Differentiated Instruction 101

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Differentiated Instruction 101

• Clare Kilbane, Ph. D.
• ckilbane_at_otterbein.edu
• http//www.otterbein.edu/home/fac/ckilbane/stateco
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Goals for this presentation

• To ensure that all participants members have
  exposure to a common core of knowledge,
  vocabulary, and strategies.
• Participants will
• Understand what differentiated instruction is and
  why it is important,
• Learn how technology can support the goals of
  differentiated instruction, and
• Expand the tools they have available to make
  instruction more efficient, effective, and
  engaging for all learners.

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Todays classrooms are typified by academic
diversity (Darling-Hammond, Wise, Klein, 1999,
Meier, 1995).

• Seated side-by-side in classrooms are
• highly advanced learners,
• English language learners,
• students who are chronically underachievers,
• students with learning disabilities and reading
  difficulties,
• students of both genders,
• students from broadly diverse cultures,
• students from highly diverse SES, and
• students displaying varying levels of motivation,
  interests, skills, etc.

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Thinking about English Language Learners

• More immigrants arrived in the late 1990s than in
  any other decade on record
• Today, students in our schools speak more than
  450 languages
• More than 12 of all pre-k-12 students are
  considered to be ESL learners
• By the year 2015 more than 50 of all students in
  K-12 public schools across the US will not speak
  English as their first language.
• Gray, T. and Fleishcman, S. (2004). Successful
  strategies for English Language Learners,
  Educational Leadership, 62 (4), 84-85.

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Thinking about Students with Disabilities

• 96 of general education teachers have students
  with disabilities in their classrooms.
• On average, there are at least 3-4 students with
  IEPs integrated into each general education
  class.
• Three of four students with disabilities spend
  40 or more of their day in general education
  classrooms.
• US Department of Education (2001). 23rd report to
  Congress on the implementation of the Individuals
  with Disabilities Act (IDEA). Washington, DC. US
  Govt Printing Office.

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What is differentiation?
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Some definitions

• Differentiation is teaching so that typical
  students students with disabilities, students
  who are gifted, and students from a range of
  cultural, ethnic, and language groups can learn
  together, well. Not just inclusion but inclusive
  teaching.

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• Differentiation means that teachers proactively
  plan varied approaches to what students learn,
  how they will learn it and/or how they will
  demonstrate their learning in order to ensure
  that every student learns as much as he/she can
  as efficiently as possible.

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• Differentiation is classroom practice that looks
  eyeball to eyeball with the reality that kids
  differ, and the most effective teachers do
  whatever it takes to hook the whole range of kids
  on learning.

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• Differentiation doesnt suggest that a teacher
  can be all things to all students all the time.
  It does however mandate that a teacher create a
  responsible range of approaches to learning much
  of the time so that most students find learning a
  fit much of the time.

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What is Differentiated Instruction?

• It is an instructional approach
• It is a community
• It is a new way of doing old things

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What can be differentiated?

• Content- the standards about which students
  interact to gain knowledge.
• Process- the activities and materials engaged
  in/with while knowledge is gained.
• Evaluation- the methods through which students
  demonstrate their learning.

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What do we consider when differentiating?

• Readiness- a combination of ability and other
  factors which influence the ability to learn.
• Interest- that which evokes intellectual,
  psychological, and emotional attention.
• Learning Profile- a blanket term that refers to
  factors not related to readiness or interest such
  as cognitive style.

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How does technology support differentiation?

• To learn more,
• http//www.otterbein.edu/home/fac/ckilbane/stateco
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