Differentiated+Instruction

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=__Agenda__= Open: Differentiate Instruction Slowmation / Agenda / Objectives (5 minutes) Activity 1: Differentiated Instruction Poster (5 minutes) Activity 2: Video Segment and Discussion (20 minutes) Activity 3: Cluster Grouping (30 minutes) BREAK (10 minutes) Activity 4: Movement in the Classroom (20 minutes) Activity 5: ELL empowering and disabling (25 minutes) Close: Resources, Q&A, Exit Cards (5 minutes) Total Time: 120 Minutes

=__Learning Goals__=
 * Research-based evidence on grouping for differentiated instruction
 * Different group formats for meeting individual needs
 * Instructional Strategies for groups of different abilities

__Pre-Workshop "Homework":__
Have the teachers fill out a [|multiple intelligence quiz]

=__Details and Resources__=

Open: (approximate time 5 minutes)
Show differentiated instruction slowmation and discuss agenda and learning goals for the workshop. media type="file" key="Differentiated Instruction Claymation.mov" width="300" height="300"

Activity 1: Differentiated Instruction Poster Activity (Approximate Time 5 minutes)

 * 1) In small a small group write personal definition of differentiated instruction on a poster with an illustration. Share poster with class. Save differentiated instruction chart o update and revise throughout the session.
 * 2) Read this article:
 * Tomlinson, C.A. (2000). Differentiation of instruction in the elementary grades. //Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education//, Retrieved from []
 * 1) Revise differentiated instruction chart.

After watching videos, review notes and consider these questions:

 * 1) The first video discusses adjustable assignments. How can utilizing adjustable assignments in your classroom meet the needs of your diverse learners?
 * 2) The second video gives a great example of a Final Performance Task (an authentic opportunity where students can apply the knowledge and skills they have gained) as an alternative assessment. Discuss how you could (or do) incorporate Final Performance Tasks into your curriculum.
 * 3) Discuss how using Final Performance Tasks can meet the needs of your diverse learners.

Examining Differentiated Instruction in the Class
In this section, you will explore an activity to better understand how to group students and differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all students. Children in early grades demonstrate a wide range of skills, experiences, and interests. Many teachers use grouping strategies to differentiate their instruction to address their students' differences. While teachers often understand how to group their classes, deciding on the appropriate instruction practice or activity for the groups often proves more challenging.

The Interactive Activity:

 * 1) Differentiate Instruction in a Class allows you to group children with varying literacy abilities and choose the best instruction to address their literacy needs. Click for activity
 * 2) Review these terms: guided reading, independent reading, learning centers/work stations, read-aloud, shared reading, and word wall
 * 3) Read the descriptions of each student to learn about his/her literacy skills. Group the students in particular areas of the classroom (use the classroom diagram on page 4). Then choose the best activity for each group and indicate the activity number next to the student groups.

Activity 4: (approximate time 20 minutes)
The Benefits of Motor Breaks: Movement helps prepare the brain to learn by reducing stress (helping at-risk students or students with difficult home-life situations to retain information), repairing damaged brains (helping to reach students with differences in brain chemistry), increasing neuron connections, utilizing different areas of the brain, and providing sensory connections (for tactile/kinesthetic learners).

Brain Gym exercises: Stand or sit. Put the right hand across the body to the left knee as you raise it. Then do the same thing for the left hand on the right knee (like you are marching). Continue for about 2 minutes.

Stand or sit. Cross the right leg over the left leg at the ankles. Take your right wrist and cross it over the left wrist and link up the fingers so that the right wrist is on top. Bend the elbows out and gently turn the fingers in towards the body until they rest on the sternum. Stay in this position. Keep the ankles crossed and the wrists crossed and breathe evenly. Hold for about 2 minutes.

 Classroom Yoga exercises: Forward Bend: Stand with feet together. Raise hands over head and gradually bend forward. Bend from the hip sockets, keeping the back straight. Slowly bend forward, reaching gently for the toes. Hold for about a minute, then slowly arch the back and roll upwards. This stretch helps with energy by increasing blood flow to the brain.

