CREATING DIFFERENTIATED LEARNING EXPERIENCES THROUGH TECHNOLOGY-INFUSED MULTIGENRE RESEARCH PROJECTS

1
CREATING DIFFERENTIATED LEARNING EXPERIENCES
THROUGH TECHNOLOGY-INFUSED MULTIGENRE RESEARCH
PROJECTS

• Diane D. Painter, Ph.D.
• Special Education-General Education
• Professional Studies Certificate Program
• Shenandoah University
• IASE Conference- The University of Alicante
• July 14, 2009

2
Deer Park Elementary School The Multigenre
Project

• Blending Genre, Altering Style Writing
  Multigenre Papers (Tom Romano)
• Teachers
• One sixth grade language arts teacher
• One sixth grade social studies teacher
• One special education teacher and her
  instructional assistant
• One technology resource teacher
• One school librarian

3
Concepts and Strategies

• Integrating Differentiated Instruction (DI) with
  Understanding by Design (UBD) elements when
  planning instruction (Diane Heacox, Carol
  Tomlinson, and Grant Wiggins Jay McTighe)
• Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework
  (CAST.org)
• SETT Framework for successful inclusion and
  transition (Joy Zabala)

4
Differentiation involves

• Changing pace, level and/or kind of instruction
  in response to a learners
• needs
• styles
• interests
• and it involves rigorous, flexible, varied and
  complex instruction.
• Heacox, 2002, p. 5

5
Multi-step Process involved

1. Challenging students to learn and provide them
   with a variety of learning experiences.
2. Challenge our traditional ways of teaching how
   could we modify, adapt, and design new approaches
   to instruction based on the needs, interests and
   learning preferences of our students?

6
Step One Identify Cognitive Styles

• Who
• Thinks outside the box? Conforms to the norm?
• Sees whole to parts, or parts to whole?
• Who are linear thinkers? Nonlinear thinkers?
  Inductive thinkers? Deductive thinkers?
• Who have long attention spans? Short attention
  spans and distract easily?

7
Identify Individual Learning Preferences

• Who are?
• Visual learners?
• Auditory learners?
• Kinesthetic, tactile learners?
• Individual learners?
• Social learners?

8
Step Two Decide What Will Be Differentiated

• Content (curricular topics, concepts, themes)
• Process (how things will be taught)
• Products (showing what students know and what
  they can do.)

9
Step Three Management

• Plan for
• High levels of challenge
• Rigorous, relevant, significant engaged learning
• Affirm..
• the importance and value of student work
• Allow..
• students to work independently in order to
  demonstrate what they know and can do

10
One Way- Not For All

• Diagnose and prescribe tasks/assignments that
  match learning styles and preferences
• Nurture students abilities to make appropriate
  choices about how they learn and how they prefer
  to show that learning
• Use flexible instructional groupings
• Create fair and equitable evaluation processes
  and procedures

11
Goals for theThe Multigenre Project

• Goal- 1) Allow students to construct their own
  learning related to social studies topics of
  interest to them.
• Goal- 2) Allow students to demonstrate skills
  related to reading, writing and the use of
  technologies when creating genres.

12
Elements of Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

• In order to provide equal access for all our
  learners, plan opportunities for
• Multiple representations of information
• Multiple methods of expression
• Multiple means of engagement
• www.cast.org

13
Teacher Research Questions

• What resources do students access?
• How do students express what they learn in
  different genre formats?
• What technology skills do students independently
  demonstrate?

14
Essential Questions

• How are things, people and events connected to
  one another?
• How can one express ones ideas in a variety of
  genres?
• How do effective writers hook and hold their
  readers?

15
Develop a Curriculum Map

• Curriculum Standards Inquiry, reading and
  writing, oral language
• Content/Topics/Resources Social studies topics
  of interest (people, places, events) and
  resources (digital, hard copy, experts)
• Skills collaborative learning, technology, oral
  presentation
• Products produced through a variety of
  technology means (PowerPoint, PAINT, Word,
  Publisher, digital image and movie editors)

16
Student Groups

• Fluid group membership as needed
• Ability/aptitude groups based on general
  performance or achievement
• Cooperative groups made up of students working
  on the same task or one facet of a task to
  complete a group project

17
Cooperative Pairs

• Artist- drew a political cartoon
• Storyteller- wrote a narrative from the
  historical persons point of view
• Linear thinker- created a timeline to show major
  events
• Entertainer- became game show host
• Actor- portrayed different characters in an audio
  file in a PowerPoint
• Poet- wrote about how the flag felt as bombs
  burst in the War of 1812

