Differentiated Instruction

David W. Dillard
Objectives

Be able:
•To define differentiated instruction
•Implement differentiated instruction by
• overcoming obstacles
• identifying current practices
•List strategies to use in the classroom
•Find information and additional resources (provided
in handout)
Definition I

Differentiated instruction:
• Process through which teachers enhance
learning (matching student characteristics to
instruction, assessment)
• Allows all students to access the same classroom
curriculum (provide entry points, learning tasks,
outcomes that are tailored to the students’ needs)
Definition II

In differentiated classrooms: Teachers;

• Begin where students are

• Accept and build upon the premise that learners
differ
• Engage students in instruction through different
learning modalities (appealing to differing
interests, using varied rates of instruction with
varied degrees of complexity
(Carol Ann Tomlinson)
Definition III

In differentiated classrooms: Teachers

• Provide specific ways for individual to learn as

deeply, quickly as possible
• Believe that students should be held to high
standards
• Work to ensure that struggling, advanced, and
in-between students think and work harder,
achieve more, come to believe that learning
involves effort, risk, and personal triumph
Differentiated instruction

Differentiated instruction (sometimes referred

to as differentiated learning):

•Way of thinking about teaching and learning

•Means using a variety of instructional strategies
•Places students (needs) at the center of teaching
and learning
•Engages students in activities that respond to
particular learning needs, strengths, preferences
 Differentiated instruction

• Goals are to develop challenging and engaging

tasks for each learner

• Instructional activities are flexible and based and

evaluated on content, process and product

• Teachers respond to students’ readiness,

instructional needs, interests and learning
preferences, provide opportunities for students to
work in varied instructional formats
Carol Tomlinson identifies four classroom
elements that can be differentiated:
Content: What the student needs to learn

•Concepts should be broad based

•All students should be given access to the same

core content

•Content’s complexity should be adapted to

students’ learner profiles
Carol Tomlinson, professor at the University of Virginia, identifies four
classroom elements that can be differentiated:

Process: Activities in which the student

engages

Examples;
•scaffolding
•flexible grouping
•interest centers
•manipulatives
•varying the length of time for a student to master content,
•encouraging an advanced learner to pursue a topic in
greater depth
Carol Tomlinson, professor at the University of Virginia, identifies four
classroom elements that can be differentiated:

Products: The culminating projects that ask

students to apply and extend what they have
learned.

•Provide students with different ways to

demonstrate their knowledge varying levels of
difficulty
•Group or individual work
•Various means of scoring
Carol Tomlinson, professor at the University of Virginia, identifies four
classroom elements that can be differentiated:

Learning Environment: The way the

classroom works and feels

•Should include areas in which students can work

quietly or collaboratively

•Materials reflect diverse cultures, and routines that

allow students to get help when the teacher isn’t
available
Obstacles

1. I Long to return to the Good Old Days

2. I thought I was differentiating
3. I teach the way I was taught
4. I don’t know how
5. I have too much content to cover
6. I’m good at lecturing
7. I can’t see how I would grade all those different
assignments
Kathie F. Nunley, Differentiating in the High School, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2006.
 Obstacles

8. I thought differentiation was for the elementary

school
9. I subscribe to ability grouping
10. I have real logistic issues
11. I want my classroom under control
12. I don’t know how to measure my students,
learning styles
13. I have neither the time nor the funding for all
that
Kathie F. Nunley, Differentiating in the High School, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2006.
 Obstacles

14. I’ve been teaching this way for years and it

works
15. There’s no support for it at my school
16. My district requires me to follow a prescribed
text
17. Parents expect lecture format in high school for
college prep
18. The bottom line – if they are learning, you are
teaching
Kathie F. Nunley, Differentiating in the High School, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2006.
Response to:

• Student readiness
• Student interests
• Student learning style
• Multiple intelligences
• Success for all students
• What is practical and what is
doable
CRIME

• Curriculum: content, difficulty, standards

• Rules: explicit, implicit, written
• Instruction: teaching style, individual & group
work pace, teacher & student directed
• Materials: textbooks, trade books, tests,
homework, equipment, supplies
• Environment: furniture, seating, space, doors,
windows, barriers
Mary Anne Prater, “She Will Succeed!: Strategies for success in Inclusive Classrooms, Council for Exceptional Children
SHE WILL SUCCEED

Mary Anne Prater, Council for Exceptional Children

Key Guidelines for Differentiation

• All of you are already doing some differentiation

• Take small steps to implement
• Clarify key concepts and generalizations: note
taking is critical
• Use assessment as a teaching tool to extend rather
than merely measure instruction
• Emphasize critical and creative thinking as a goal in
lesson design
• Engaging all learners is essential
• Provide a balance between teacher-assigned and
student-selected tasks
Assessment