Warrior: Stand with feet together. Place the right foot forward in a lunge, with the right toe facing straight, the right leg slightly bent, the left toe facing out slightly, and the left leg straight. Twist so that your right shoulder is pointed the same direction as your right leg. Extend both arms, being careful to check that both arms are straight and level. Turn your head slightly to look over your right hand. Hold for about a minute. Come back to center and change sides. This stretch helps build confidence, and realigns the body.

Eagle: Stand with feet together. Bend your knees slightly. Take the right leg and cross it over the left leg at the knee. Take the left arm, and cross it over the right arm in front of your body, with your elbows forming a 90 degree angle. Place the fingers of your right hand in the palm of your left hand, with fingers extended. Hold for about 30 seconds and change sides. This stretch builds balance and concentration by linking both hemispheres of the brain.

Mountain: Stand with feet together. Extend arms so that they form a 20 degree angle, with palms facing forward and fingers extended and together. Stand straight, with knees slightly bent. Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Hold for about 2 minutes. This stretch creates calm by focusing on the breath. Other ways to incorporate movement:

Walk the track or the perimeter of the gym...every day! Link this to learning by tracking how many miles you walk. Simon Says or Follow the Leader: try these fun activities to ease transitions or to keep kids active during rainy day recesses.

Yoga Balls: studies have shown how effective yoga balls can be in helping to integrate movement in the classroom.

Resources:
 * Asencia, Teressa. "Yoga in Your School: Exercises for Classroom, Gym, and Playground." Princeton Book Company, 2006.
 * http://www.bal-a-vis-x.com/
 * http://www.braingym.org/
 * http://www.classroomyoga.com/
 * http://www.classroomyogaproject.org/cyp_currently_online/home.html
 * http://www.exercise-ball-exercises.com/yoga-ball-chair.html
 * http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/top/2010/03/22-33/Yoga-balls-help-kids-concentrate-in-class.html?ne=1
 * http://www.mlive.com/living/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2009/08/teachers_use_movement_to_keep.html
 * http://movementintheclassroom.com/id5.html

Provide a list of items which empower Second Language Learners and discuss.
Empowers Elements


 * First language and home culture seen as strengths
 * Bilingual education, primary language support, and SDAIE
 * Additive bilingual education (maintenance)
 * Multicultural emphasis
 * Interactive and experiential methods that expand the literacy spectrum (collaborative learning, integrated thematic studies, process writing, multiple intelligence)
 * Student experiences incorporated into curriculum
 * Students help determine curriculum, learning goals
 * Family made active partners with school
 * Broad-based, authentic assessment

Disabling Elements


 * First language and home language culture seen as a handicaps
 * sink- or- swim instruction
 * subtractive bilingual education (transitional)
 * monoculture emphasis
 * transmission-mode “talk teaching”
 * student experiences excluded
 * students excluded from determining curriculum, learning goals
 * family excluded
 * over reliance on formal, paper and pencil testing

Break into groups and read over each situation. Decide if the situation empowers or disables second language learners.


 * 1) Maria seems to understand the directions to assignments, but rarely, if ever, turns in completed work. Her fifth-grade teacher assigns one of her bilingual classmates, a “language buddy,” to help Maria in class.
 * 2) Every so often the fourth-grade teacher tries to get a point across to her Latino second language learners in broken Spanish. The students catch only about ten percent of her Spanish.
 * 3) Pablo and Blas speak a lot of Spanish in class. Their third grade teacher wants them to use more English and periodically reminds them that “you’ve got to speak English in school if you really want to learn.”
 * 4) Because Tomas and Kou don’t have English literacy skills, the teacher suggests they take part a pantomime part in their group’s play production.
 * 5) The teacher always asks one of her students, Kei, to translate key points for her Cantonese speaking second graders.

Close: (approximate time 5 minutes)
Provide a list of resources, have a brief Q&A time, and then wrap up by having everyone write one thing they plan to change on an exit card.

Resource: The Six Skills of Interest: http://www.iats.com/conferences/west/2010_Lilly_West_Draft_Program.pdf