CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT WITH CHILDREN WITH

SPECIAL NEEDS

Differentiated Instruction and Planning

In teams, discuss about these concepts:

1. Differentiated Instruction

2. Planning

Write in a card a concept for each.

Planning

Planning implies thinking about the future and trying to assume control over future events by organizing and managing resources so that they cater to the successful completion of the objectives set forth.

Let’s Define Differentiated Instruction

“Differentiated instruction is a teachingphilosophy based on the premise that teachersshould adapt instruction to student differences.Rather than marching students through thecurriculum lockstep. Teachers should modifytheir instruction to meet students’ varyingreadiness levels, learning preferences, andinterests. Therefore, the teacher proactivelyplans a variety of ways to ‘get at’ and expresslearning.”

Carol Ann Tomlinson

Key Principles of a Differentiated Classroom

• The teacher is clear about whatmatters in subject matter.

• The teacher understands, appreciates,and builds upon student differences.

• Assessment and instruction areinseparable.

• The teacher adjusts content, process,and product in response to studentreadiness, interests, and learningprofile.

• All students participate in respectfulwork.

• Students and teachers arecollaborators in learning.

• Goals of a differentiatedclassroom are maximumgrowth and individualsuccess.

• Flexibility is the hallmark ofa differentiated classroom.

The Foundation for Differentiated Instruction

Different levelsof readiness

Different Interests

The Foundation for Differentiated Instruction

Different Ability Levels

Different Cognitive Needs

Teachers can differentiate according to ….

The content

The process

The product

Differentiating Content

• Resource materials at varying readability levels

• Audio and video recordings• Highlighted vocabulary• Charts and models• Interest centers• Varied manipulatives and resources• Peer and adult mentors

Differentiating Process (making sense and meaning of content)

• Use leveled activities • Interest centers• Hands-on materials• Vary pacing according to readiness• Allow for working alone, in partners,

triads, and small groups• Allow choice in strategies for

processing and for expressing results of processing

Differentiating Products(showing what is known and able to be done)

• Leveled product choices• Model, use and encourage student use

of technology within products and presentations

• Provide product choices that range in choices from all multiple intelligences, options for gender, culture, and race

• Use related arts teachers to help with student products

Strategies to Make Differentiation Work

1. Leveled Instruction

Changing the level of complexity or required readiness of a task or unit of study in order to meet the developmental needs of the students involved.

Leveling

Key Concept Or

Understanding

Those who do not know the concept

Those with some understanding

Those who understand the

concept

What Can Be Leveled?

• Processes, content and products

• Assignments

• Homework

• Learning stations

• Assessments

• Writing prompts

• Anchor activities

• Materials

What Can We Adjust?

• Level of complexity

• Amount of structure

• Pacing

• Materials

• Concrete to abstract

• Options based on student interests

• Options based on learning styles

Leveling Instruction

1. Identify the standards, concepts, or generalizations you want the students to learn.

2. Decide if students have the background necessary to be successful with the lesson.

3. Assess the students’ readiness, interests, and learning profiles.

Leveling Instructions

4. Create an activity or project that is clearly focused on the standard, concept or generalization of the lesson.

5. Adjust the activity to provide different levels or tiers of difficulty that will lead all students to an understanding.

6. Develop an assessment component for the lesson. Remember, it is on-going!

Strategies to Make Differentiation Work

2. Anchoring Activities These are activities that a student may do at any time when they have completed their present assignment or when the teacher is busy with other students. They may relate to specific needs or enrichment opportunities, including problems to solve or journals to write. They could also be part of a long term project.

Strategies to Make Differentiation Work

3. Flexible Grouping

This allows students to be appropriately challenged and avoids labeling a student’s readiness as a static state. It is important to permit movement between groups because interest changes as we move from one subject to another

Flexible Grouping

Homogenous/Ability-Clusters students of similar abilities, level, learning style, or interest.

-Usually based on some type of pre-assessment

Heterogeneous Groups-Different abilities, levels or interest

- Good for promoting creative thinking.

Individualized orIndependent Study

-Self paced learning-Teaches time management and responsibility-Good for remediation or extensions

Whole Class-Efficient way to present new content-Use for initial instruction

Strategies to Make Differentiation Work

4. Compacting CurriculumCompacting the curriculum means assessing a

student’s knowledge and skills, and providing alternative activities for the student who has already mastered curriculum content. This can be achieved by pre-testing basic concepts or using performance assessment methods. Students demonstrating they do not require instruction move on to tiered problem solving activities while others receive instruction.

What Differentiation Is …

• Student Centered

• Best practices

• Different approaches

• 3 or 4 different activities

• Multiple approaches to content, process, and product

• A way of thinking and planning

• Flexible grouping

What Differentiation Isn’t

• One Thing

• A Program

• The Goal

• Hard questions for some and easy for others

• 35 different plans for one classroom

• A chaotic classroom

• Just homogenous grouping

Planning a Focused Curriculum

Facts (Columbus came to the “New World”

Vocabulary (voyage, scurvy)

Concepts (exploration, change)

Principles/Generalizations (Change can be both positive and negative. Exploration results in change. People’s perspectives affect how they respond to change).

Skills

Basic (literacy, numeracy)

Thinking (analysis, evidence of reasoning, questioning)

Of the Discipline (graphing/math/social studies)

Planning (goal setting; use of time)

Social

Production

Means Clarity AboutWhat Students Should:

Know

Understand

Be Able to Do

These are the facts, vocabulary, dates,

places, names, and examples you want

students to give you.

The know is massively forgettable.

“Teaching facts in isolation is like trying to pump water

uphill.” Carol Tomlinson

These are the written statements of truth, the core to the

meaning(s) of the lesson(s) or unit. These are what connect the

parts of a subject to the student’s life and to other subjects.

It is through the understanding component of instruction that

we teach our students to truly grasp the “point” of the lesson or

the experience.

Understandings are purposeful. They focus on the key ideas

that require students to understand information and make

connections while evaluating the relationships that exit within

the understandings.

Major Concepts:

These are the basic skills of any discipline. They include the

thinking skills such as analyzing, evaluating, and

synthesizing. These are the skills of planning, the skills of

being an independent learner, the skills of setting and

following criteria, the skills of using the tools of knowledge

such as adding, dividing, understanding multiple

perspectives, following a timeline, calculating latitude, or

following the scientific method.

Skills

Curricular Adaptations

• Curricular Adaptations are changes permissible in educational environments which allow the student equal opportunity to obtain access, results, benefits, and levels of achievement.

• There is no recipe for adapting general education curriculum to meet each student’s needs. Each teacher, each student, each classroom is unique and adaptations are specific to each situation.

• Keep in mind that curriculum does not always need to be modified. By providing multi-level instruction you will find that adapting a lesson may not always be necessary.

• Differentiating instruction and providing multiple ways assess allows more flexibility for students to meet the standards and requirements of the class.

Activity

• Look at the posters.

• In teams, discuss about different activities you can plan for students with different special needs and learning styles.

• Organize those activities as initial, development, closing, and include different evaluation activities to.

In Summary…

What is fair isn’t always equal…

and

Differentiation gets us away from “one size fits all” approach to curriculum and instruction that doesn’t fit anyone