• Informal and formative as opposed to summative

• Classroom assessment is ongoing through
personal communications:
– Questioning: try to question all students – level the
question to ability and aim at higher order thinking
– Observation: move around the room, have a room
chart and make notes
– Observation II (class management): you should know
when you have lost “them”
– Discussion: with the whole class, group, or individual
Classroom Assessments

• You have their attention – (They have a pulse)

• One-minute paper (what did the students lean)
• Note-check – teacher and or peer
• Three (???) questions you still have or would like
clarified (collect and answer the next day)
• The Muddiest Point
• One-sentence Summary
• What’s the Principle/Process
• Clickers -- eLearning
• Questioning
Classroom Assessments

• Use a seating chart to log questions/responses

– Can be as easy as +/-
– Can be used for behavior/attention
• Have students keep a response sheet to
questions and collect/check at the end of the
lesson/day
• Clickers/eLearning automated responses
• Thumbs up – thumbs down response to
questions
Questioning I

Remember wait time

Provide at least three seconds of thinking time
after a question and after a response
Utilize "think-pair-share"
Allow individual thinking time, discussion with a
partner, and then open up the class discussion
Ask "follow-ups" (Why? Do you agree? Can you
elaborate?)
Tell me more. Can you give an example?
Withhold judgment
Questioning II

Respond to student answers in a non-evaluative

fashion
Ask for summary (to promote active listening)
Survey the class ("thumbs up, thumbs down")
Allow for student calling on other students
Play devil's advocate
Questioning III

Require students to defend their reasoning

Ask students to "unpack their thinking"("think aloud")
Call on students randomly
Student questioning-Let students develop their own
questions.
Cue student responses. ("There is not a single correct
answer for this question. I want you to consider
alternatives.“)
Graphic Organizers & Note Taking
Do you really know what • Timeline Notes
students are learning, • Venn Diagrams
writing down, • Conversational
understanding? Roundtable
• T-Notes • Episodic Notes
• Cornell Notes • Spreadsheet Notes
• Lit Circle • This is a skill that must be
• Q-Notes taught, use different
• Inference Notes organizers with a specific
• Cluster Notes purpose in mind
• Hierarchical Notes • Check what students
• Think-in-Threes create
Lit Circle Notes
Inference Notes
Q-Notes
Cornell Notes
Tiered Assignments

• Designed to provide different levels of complexity,

abstractness, and open-endedness.

• Curricular content and objective(s) are the same

• The process and/or product are varied according

to the student’s level of readiness
Interest Centers or Interest Groups

• Set up so that learning experiences are directed

toward a specific learner interest

• Allow students to choose a topic that can be

motivating to them

• Include topics or areas that students or groups

can select
Flexible Grouping

• Students work as part of many different groups

depending on the task and/or content.
• Groups assigned:
– Readiness
– Assigned by teacher
– Randomly
– Chosen by students
• Allows students to work with a wide variety of
peers; keeps them from being labeled
Learning Contracts

Agreement between the student and the

teacher
•Teacher specifies the necessary skills
•Student identifies the methods for completing the task (may
or may not be debate on establishing, may or may not be
amendments)
•Allows students to:
– Work at an appropriate pace
– Target their learning style
– Helps students work independently
•An excellent way for students to understand what is
EXPECTED of them.
Choice Boards

• Organizers that contain a variety of activities

• Students choose activities to complete as they

learn a skill or develop a product

• May contain small groups, pairs, or individual

assignments
Differentiated Instructional Strategies
I
• Anchor Activities: are on-going assignments tied to the curriculum and for
which students are accountable that can be worked on independently
throughout a grading period or longer.

• Allowing for multiple right answers: are open-ended assignments that

focus on the process of solving the problem and/or critical thinking.

• Adjusting questions: In class discussions, tests, and homework, teachers

adjust the sorts of questions posed to learners based on their readiness,
interests, and learning profiles.

• Agendas: These are personalized lists of tasks that a student must

complete in a specified time, usually two to three weeks. Student agendas
throughout a class will have similar and dissimilar elements. The agendas
can be personalized (e.g., include IEP tasks, more challenging work) for
individual students, if needed. Students work individually (or in small groups)
to complete the agenda tasks.
Differentiated Instructional Strategies
II
• 4MAT: Teachers who use 4MAT plan instruction for each of four learning
preferences over the course of several days on a given topic. Thus, some
lessons focus on mastery, some on understanding, some on personal
involvement, and some on synthesis. Each learner has a chance to
approach the topic through preferred modes and also strengthen weaker
areas.
• Attention to social issues, real world experiences, and community
projects: are performance assessment tasks, role-plays, simulations, etc.
based on authentic situations of interest to students.

