Differentiating Process by
Readiness & Interest
Some Background
Process means exactly that, the process kids take to learn new content and skills. Students need to work with new content and skills to make sense of it, they need time to practice and apply these new skills. Tomlinson uses the term "sense-making" to keep the real point of an activity at the front of our minds. In chapter 12, "How to Differentiate Instruction in a Mixed-Ability Classroom" she highlights the idea that students don't need "sense-making" activities for content and skills they already know. The example she gives is related to converting fractions to decimals. If the kids already know how to do this, they don't need to make sense of those ideas. However, the kids who are foggy about fractions could definitely benefit from a "sense-making" activity about the concept of whole and part. My favorite line in this chapter is "any effective activity is essentially a sense-making process, designed to help a student progress from a current point of understanding to a more complex level of understanding." She then goes on to describe what helps kids process and make sense. I'll list it here.
GOOD classroom activities: 1) are interesting to the students, 2) call on the students to think at a high level, and 3) cause the students to use a key skill(s) to understand a key idea(s). Now to differentiate, we take these good classroom activities and offer MORE THAN ONE WAY to make sense of what is important. Below are some strategies for offering more than one way, but the list is really endless. The limiting factor is your creativity or time... Differentiating process takes time, but start one lesson for one unit and start collecting ideas and build up your toolkit over time. No one, that I know of, differentiates content, process, product everyday or every lesson. Start small and aim big.
Check out these websites for more info on differentiating!
iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/di/cresource/q2/p06/#content
www.cultofpedagogy.com/tag/differentiation/
www.edutopia.org/blog/differentiated-instruction-ways-to-plan-john-mccarthy
Strategy 1 - Cubing
WHAT? Same skills - different level of complexity. Using a 6-sided cube.
HOW? Each 6-sided cube has instructions for students. You can use two cubes, blue or green cubes. Blue cubes are for kids that are able to complete tasks at or below expected level. Green would be for above grade level. The instructions on each cube are varied. For example: Blue cube, side one, describe _____ in picture or words. Green cube, side one, describe _________ using at least three sentences with at least three adjectives. The six sets of instructions are content specific, think about what skills you need the kids to be able to do and use that as a starting point.
WHAT? Same skills - different level of complexity. Using a 6-sided cube.
HOW? Each 6-sided cube has instructions for students. You can use two cubes, blue or green cubes. Blue cubes are for kids that are able to complete tasks at or below expected level. Green would be for above grade level. The instructions on each cube are varied. For example: Blue cube, side one, describe _____ in picture or words. Green cube, side one, describe _________ using at least three sentences with at least three adjectives. The six sets of instructions are content specific, think about what skills you need the kids to be able to do and use that as a starting point.
Strategy 2 - Interactive Journals
WHAT? Change the prompt based on readiness and/or interest. Not everyone can answer a high level prompt from the first day of new unit, think Bloom's Taxonomy.
HOW? You could have three different prompts on the board, PPT or on Padlet and let the kids select which question they feel comfortable and confident answering. Maybe some students should start with "How would you define ______?" and some start with "How would you demonstrate _______? and maybe even "Rate the _____. Explain your rating." If your kids write in a journal for class and you have the opportunity to read and review this journal, you could add custom questions based on what the student has written.
WHAT? Change the prompt based on readiness and/or interest. Not everyone can answer a high level prompt from the first day of new unit, think Bloom's Taxonomy.
HOW? You could have three different prompts on the board, PPT or on Padlet and let the kids select which question they feel comfortable and confident answering. Maybe some students should start with "How would you define ______?" and some start with "How would you demonstrate _______? and maybe even "Rate the _____. Explain your rating." If your kids write in a journal for class and you have the opportunity to read and review this journal, you could add custom questions based on what the student has written.
Strategy 3 - Stations
WHAT? Different spots in the classroom where students work on different tasks simultaneously. Include some variety to reach all of the ability levels in your class. Here is a physics example.
