mixitupdifferentiation

Easy Ways to Begin

One of the first questions about implementing differentiation that teachers ask is, "how do I begin?" Good question! As a teacher, I began with two areas: interest and product choice. I gave students some limited choices about the content they were to read and the products they were to create. The key is that the focus on the choices needs to center on that instructional design first question, "what do I want my students to know and be able to do?"

For example, if I wanted my students to be able to compare and contrast the water systems of two different states and how if affected population growth, they could select the two states based on their interest (content), and they could choose from four different products to display their new learning: a graphic organizer, a written report, a powerpoint presentation or an oral report. With subsequent choice, I made sure they didn't always select the same product, and all product choices fit within what I wanted them to be able to create sometime during the school year.

Another easy way to begin is with cubing or Think Dots (See the choice page on this website.) For example, let's say that one of the targets for the year for my students was to comprehend a variety of texts. I could create a Think Dots activity where a student rolls a dice (process). Each number on the dice corresponds to a different activity based on a different level of Bloom's Taxonomy. Roll a one, and the student needs to pose a question that other students could answer from directly reading the text (knowledge). Roll a two, and the student's need to state the main idea of the text in their own words (comprehension). Roll a three, and students need to relate some part of the text to their own life or someone they know (application). Roll a four, and students need to draw a conclusion about the text with support from the text (analysis). Roll a five and students need to write a poem, story and/or rap to express ideas found in the text (synthesis). Roll a six and students need to state their opinion - judge the value of the information in this text. (Think Dots activity from Nancy Ryon - language arts teacher at Von Steuben Middle School, Peoria, IL.)
Choice is a great way to begin, and it has a major place in the classroom.

Three additional strategies that are easy ways to begin are the use of:

1) Jigsawing -- (http://www.jigsaw.org/)
2) Exit Cards - www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/ mathcatch/mainpages/assess_tools/exit_cards1.html
3) Varying graphic organizers -

http://www.lexiconsys.com/graphic_organizer.html
http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/graphic_org/
http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr1grorg.htm
Use of Inspiration or Kidspiration software