Do You Differentiating Your Instruction?

I went to another professional Development yesterday about:

Differentiating Your Instruction!

What is Differentiation?

Changing the pace, level, or kind of instruction provided in response to individual learners' needs, styles or interests.

In the beginning we were given a classroom practice Inventory checklist to see what you are doing in the classroom to differentiate your instruction! I was surprise now how many items I need to work on for next year! Look at the following list and see where you lie!

Place an “x” on each line to show where your currently teaching practices lie on the continuum

Traditional classroom                                            Differentiated Classroom

Covering the curriculum is my first                        I base my teaching on students' learning needs

priority and directs my teaching.                            as well as on the curriculum.

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Learning goals remains the same for                   Learning goals are adjusted for students based

all students.                                                          on their needs.

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I emphasize mastery of content and skills.           I emphasize critical and creative thinking and              

                                                                             the application of learning.

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Students use the same informational                   I match students to specific informational 

resources (books, articles, Web sites).                 resources based on their learning needs and

                                                                            abilities.

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I primarily use whole-class instruction.             I use several instructional formats (for examples,

                                                                         who class, small groups, partners, individuals).

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I tend to group students heterogeneously.         As appropriate, I group students for instruction 

                                                                          based on their learning needs.

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All students move through the curriculum         The pace of instruction may vary, based on 

together and at the same pace.                            students' learning needs.

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All students complete the same activities           As appropriate, I give students opportunities to 

                                                                          choose activities based on their interests.

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I tend to use similar instructional strategies         I use variety of instructional strategies

day to day                                                           ( for example, lectures, manipulative, role

                                                                             plays, simulations, readings)

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All students complete all activities.                    Students complete different activities based on                                                                               

                                                                           their needs or learning preferences.

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All students are involved in all instructional.      I use methods for testing out of work and for     

activities.                                                            compacting (speeding up, eliminating,       

                                                                           replacing) work, as appropriate.

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My enrichment work provides more content      My enrichment works demands critical and/or

or more application of skills.                               creative thinking and the production of new

                                                                           ideas, thought, and perspectives. 

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In reteaching, I provide more practice using      In reteaching, I use a different instructional

a similar instructional method.                           method from the one I used to teach the material

                                                                           the first time.

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My reteaching activities typically involve          My reteaching activities demand higher level 

lower-level thinking-knowledge and                  thinking while reinforcing basic skills and     

comprehension-to reinforce basic skills              content.

and content.

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I assume the students have limit or no               Before beginning a unit, I use pre-assessment 

knowledge of curriculum content.                     strategies to determine what students already    

                                                                           know.

________________________________________________________________________________

I usually assess student's learning at the            I use ongoing assessment to check students'

end of an instructional sequence.                       learning throughout an instructional sequence.

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I typically use the same assessment tools,         I allow for learner differences by providing a

product, or project for all students.                    variety of ways to show learning. 

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(from Differentiation Instruction in the Regular Classroom: How to reach and teach all learners, Grade 3-12 by Diane Heacox)

I will posted some of the keys points on the workshop tomorrow! Anyone surprised on where your teaching practices lie?  I have to admit, I had more X on the traditional side than I would have liked. I will need to work on that and hopefully flipping my classroom will help my classroom be more differentiated!