The following steps were taken by a school district in North Carolina in order to implement differentiation. The school district began the involved process of beginning differentiation through providing workshops for interested educators during the summer. These educators worked together to prepare differentiated lessons, projects, and learning contracts. In addition, each educator met with the district's coordinator of gifted programs to help in preparing differentiated units, in giving feedback, and in modeling teaching. These teachers were also hired for one week during the summer to work collaboratively on lessons and units. Teachers began differentiating instruction by reviewing the materials they used in the past for teaching a topic or concept.By reviewing the materials they used in the past, the teachers determined the concepts and skills that they wanted to teach. Then, teachers differentiated one major unit that lasted from many days to a few weeks of time. They differentiated instruction for the gifted students first, allowing teachers to identify exemplary work first. Next, teachers created expectations for several levels of learners including above-, on-, and below-grade-level work. They created differentiated rubrics which stated the performance expectations for every student. The expectations varied according to the students cognitive levels in the subject. In assessing the progress of providing differentiated instruction, both teachers and students were asked to assess the effectiveness of differentiated instruction, allowing input from those teaching the unit as well as those receiving the instruction (Page 2000)
Recommendations for Implementing Differentiated Instruction
Tips from Sandra Page's When Changes for the Gifted Spur Differentiation for All
- Take small steps when beginning differentiated instruction.
- Get a buddy (a fellow educator) to provide support and with whom you can collaborate.
- Begin the implementation of differentiated instruction by offering staff development to a small, interest group of teachers.
- Provide resources for a defined target group to develop strong, fully implemented curriculum changes.
- Begin with what materials that you previously used for curriculum and instruction.
- Start differentiating your favorite unit.
- Find out what students know (offer ongoing assessment).
- Align your objectives.
- Plan flexible groupings.
- Encourage student responsibility.
- Prepare and support collaboration with teachers and students.
- Provide choice.
- Share successes to encourage the spread of differentiated instruction throughout the school district.
- Include differentiation in personal and building-level goals and planning.
- Assess everyone involved in the implementation of differentiation to communicate how differentiation is working.
- Provide ongoing staff development in differentiated instruction.
- Provide administrative support.
Tips from Wehrmann's Baby Steps: A Beginner's Guide - Take baby steps
- Make activities different don't just add more of the same.
- The best way to meet the needs of the gifted in a mixed-ability classroom is to raise the bar for everyone.
- Find your students' passions.
Strategies from Wehrmann's Baby Steps: A Beginner's Guide - When planning units, consider multiple intelligences and learning styles.
- Provide options for how students learn what you want them to know, and options for demonstrating what they know.
- Not all students are at the same level of reading, understanding, reasoning, etc., at the same time. Provide appropriate learning experiences for all students.
- Use a combination of small group work or research. and whole group instruction.
- Collaborate with students frequently to maximize learning opportunities and to make adjustments when necessary.
- Be a facilitator/coach/mentor to the students for gathering and processing information. Learn with them and be be excited about what they are learning.
- Don't worry about standards. Plan your lessons and then look to see how you are already meeting the standards.
- Collaborate with special services people to maximize resources.
- Integrate technology and outside of school resources.
Strategies Quoted from Differentiating Instruction for Advanced Learners in the Mixed-Ability Middle School Classroom - Use multiple texts and supplementary materials.
- use computer programs.
- Interest centers.
- Create learning contracts.
- Make tasks compact.
- Provide tiered sense-making activities and tiered products.
- Create tasks and products designed with a multiple intelligence orientation.
- Allow for independent learning contracts.
- Provide complex instruction.
- Use group investigations.
- Allow for product criteria to be negotiated jointly by students and teachers.
- Provide graduated task- and product-rubrics
Created by: Students at the University of Maine at Farmington Carolyn Shorey:carolynshorey@hotmail.com Sarah Olmsted:omisj@hotmail.com
Becky Waugh:waughb42@aol.com
Eric Feeney:efeene@hotmail.com