Differentiating Instruction:
Beginning the Journey
"In the end, all learners need
your energy, your heart and
your mind. They have that in
common because they are
young humans. How they
need you however, differs.
Unless we understand and
respond to those differences,
we fail many learners." *
* Tomlinson, C.A. (2001). How to differentiate instruction in mixed
ability classrooms (2nd Ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Differentiated
Instruction
Defined
Differentiated instruction is a teaching
philosophy based on the premise that teachers
should adapt instruction to student differences.
Rather than marching students through the
curriculum lockstep, teachers should modify their
instruction to meet students varying readiness
levels, learning preferences, and interests.
Therefore, the teacher proactively plans a variety
of ways to get at and express learning.
Carol Ann Tomlinson
Differentiation Is a
Response to Beliefs.
How Does Research Support DI?
Differentiated Instruction is the result of a
synthesis of a number of educational theories
and practices.
Brain research indicates that learning occurs
when the learner experiences moderate
challenge and relaxed alertness readiness
Psychological research reveals that when
interest is tapped, learners are more likely to
find learning rewarding and become more
autonomous as a learner.
Key Principles of a Differentiated Classroom
The teacher is clear about what matters in subject matter.
The teacher understands, appreciates, and builds upon student differences.
Assessment and instruction are inseparable.
The teacher adjusts content, process, and product in response to student
readiness, interests, and learning profile.
All students participate in respectful work.
Students and teachers are collaborators in learning.
Goals of a differentiated classroom are maximum growth and individual
success.
Flexibility is the hallmark of a differentiated classroom.
Differentiation of Instruction
Is a teachers response to learners needs
guided by general principles of
differentiation
Respectful tasks Flexible grouping Continual assessment
Appropriate Degrees of
Clear Learning Goals Challenge
Teachers Can Differentiate Through:
Content Process Product
Based on Students
Readiness Interests Learning
Profile
Human Beings Share
Common Feelings and
Needs, and Schools
Should Help Us
Understand and Respect
Those Commonalities.
Individuals Also Differ
Significantly as Learners;
These Differences Matter
In The Classroom, and
Schools Should Help Us
Understand and Respect
These Differences.
Two Views of Assessment
Assessment is for: Assessment is for:
Gatekeeping Nurturing
Judging Guiding
Right Answers Self-Reflection
Control Information
Comparison to others Comparison to task
Use with single activities Use over multiple activities
THINKING ABOUT
ON-GOING ASSESSMENT
STUDENT DATA SOURCES TEACHER DATA MECHANISMS
1. Journal entry 1. Anecdotal records
2. Short answer test 2. Observation by checklist
3. Open response test 3. Skills checklist
4. Home learning 4. Class discussion
5. Notebook 5. Small group interaction
6. Oral response 6. Teacher student conference
7. Portfolio entry 7. Assessment stations
8. Exhibition 8. Exit cards
9. Culminating product 9. Problem posing
10. Question writing 10. Performance tasks and rubrics
11. Problem solving
Assessment in a
Differentiated Classroom
Assessment drives instruction. (Assessment information
helps the teacher map next steps for varied learners and the
class as a whole.)
Assessment occurs consistently as the unit begins,
throughout the unit and as the unit ends. (Pre-assessment,
formative and summative assessment are regular parts of
the teaching/learning cycle.)
Teachers assess student readiness, interest and learning
profile.
Assessments are part of teaching for success.
Assessment in a
Differentiated Classroom
Assessment MAY be differentiated.
Assessment information helps students chart and
contribute to their own growth.
Assessment information is more useful to the
teacher than grades.
Assessment is more focused on personal growth
than on peer competition.
Flexible Grouping
Students are part of many different groups (and
also work alone) based on the match of the
task to student readiness, interest, or learning
style.
Flexible Grouping
Sometimes students select work groups, and
sometimes teachers select them. Sometimes
student group assignments are purposeful
and sometimes random.
Flexible Grouping
Teachers may create skills groups that
are heterogeneous or homogeneous in
readiness level.
Change Is Imperative
in Todays
Classrooms.
Best Practices for
Standards-based Instruction
Activities and Assignments
From: To:
Teacher presentation Students experiencing concepts
Whole-class instruction Centers, groups, variety
Uniform curriculum Topics by students needs or
choice
Extended activities
Short-term lessons
Application and problem solving
Memorization and recall
Complex responses, evaluations
Short responses, fill-in-the-
and writing
blank
Multiple intelligences, cognitive
Same assignments
styles
Best Practices for
Standards-based Instruction
Student Work and Assessment
From: To:
Products for teacher / grading Products for real events / audience
No student work displayed High quality / all students
Identical, imitative products Varied and original products
Feedback = scores or grades Substantive, varied, formative
feedback
Seen / scored only by teacher Public displays and performances
Teacher grade book Student-maintained portfolios,
assessments
Standards set during grading Standards co-developed with
students
For Schools to Become
What They Ought to
Be, We Need Systematic
Change.
