Success for ALL Middle School Students Through Differentiated Instruction

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Success for ALL Middle School Students Through
Differentiated Instruction
David Vawter, Ph.D. vawterd_at_winthrop.edu
Richard W. Riley College of Education, Winthrop
University Rock Hill, South Carolina http//coe.wi
nthrop.edu

• National Middle School Association Conference
• Philadelphia, PA
• November, 2005

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Differentiated Instruction

• The Highest Level of Teaching
• (Founder Carol Ann Tomlinson)

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Why Differentiation?

• Block Scheduling
• 180 ()Teaching Strategies
• Learning Preferences
• 10-Year Reading
• Span

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Why Differentiation?

• Eight () Intelligences
• Personality Styles
• Brain Compatible Instruction
• Hemisphericity
• Many years of secondary school teaching

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The Changing Classroom

• Population Changes
• Cultural Changes
• Inclusion

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Differentiation A Definition

• Teaching Different Students Differently
• By Altering
• Readiness, Interest, Learning Preference
• Or
• Content, Process, or Product

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What Differentiated Instruction is NOT

• Not Individualized Instruction
• Not Hands Off
• Not a way to track students

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What Differentiated Instruction IS

• Proactive
• Based on Good Assessment
• Based on Multiple Approaches
• Student Centered
• Combines whole-group, group, and individual
  Instruction

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The Foundation of Differentiated Instruction

• Learners need to make their own meaning of
  content
• Learning is best when content is powerfully
  organized
• Learning is best when it matches where learners
  are and then takes them a bit farther.

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The Foundation of Differentiated Instruction

• Students have a wide range of
• abilities and skills
• interests
• intelligences.

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The Bottom Line You can Differentiate by
altering for

• Readiness
• Interest
• Learning Profile
• Content
• Process
• Products
• A combination of any of the above.

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Some Specific Examples

• Mr. Erikson Oregon -Science
• Mr. Hotstedder Dayton VA Math
• Mr. Lee Waynesboro VA S.S.
• Gail Vawter Science and Reading
• Ms. Morrow Furman S.C. L.A.
• Londonderry Middle School NH

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The Bottom Line You can Differentiate by
altering for

• Readiness
• Interest
• Learning Profile
• Content
• Process
• Products
• A combination of any of the above.

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Instructional Strategies

• Honoring Differences
• Student Interest
• Process
• Product

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Leveled Books on Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. 420 Lola
Schaefer Martin Luther King, Jr. 450 Pamela
Walker Young Martin Luther King, Jr. 550 Joanne
Mattern Martin Luther King, Jr. 590 Patricia
McKissack Man of Peace I Have a
Dream 680 Margaret Davidson The Life Words of
MLK, Jr. 700 Ira Peck If You Lived at the Time
of MLK810 Ellen Levine Martin Luther
King 890 Rosemary Bray Assassination of MLK,
Jr. 930 Conrad Stein MLK, Jr. the Freedom
990 Lillie Patterson Movement MLK, Jr. The
Peaceful 1040 Edward Clayton Warrior The Day
MLK, Jr. Was Shot 1140 Jim Haskins What Manner
of Man A 1190 Biography of MLK, Jr. Lerone
Bennett
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Leveled Books by Gary Paulsen
Dunc and Amos Series 450-680 White Fox
Chronicles 600 Escape from Fir
Mountain 630 Transall Saga 630 Mr.
Tucket 830 Tuckets Gold/Home 870 Dogsong
930 Tracker 1010 Hatchet 1020 Brians
Winter 1140 The Night the White 1250 Deer
Died The Rifle 1480
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• Must register, but no cost.
• Search books (English or Spanish)
• Click title for more details
• ONLY looks at text difficulty (links to
  standardized testing)

http//www.lexile.com
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Adaptation of KWL
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Adaptation for Math Word Problems
(from Teaching Reading in Mathematics by Barton
and Heidema, published by ASCD)