HOW? Unit 2: Dynamics - The need for differentiation = Most of our kids learn about Newton's Laws of Motion in middle school, but some have not. I have to make sure they know the physics behind Newton's Laws in order to apply these ideas to multiple situations in the future. Stations are perfect for addressing the wide range in knowledge. I have a pre-assessment for this unit and will be able to identify where kids should go first. If I know a student needs station 1 they will need to start there, but I will absolutely give them freedom to choose from stations 4-6 once they complete 1-3. They can work at their own pace and get some help from their peers as they move throughout the room.
Station 1: Flipped video lesson - me teaching about the laws and drawing some examples.
Station 2: Practice math problems - applying Newton's Laws mathematically.
Station 3: Drawing free-body diagrams - modeling Newton's Laws visually.
Station 4: Demo time - three hands-on demos that provide a real example of each of Newton's 3 Laws of Motion.
Station 5: PhET simulations - computer simulations that allow the kids to play around with Newton's Laws of Motion without materials.
Station 6: Design a lab - Students are given a bucket of materials and are tasked with designing a lab that addresses one or more of Newton's laws of motion that we can use in class in the upcoming days.
WHAT? Different spots in the classroom where students work on different tasks simultaneously. Include some variety to reach all of the ability levels in your class. Here is a physics example.
HOW? Unit 2: Dynamics - The need for differentiation = Most of our kids learn about Newton's Laws of Motion in middle school, but some have not. I have to make sure they know the physics behind Newton's Laws in order to apply these ideas to multiple situations in the future. Stations are perfect for addressing the wide range in knowledge. I have a pre-assessment for this unit and will be able to identify where kids should go first. If I know a student needs station 1 they will need to start there, but I will absolutely give them freedom to choose from stations 4-6 once they complete 1-3. They can work at their own pace and get some help from their peers as they move throughout the room.
Station 1: Flipped video lesson - me teaching about the laws and drawing some examples.
Station 2: Practice math problems - applying Newton's Laws mathematically.
Station 3: Drawing free-body diagrams - modeling Newton's Laws visually.
Station 4: Demo time - three hands-on demos that provide a real example of each of Newton's 3 Laws of Motion.
Station 5: PhET simulations - computer simulations that allow the kids to play around with Newton's Laws of Motion without materials.
Station 6: Design a lab - Students are given a bucket of materials and are tasked with designing a lab that addresses one or more of Newton's laws of motion that we can use in class in the upcoming days.
Strategy 4 - Agendas
WHAT? A personalized list of tasks for each student that must be completed in a specific time. This is the pinnacle of differentiating process. Each task provides options based on readiness or interest. The pacing is also modified based on student need.
HOW? This varies greatly based on the grade level and the course. This example is from Cultofpedagogy.com. Think about your typical unit sequence. There is the content, how are you delivering the "what" they need to learn. Then comes the how, how are you insuring the kids are making sense of the new content and skills. You might typically do full class discussion, small-group or independent exercises, and then full group discussion, then independent practice, then summative. Each time there is an opportunity for small-group or independent work, you can add that to the agenda. Build in checks for understanding and teacher check-ins and your classroom will be a learning machine!
Other great examples are out there on the world wide web. I have some more too if you are interested just let me know. Send me an email [email protected]
WHAT? A personalized list of tasks for each student that must be completed in a specific time. This is the pinnacle of differentiating process. Each task provides options based on readiness or interest. The pacing is also modified based on student need.
HOW? This varies greatly based on the grade level and the course. This example is from Cultofpedagogy.com. Think about your typical unit sequence. There is the content, how are you delivering the "what" they need to learn. Then comes the how, how are you insuring the kids are making sense of the new content and skills. You might typically do full class discussion, small-group or independent exercises, and then full group discussion, then independent practice, then summative. Each time there is an opportunity for small-group or independent work, you can add that to the agenda. Build in checks for understanding and teacher check-ins and your classroom will be a learning machine!
Other great examples are out there on the world wide web. I have some more too if you are interested just let me know. Send me an email [email protected]