Planning a Focused Curriculum
Means Clarity About
What Students Should:
Know Facts (Columbus came to the New World
Vocabulary (voyage, scurvy)
Understand Concepts (exploration, change)
Principles/Generalizations (Change can be both positive and negative.
Exploration results in change. Peoples perspectives affect how they
respond to change).
Be Able to Do Skills
Basic (literacy, numeracy)
Thinking (analysis, evidence of reasoning, questioning)
Of the Discipline (graphing/math/social studies)
Planning (goal setting; use of time)
Social
Production
These are the
facts, vocabulary, dates, places,
names, and examples you want students to give
you.
The know is massively forgettable.
Teaching facts in isolation is like trying to pump water
uphill. Carol Tomlinson
Major Concepts:
These are the written statements of truth, the core to the
meaning(s) of the lesson(s) or unit. These are what connect the
parts of a subject to the students life and to other subjects.
It is through the understanding component of instruction that we
teach our students to truly grasp the point of the lesson or the
experience.
Understandings are purposeful. They focus on the key ideas
that require students to understand information and make
connections while evaluating the relationships that exit within
the understandings.
A Student who UNDERSTANDS
Something can
Explain it clearly, giving examples
Use it
Compare and contrast it with other concepts
Relate it to other instances in the subject studies,
other subjects and personal life experiences
Transfer it to unfamiliar settings
Discover the concept embedded within a novel
problem
A Student who UNDERSTANDS
Something can
Combine it appropriately with other understandings
Pose new problems that exemplify or embody the concept
Create analogies, models, metaphors, symbols, or pictures
of the concept
Pose and answer what-if questions that alter variables in
a problematic situation
Generate questions and hypotheses that lead to new
knowledge and further inquiries
Generalize from specifics to form a concept
Use the knowledge to appropriately assess his or her
performance, or that of someone else.
Skills
These are the basic skills of any discipline. They include the
thinking skills such as analyzing, evaluating, and
synthesizing. These are the skills of planning, the skills of
being an independent learner, the skills of setting and
following criteria, the skills of using the tools of knowledge
such as adding, dividing, understanding multiple
perspectives, following a timeline, calculating latitude, or
following the scientific method.
Change Is Difficult,
Slow and Uncertain.
WAYS TO DIFFERENTIATE
CONTENT
Reading Partners / Reading Buddies
Read/Summarize
Read/Question/Answer
Visual Organizer/Summarizer
Parallel Reading with Teacher Prompt
Choral Reading/Antiphonal Reading
Flip Books
Split Journals (Double Entry Triple Entry)
Books on Tape
WAYS TO DIFFERENTIATE
CONTENT
Highlights on Tape
Digests/ Cliff Notes
Note-taking Organizers
Varied Texts
Varied Supplementary Materials
Highlighted Texts
Think-Pair-Share/Preview-Midview-Postview
WAYS TO DIFFERENTIATE
PROCESS
Fun & Games
Cubing, Think Dots
Choices (Intelligences)
Centers
Tiered lessons
Contracts
Developing a Tiered Activity
1
Select the activity organizer 2
concept Think about your students/use assessments
Essential to building
generalization a framework of skills
understanding readiness range reading
thinking
interests information
learning profile
3 talents
Create an activity that is
interesting 4
high level High skill/
causes students to use Chart the Complexity
key skill(s) to understand complexity of
a key idea the activity
Low skill/
complexity
5
Clone the activity along the ladder as
needed to ensure challenge and success
for your students, in
materials basic to advanced 6
form of expression from familiar to
unfamiliar Match task to student based on
from personal experience to removed
from personal experience
student profile and task
equalizer requirements
Designing a Differentiated Learning
Contract
A Learning Contract has the following
components
1. A Skills Component
Focus is on skills-based tasks
Assignments are based on pre-assessment of students readiness
Students work at their own level and pace
2. A content component
Focus is on applying, extending, or enriching key content (ideas, understandings)
Requires sense making and production
Assignment is based on readiness or interest
3. A Time Line
Teacher sets completion date and check-in requirements
Students select order of work (except for required meetings and homework)
4. The Agreement
The teacher agrees to let students have freedom to plan their time
Students agree to use the time responsibly
Guidelines for working are spelled out
Consequences for ineffective use of freedom are delineated
Signatures of the teacher, student and parent (if appropriate) are placed on the agreement
WAYS TO DIFFERENTIATE
PRODUCT
Choices based on readiness, interest, and learning
profile
Clear expectations
Timelines
Agreements
Product Guides
Rubrics
Evaluation
Systematic Change
Requires Both
Leadership and
Administration.
