNING

STYLES

Personal Experiences

Interests

READINESS LEVELS

Motivators

Prior Educational Experiences

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What is Differential Instructions

• Differential instructions are instructions that are tailored to meet the needs of all learners.

• Differential instructions involves ongoing assessment and group strategies.

• Differential instructions recognized varying background knowledge, learning styles, interest, personal experiences and readiness levels.

• The purpose of instituting differential instruction is to ensure the growth of every student while assisting them in the learning process.

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Four trends in differentiating instructions

• Differentiate Through Teams – Ensures that students get the proper attention needed by placing

them with students on a similar learning style and level.• Reflection and Goal Setting

– Throughout the project, students should be reflecting on their work and setting goals for further learning (Miller, 2014).

• Mini-Lessons– In addition to being a great management strategy to prevent "time

sucks" in class, mini-lessons are a great way to differentiate instruction (Miller, 2014).

• Use of Technology– Technology is used to increase interest by all students, it can also

help educate students in a way that fits their own learning style.

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Math, Science, or Both

• Differentiate through teams– Used in both math and science but is more effective in the use of

science• Reflection and Goal Setting

– Effective is all subject matters• Mini-Lessons

– Effective when used properly in all subject matters– Can be very useful in mathematics to ensure students are

understanding information• Use of Technology

– Technology should be used in all core subjects, and is very useful

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Instructional Issues with these trends

•Differentiate Through Teams – If the teacher’s instructional approach to the teams is the same, it does not provide the individuals in the teams with different cognitive challenges suited for those individuals.

•Reflection and goal setting – This trend centers on the students setting personal learning goals and reflecting on the learning. This is only effective if the state standards are at the base of the goal. Regardless of what the goal is of the student, the state standards must be taught and learned.

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Instructional Issues with these trends cont.

Use of mini-lessons – Each lesson breaks the content down into smaller learning chunks with activities that relate to that lesson. These lessons help those learners who need additional help making connections to the content, but can become time wasters for those students who already understand the content.

Use of Technology – For technology to be useful in the classroom, the technology must be up to date to suit the needs of the students and must be functional at all times. The moment technology fails in the classroom without a back up, the educator is left filling time or changing their lessons to work around the pitfall.

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Lesson Plan OutlineLesson Plan Intended Grade Level: 6th Grade Activity Title: Weather Maps & Weather Prediction State Standard: S8.D.2.1: Explain how pressure, temperature, moisture and wind are used to describe atmospheric conditions that affect regional weather or climate.Specific Objective:a. Instructional (teacher) Objective: Students will be able to describe weather forecasting. Students will be able to explain how different forms of weather data are obtained.Behavioral (learner) Objective: Students will demonstrate knowledge of content through their poster and question presentation with 80% accuracy.

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Lesson Plan Outline

Sequence of the Lesson:

• Building background by asking open-ended questions.– Who or what is a Meteorologist?– What tools are used to predict weather?– Why do we predict the weather?

Allow the students a couple of minutes to consider the questions, making notes in their writing journals.

• Class discussions on open-ended questions, engaging learners about the topic.– Have the students share their thoughts on the questions.– Have them reflect on prior knowledge during class discussion.

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Lesson Plan Outline cont.• Introduce Weather Maps and how to interpret them.

– Satellite Maps– Radar Maps– Precipitation Maps– Temperature Maps– Wind Speeds Maps– Weather Front Maps

Discuss how a meteorologist reads the maps and how they are used to predict the weather.

• Weather Map poster board activity.– Break students into six groups– Provide the students with poster board with the U.S. on them– Assign each group a different weather map to look for on the internet and recreate that weather

map on the poster board.• Give students starter websites to help with their search, this way you are sure they sites

are reliable.• Provide several in-depth questions for the students to answer based on their research.

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Lesson Plan Outline

Materials Required:Websites:

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/weather/wsatwork.htm

http://weather.cnn.com/weather/forecast.jsp?locCode=USPA1704&zipCode=15147

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/weather/wearadar.htm

http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/%28Gh%29/guides/mtr/cld/prcp/home.rxml

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/weather/whattemp.htm

http://www.weather.com/maps/maptype/currentweatherusnational/uscurrentwindsgusts_large.hml

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/weather/wpress.htm

http://www.weather.com/maps/maptype/currentweatherusnational/index_large.html

https://eo.ucar.edu/kids/sky/air5.htm

 

Writing journals

 Posters with an Outline of the US on each of them

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Lesson Plan Outline

• Poster Presentation– The students will present their posters and their answers to the specific

questions that their teams were asked.• This presentation and questions will be used as the assessment.

• Wrap-up– Provide a moment of reflection as a class, reviewing the lesson and a

question and answer session if needed.

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References• DifferentiationCentral.com (2010) Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/dont96/differentiating-instruction-

34912640?related=1

• Efficacy Institute (1995). Critical Issue: Working Toward Student Self-Direction and Personal Efficacy as Educational Goals. Retrieved from: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr200.htm

• Ford, M. (2005). Differentiation Through Flexible Grouping: Successfully Reaching All Readers. Retrieved from: http://www.learningpt.org/pdfs/literacy/flexibleGrouping.pdf

• Group work picture. Retrieved from: http://cn.dreamstime.com/forumm_8966_pg9

• Miller, A. (2014, April 13). Six Strategies for Differentiated Instruction in Project-Based Learning. Edutopia. Retrieved September 28, 2014, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/differentiated-instruction-strategies-pbl-andrew-miller

• Presentation picture. Retrieved from: https://www.google.com/search?q=pictures+of+students+giving+a+presentation+on+weather

• Technology being used picture. Retrieved from: https://www.google.com/search?q=pictures+of+students+in+a+classroom