• Centers: are flexible areas in the classroom that address variable learning
needs. Centers differ from stations in that centers are distinct. Stations work
in concert with one another. Two kinds of centers are particularly useful for
differentiated instruction: learning centers and interest centers.

• Chunking: is breaking assignments and activities into smaller, more

manageable parts and providing more structured directions for each part.
Differentiated Instructional Strategies
III
• Compacting: is a process that involves pre-assessing students, giving them
credit for what they already know and allowing them to move ahead in the
curriculum. Compressing the required curriculum into a shorter period of time
so students who master it ahead of their classmates can use the time they "buy
back" for other activities.
• Emphasis on Thinking skills: giving students the opportunity to think aloud,
discuss their thinking with their peers, and reflect on their thinking in journals.

Developing student responsibility: giving the students opportunity to help

develop the evaluation rubrics, write project proposals, and complete self and
group evaluations.

Flexible grouping: matching students to skill work by virtue of readiness, not

with the assumption that all need the same task, computation skill, writing
assignment, etc. Movement among groups is common, based on readiness
on a given skill and growth in that skill.

Flexible pacing: allowing for differences in the students' ability to master the
curricula.
Differentiated Instructional Strategies
IV
• Goal setting and planning: involving students in their individual goal setting
and the planning of learning activities, one to one with the teacher.

Group investigation: working in cooperative mixed-ability groups on

open-ended tasks or in like-ability groups working on appropriately
challenging tasks. Usually the focus is on the process and thinking skills.

Hands-on projects/activities: using manipulative to motivate instructions.

High-level questions: questioning that draw on advanced levels of

information, requiring leaps of understanding and challenging thinking.

Independent study: providing students with the opportunity to work

independently to investigate topics of interest to them.
Differentiated Instructional
Strategies V
• Interdisciplinary/integrated curricula around a theme: thematic units,
which make connections across multiple curricular areas.

Interest centers: are designed to motivate students' exploration of topics for

which they have a particular interest.

Learning centers: are classroom areas that contain a collection of activities

or materials designed to teach, reinforce, or extend a particular skill or
concept.

Learning contract: is a proposal made prior to beginning a project or unit in

which the resources, steps toward completion, and evaluation criteria are
agreed upon with the teacher.

Portfolios: provide a means for helping teachers and parents reflect on

student growth over time. These are collections of student work are excellent
for helping children set appropriate learning goals and evaluating their own
growth.
Differentiated Instructional Strategies
VI
• Problem-Based learning: placing students in the active role of solving
problems in much the same way adult professionals perform their jobs. The
teacher presents students with an unclear, complex problem. Students must
seek additional information, define the problem, locate resources, make
decisions about solutions, pose solution, communicate that solution to others,
and assess the solution's effectiveness.

Stations: are different spots in the classroom where students work on

various tasks simultaneously. Stations work in concert with one another.
Stations allow different students to work with different tasks. They invite
flexible grouping because not all students need to go to all stations all the
time or spend the same amount of time in each station.

This page was created by Michael Szesze, Program Supervisor for Science.
http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/science/instr/differstrategies.htm
Websites
• http://faculty.rmwc.edu/mentor_grant/Differentiated/differe
ntiated_instruction.htm
• http://www.weac.org/kids/1998-99/march99/differ2.htm
• http://pdonline.ascd.org/pd_online/diffinstr/el199909_tomli
nson.html
• http://www.sresd.k12.mi.us/pages/resources/differentInstr
.htm
• http://www.njpep.org/pd/learning/differentiated_learning.ht
ml
• Note taking:
http://www.englishcompanion.com/Tools/notemaking.html
http://www.frsd.k12.nj.us/rfmslibrarylab/di/differentiated_instruction.
htm
http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic73.htm
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/di.htm
http://www.plpsd.mb.ca/division/differen.htm

This page has an Excellent 36-page

handout
http://www.kurwongbss.qld.edu.au/thi
nking/Bloom/blooms.htm
http://www.kn.sbc.com/wired/fil/page
s/listdifferensp.html
http://www.openc.k12.or.us/reaching/
tag/dcsamples.html
http://www.funlessonplans.com/differ
entiated_instruction.htm
http://www.k8accesscenter.org/training_resources/differentiationmo
dule.asp