Administrative Roles in Achieving
Differentiation
Introduce all teachers to concept
Provide opportunities for training
Establish expectations
Provide opportunities for training
Provide opportunities for teachers to demonstrate and
share
Provide support resources, time, expect teachers
assistance
Administrative Roles in Achieving
Differentiation
Encourage risk-taking
Observe and evaluate (develop tools to do this for my
sites focus)
Provide feedback
Model lessons and team teaching
Reward progress
What Leaders Do
Speaks with Greater
Force Than What
They Say.
Leadership in Differentiation
To be effective in using differentiation, site
administrators and central office should be:
Consistent:
Use vocabulary that is clear and commonly
understood by the principal, the parent, the
teacher
Articulate the philosophy: Kids differ.
State the expectations: all of us must g row in
responsiveness. That we must change / grow /
differentiate is non-negotiable; the path that we
each may take is negotiable.
Leadership in Differentiation
Persistent:
State and follow long term goals at all levels:
classroom, school site, district
State and follow short term goals at all levels
Set time-lines so that everyone knows these goals are
not going away
Provide on-going sharing of how
Provide on-going sharing of results throughout the
school and district
Leadership in Differentiation
Insistent:
Require that differentiation be part of teacher plans
Require that differentiation be part of school plans
Require that differentiation be part of all staff
development
Link differentiation to observations, feedback, peer
review, mentoring, evaluations
PRINCIPALS SUPPORTING DI
Capitalize on support from district-level
administrators, curriculum supervisors or
specialists,
Develop supervision techniques that motivate
and recognize efforts to initiate and/or
implement DI strategies
Choose professional development
opportunities that provide follow-up
coaching and allows time to practice new
skills
PRINCIPALS SUPPORTING DI
Build professional learning communities:
job-embedded learning, study groups,
action research, peer coaching,
collaborative planning and review of
student work
Effectively use faculty meetings and non-
instructional time
Serve as coach: provide/receive feedback,
know role vs. evaluator, coaching
practices
To support differentiation, leaders should
Establish clarity of definition
Provide an environment supportive of risk
Balance seeing the light & feeling the heat
Differentiate for teachers
Provide guidance in beginning sensible and progressing
steadily
Provide materials and time
To support differentiation, leaders should
Communicate with parents
Begin with those ready to start
Develop planning and teaching teams which
routinely include regular, remedial and special
ed. personnel
Start small, build local leadership
To support differentiation, leaders should
Integrate differentiation into curriculum
development
Maintain long term commitment to change
Provide time for on-going dialogue about
differentiation both site workdays, release
time, faculty meetings
The Focus of School
Change Must Be
Classroom Practice.
In learning to differentiate, teachers
may need help with . . .
A rationale for differentiation
Pre-assessing student readiness
Effective work with classroom groups
Flexible grouping
Resolving issues regarding grading / report
cards
In learning to differentiate, teachers
may need help with . .
Role of the teacher in a differentiated
classroom
Appropriate use of varied instructional
strategies
Using concept-based instruction
Develop carefully focused tasks and products
Knowing how to teach struggling learners
without remedial expectations
LOOK-FORS in the Classroom
Learning experiences are based on
student readiness, interest, or learning
profile.
Assessment of student needs is ongoing,
and tasks are adjusted based on
assessment data.
All students participate in respectful
work.
The teacher is primarily a coordinator of
time, space, and activities rather than
primarily a provider of group
information.
LOOK-FORS in the Classroom
Students work in a variety of groups
configurations. Flexible grouping is evident.
Time use is flexible in response to student
needs.
The teacher uses a variety of instructional
strategies to help target instruction to student
needs.
Clearly established criteria are used to help
support student success.
Student strengths are emphasized
There Is No Recipe, No
Blueprint For
Change.
A Wise Leader For
School Change Is
Armed With Humanity
and Common Sense.
The Journey Is
PossibleThe Complex
and Uncertain Things Are
Often Most Rewarding.
Whatever it Takes!