18
Project Planners

• Project planners helped students
• Take ownership of their learning
• Stay organized and on task
• Self-evaluate progress and reflect on
  accomplishments

19
Project Rubric

• The project rubric looked for evidence of
• Cooperative working relationships
• Different kinds of genres creating a quality
  integrated project paper telling what was learned
• Evidence of process writing revision and editing
  
• Creativity- especially the cover reflecting the
  topic

20
Interviews

• Students said they liked
• Taking control of their own learning
• Being able to choose a topic of interest to them
• Deciding on which genres to create
• Having a variety of technologies available to use

21
Teachers observations

• Every student, regardless of ability, produced
  quality work.
• Many students voluntarily giving up free time to
  work on projects.
• Students shared new skills and ideas for using
  technologies with other students.
• The great variety of genres that were created
  showed student learning in many creative ways.

22
Facilitators of Learning

• As teachers, we found
• very little directed teaching took place.
• we provided mostly technical assistance or were
  involved in the final editing process of written
  work.
• we had the freedom to work individually with
  students with little interruption since students
  were so engaged in what they were doing.

23
Identified Feelings of Success

• When there is an appropriate degree of challenge
  or degree of difficulty with what students seek
  to learn
• And when allowed to work in classrooms with a
  high level of success
• Students feel better about themselves and the
  subjects they are studying and they learn more.
• Tomlinson McTighe, 2006

24
SETT Framework

• Students- determined what they wanted to do based
  on their learning preferences.
• Environment- what materials, physical
  arrangements, support and resources were needed?
• Tasks- What needs to be accomplished in order to
  complete the project?
• Tools- What resources could be used to complete
  those tasks?

25
(No Transcript)
26
Land of the Pharaohs

• Underneath the ground
• Below our very feet,
• Lie secrets so dark,
• They haunt us in our sleep.
• As queens and kings alike,
• Ruled over all,
• Nothing got past their wondering eye,
• Until came their fall.

27

• Pharaohs they were called,
• And proud they were of that.
• They were waited on hand and foot!
• And they loved that!
• Now buried and all dead,
• They rest in peace.
• They are waiting
• In their undisturbed sleep.
• They are waiting to pass into their afterlife.
• They believe that when they died,
• All go to a world exactly the same as the last,
• Except its perfect.

28

• Some ruled for only a year.
• Others ruled for a lifetime!
• Some died extremely young-
• Others lasted very long.
• All had numerous wives,
• With 100 children or more!
• Some even married
• To keep friendships with other countries strong!
• Only few females became Pharaoh,
• And that was because
• When their husbands died,
• They were the only worthy ones.

29

• Female or male,
• With power they ruled!
• And when they left this world,
• Mummification was really cool!
• They were wrapped in simple cloth,
• From head to foot.
• That way their bodies were preserved,
• For those who would later survey them.
• They shook the foundations of all,
• In that mighty land of theirs!
• From the tall pyramid to the underground tomb,
• Thats were they belonged.

30

• In that desert they called home,
• As Egyptians they were known.
• But where they ruled was more commonly known,
• The Land of the Pharaohs!
• Valerie

31
Web Resources

• CAST, a nonprofit organization that works to
  expand learning opportunities for all individuals
  (www.cast.org)
• Get SETT for Successful Inclusion and Transition
  by Joy Zabala. Retrieved from www.ldonline.org/ar
  ticle/6399

32
Written References

• Heacox, D. (2002). Differentiating instruction in
  the Regular Classroom. Minneapolis, MN
  Freespirit Publishing.
• Painter, D. (2009). Providing differentiated
  learning experiences through multigenre projects.
  Intervention in School and Clinic, 44, 288-293.
• Romano, T. (2000). Blending genre, altering
  style Writing multigenre papers. Portsmouth,
  NH Heinemann.
• Tomlinson, C., McTighe, J (2006). Integrating
  differentiated instruction and understanding by
  design. Alexandria, VA ASCD.

33
Contact information

• Dr. Diane De Mott Painter
• Program Head Special Education Professional
  Certificate
• Chairperson, Curriculum and Instruction
• Shenandoah University- School of Education and
• Human Development
• 20 South Cameron Street
• Winchester, Virginia (USA) 22601
• 540-678-4304 e-mail dpainter_at_su.edu