Session #1: Setting the Tone for Differentiation
Participants will:
Know how to...
Set up a classroom for successful differentiation
a. Physical considerations
b. Emotional considerations
Explain differentiation to students and parents
Set up key routines for differentiation
a. Getting the right assignment to the right student
b. Getting kids into groups
c. Giving multiple sets of directions
d. Handling materials
e. Keeping the noise level reasonable
f. Choosing and designing anchor activities
g. Evaluating and teaching group skills
Keep track of student progress
Understand that...
Teachers in a differentiated classroom must be good managers of space, time, materials, and students
Students must be taught how to function well in the DI classroom
A smoothly running differentiated classroom requires that teachers and students adjust the ways they think about their respective roles and responsibilities
If you can manage a classroom, you can manage a differentiated classroom
Be Able To...
Anticipate and address common management concerns related to setting up, maintaining, and refining a smoothly running differentiated classroom
Assignment 1 will involve at least one of the following:
For Teachers:
Identify management “hotspots” and evaluating current proficiency in dealing with those issues
Identifying and attempting a new strategy from the presentation or other source
Observing a colleague implement a management strategy
Reflecting on management issues and implementation
For Administrators:
Analyzing specific needs of your school or a team of teachers in your school in terms of addressing management issues
Modeling ways to address a management concern either in a classroom or in a staff development setting
Observing and analyzing a teacher’s use of management strategies to support differentiation
Collecting and reflecting upon students and/or teachers’ reactions to the strategy
Session #2: Getting Ready to Differentiate a UNIT of study
Participants will:
Know...
The meaning and importance of the KUD in planning for high quality differentiation
How to adapt other objective setting models to meet the requirements of high quality differentiation
Role of preassessment in differentiating a unit of study
Understand that...
High quality differentiation must begin with high quality curriculum, which includes a clear focus on learning goals that go beyond knowledge and skills to include big ideas or essential understandings of a discipline
We can’t differentiate a unit of study well unless we have evidence of the varied needs of students in terms of readiness, interest, and learning profile
Be Able To...
Tell the difference between a learning objective that focuses on knowledge, understanding, and/or skill
Write a coherent and cohesive KUD for a unit of study and for specific lessons within that unit of study
Design an appropriate unit preassessment that gathers information about a variety of aspects of student readiness, interest, and learning profile
Assignment 2 will involve at least one of the following:
For Teachers:
Writing and field testing a unit KUD
Analyzing the application of an existing unit KUD
Designing and carrying out a preassessment that supports a unit KUD and showing how to use the results to differentiate appropriately
Analyzing the usefulness of an existing preassessment that supports a unit KUD and ways in which this information is used to differentiate the unit
Reflecting on the experience
For Administrators:
Determining the readiness of your staff to analyze and write unit KUDs
Designing a staff meeting to introduce or reinforce the writing of KUDs and/or preassessments
Designing and carrying out a preassessment that supports a KUD for staff development and showing how to use the results to differentiate appropriately
Writing, field testing and/or analyzing a preassessment for differentiated staff development
Analyzing the usefulness of an existing preassessment that supports a unit KUD and ways in which this information is used to differentiate the unit
Session #3: Differentiating a UNIT of study
Participants will:
Know...
What the flow of a differentiated UNIT looks like
How to incorporate more than one “flavor” of differentiation into classroom content, process, and product
How to plan for and track flexible grouping in the differentiated classroom
Understand that...
Good differentiated units incorporate appropriate differentiation of content, process, and product for variations in student interests, learning profiles, and readiness
What and how you choose to differentiate your units depends on your unit goals, the students for whom you are designing the unit, and your own comfort level with the strategies of differentiation
Be Able To...
Outline a unit of study that reflects the principles of good differentiated practice from start to finish.
Assignment 3 will involve at least one of the following:
For Teachers:
Explaining the role of the role of flexible grouping in the differentiation model and reflecting on your own comfort with a variety of aspects of flexible grouping
Outlining and annotating a plan to differentiate a unit of study for interest, readiness, and learning profile
Analyzing and evaluating the flow of differentiation in existing differentiated units of study
For Administrators:
Designing a staff meeting to introduce or reinforce the role of flexible grouping in the differentiation model
Outlining and annotating a plan to differentiate a staff development initiative for interest, readiness, and learning profile
Analyzing and evaluating the flow of differentiation in existing differentiated units of study
Session #4: Evaluating a Differentiated Unit of Study
Participants will:
Know...
How to design a culminating product assignment that appeals to varied interests, learning profiles, and readiness levels
How to evaluate the effectiveness of a differentiated unit study from the perspective of the student and the teacher
Common worries about grading in the DI classroom and varied ways teachers approach these concerns
Understand that...
When we provide more than one way for students to show what they have learned in a unit of study we are more likely to get a complete picture of student knowledge, understanding, and skill
There are fundamental difficulties with the way grading is handled in most schools, so to be successful with grading in the differentiated classroom we must first wrestle with these general difficulties
It is unlikely that we will ever agree on one “fair” grading system, however teachers in a differentiated classroom must THINK about the decisions they make about grading and CONSIDER the ramifications of those decisions for students in general as well as for individual students
Be Able To...
Design a differentiated culminating assessment for a unit of study
Consider multiple perspectives on grading
Explain how the philosophy behind differentiation might impact grading decisions
Begin to develop a philosophy of defensible grading in the differentiated classroom
Assignment 3 will involve at least one of the following:
For Teachers:
Designing or adapting an existing culminating assessment so that it responds to differences in student interest, readiness, and/or learning profile
Carrying out and reflecting upon a differentiated culminating assessment
Reading, analyzing, and responding to given scenarios in which grading of differentiated assignments is a key issue.
Devising a product to communicate to key stakeholders your philosophy of grading in the differentiated classroom
For Administrators:
Designing or adapting an existing teacher evaluation process so that it responds to differences in student interest, readiness, and/or learning profile
Analyzing and reflecting upon a differentiated culminating assessment
Reading, analyzing, and responding to given scenarios in which grading of differentiated assignments is a key issue.
Devising a staff development to deal with issues surrounding grading in the differentiated classroom
