mixitupdifferentiation

Instructional Design

No matter if you study Dr. Carol Tomlinson, Dr. Grant Wiggins, Dr. Jay McTighe, Dr. Richard Stiggins or most any other educational expert in this particular field, instructional design in differentiation always begins with answering the first two question, "What concept(s) do I want my students to learn more about?" and "What do I want my students to know, understand and be able to do with those concepts?" (also called learning objectives or learning targets.) Think in performance terms - compare and contrast Civil War generals, sequence the events in To Kill a Mockingbird, solve three step word problems, classify animals as vertebrates and invertebrates, and so on. Alignment with learning standards is a definite consideration with this first step. Make your list, and then go on.

Here are the next steps - written as questions to answer:
2. What is the evidence I need to collect to determine if students are meeting the objectives or targets? What are the end (summative) assessments, and what will be my "checks along the way?" (formative assessments).
3. Are there any essential questions I want my students to be able to answer from studying the content and engaging in related activities? Please consider the section on "Get Thinking" to find out more about essential questions.
4. Are there any pre-assessments that I need to give or interest/learning profile surveys?
5. How will my students gather the information they need to meet the objective(s)/target(s)? With my instruction:

In what activities will they be engaged?
What choices can I give with the content, the activities, the products
Are there students operating at different levels of proficiency with the concept? If so, how can I address their different readiness levels with the content the activities and the products?
What strategies can I implement to help them think in different ways and at different levels of sophistication?
How should I group my students during instruction and activities - whole group, partners, small groups, large groups?
How will I redirect and modify my lesson based on the formative assessments I collect and the feedback I provide?

Two good links thoughts on instructional design include:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructional_design; http://www.jcu.edu/education/dshutkin/ed586/instructional_design.htm