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Differentiated Instruction and the RTI Process

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Differentiated Instruction and the RTI Process

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October 2010 | Volume 68 | Number 2
Interventions That Work

Susan Demirsky Allan and Yvonne L. Goddard

First it was multiple intelligences, then learning styles, now differentiation! Which do you want us to do?" The teacher who voiced this complaint was expressing the frustration many educators feel when confronted with yet another new initiative. Rather than perceiving multiple intelligences, learning styles, and differentiation as three related approaches to meeting the needs of a broad range of students, she saw each one as a separate mandate. If she were speaking today, she might add Response to Intervention to her list.

One way for teachers to combat this kind of initiative fatigue is by understanding how new programs, such as Response to Intervention, complement other initiatives that are already operating in their schools.

Different Origins, Identical Goals

Differentiated instruction is a grass-roots movement with its inception in both gifted education and special education. As the student population has grown increasingly diverse in readiness levels and learning profiles, teachers have recognized that they cannot reach all students with a-one-size-fits-all approach to instruction. Differentiated instruction (DI) emerged as a fully developed model in 1995 (Tomlinson, 1995) and has grown exponentially ever since. The goal of a differentiated classroom is "to maximize student growth and individual success" (Tomlinson & Allan, 2000, p. 4) by providing many avenues for students to acquire content, to process information and ideas, and to develop products. Emerging research demonstrates that differentiated instruction, when fully implemented, can significantly improve student achievement (Goddard & Goddard, 2007).

Response to Intervention (RTI) was originally conceived as a better way to identify students with learning problems. Unlike the traditional discrepancy formula, which waited for students to fall far behind, Response to Intervention identifies struggling students early and provides increasingly intensive levels (or tiers) of support depending on how students respond (National Center on Response to Intervention, n.d.).

No widely accepted definition of Response Io intervention exists, adding to the confusion many teachers and principals feel. Definitions of Response to Intervention commonly focus on students at risk of academic failure. For example, the RTI Action Network (n.d.) defines RTI as

a multitiered approach to help struggling learners. Students' progress is closely monitored at each stage of intervention to determine the need for further research-based instruction and/or intervention in general education, in special education, or both.

Because of their differing origins, DI and RTI are usually seen as separate initiatives. We view them, however, as complementary and overlapping. Both approaches are flexible in their implementation and may appear quite different from school to school or even from teacher to teacher. But both are built on two basic concepts: that education is most effective when we treat students as individuals with different levels of readiness, learning profiles, and interests; and that teachers have a professional obligation to help all students succeed.

How DI and RTI Fit Together

We can make teachers' lives more straight-forward by viewing DI and RTI as two aspects of a whole. At no point in any RTI tier should instruction be provided in a strictly one-size-fits-all format. Differentiation should occur naturally within each tier.

Tier 1 of RTI commonly consists of regular classroom instruction provided to all students. Within-classroom differentiation, such as flexible grouping and individualized supports, should be a routine part of such instruction. Some of the time, the teacher may be delivering whole-class instruction. Other times, students will be working toward a common learning goal in flexibly grouped teams or individually. The teams may be composed of learners with similar readiness levels (as determined by a combination of ability and achievement levels), interests, or learning styles. If students are grouped by readiness level, some groups may have more structure in their work or more time to complete their assignment; others may have more complex problems to address. If the students are grouped by learning style, some student groups may be writing, some acting out concepts, some designing a computer presentation, and some working on an oral presentation.

In other words, a classroom implementing differentiated instruction and Response to Intervention will first and foremost look like a differentiated classroom. The major component that makes it not just a differentiated classroom but also an RTI classroom is that, in addition to typical classroom assessment (both formative and summative), the teacher keeps detailed records to monitor the progress of students who are struggling and who may need more intensive Tier 2 support. This intense monitoring and documentation facilitates differentiation as well, because it enables teachers to keep a continuous finger on the pulse of students' progress and thus design differentiated lessons more accurately.

Students who do not make adequate progress in Tier 1 may be placed in Tier 2, which means that they receive interventions designed to address their areas of difficulty. These interventions may include structural differentiation -providing resources beyond the immediate classroom, such as reading specialists, cluster groups, gifted education services, and so on. Again, the major difference between structural differentiation and services provided in Tier 2 is that Tier 2 requires more extensive documentation and, perhaps, more frequent assessment than would differentiation.

Tier 3 is a more specialized level of service that goes beyond what we usually regard as differentiation-for example, students' schedules may include significant amounts of time receiving intensive instruction in special education or gifted classes or alternative schools. But the philosophy remains the same: regarding each student as an individual, asking what each student needs to be successful, and then using whatever services or structures are needed to support that success.

Examples of Differentiation and RTI Converging in Classrooms

Within-Classroom Differentiation-Tier 1 Instruction in Elementary Math

In a 4th grade math classroom, the teacher models how to add fractions with like denominators and provides opportunities for students to practice using individual whiteboards and manipulatives. Then he breaks students into interest groups with the themes of race cars, animals, food, and building blocks. One group of advanced students works on more complex math problems.

The teacher and students collect various assessment data throughout the lesson. For example, as the students practice individually and work in groups, the teacher takes notes about which students are struggling and which are completing the work quickly and accurately. After group work is complete, students pull out individual math folders, take a quick, 10-question quiz, and graph the number of problems they answered correctly.

Structural Differentiation-Tier 2 Interventions in 10th Grade World History

In a high school, 10th graders take world history in heterogeneous classes in which teachers provide flexible grouping and differentiated learning tasks. Teachers give biweekly quizzes on vocabulary and comprehension; students chart their scores to observe their progress.

For students who either fail to master the material or are unchallenged by the level of difficulty, the school's four 10th grade world history classes provide structural differentiation through cluster grouping. For some assignments, struggling students (including some with IEPs) are grouped across classes to receive extra help from a special education teacher; advanced students who need more challenge are also grouped across classes for enrichment projects. For students who need still more intensive help, the special education teacher consults with a reading specialist who provides additional individual instruction and support with readings and assignments.

Highly Specialized Differentiation-Tier 3 Interventions in Middle School Language Arts

A middle school has some students whose reading skills are significantly delayed and who have not made adequate progress with Tier 1 instruction or Tier 2 interventions. Some of these students receive intensive, remedial language arts instruction in a self-contained special education classroom for one or two class periods each day. A few students attend an alternative school that uses instructional methodologies that nurture their particular learning styles.

Even at this level of intervention (Tier 3), teachers differentiate instruction. For example, in the self-contained language arts class, they may give students choices of how to process content (such as listening to audiotapes or reading with the teacher) or provide opportunities to create a variety of products.

Emphasize the Convergence, Not the Difference

We believe it may make the most sense to think of Response to Intervention as a subset of differentiated instruction. Differentiated instruction applies to all students, including those who struggle and need academic and behavior supports. Response to Intervention is a way of focusing on students who may need increasing levels of support to experience success. However, the crucial goal of both models is to modify instruction so that it meets students' individual needs and thus nurtures their success.

Much of the frustration that educators experience as they attempt to implement multiple instructional approaches could be avoided with improved professional development, in which teachers are introduced to the concepts and research and then supported as they implement these initiatives over time. Teachers also need time to collaborate as they work to learn and use new instructional approaches (Goddard, Goddard, & Tschannen-Moran, 2007). Such professional development should be designed to streamline application of new knowledge, with a focus on research-based practices that can be implemented simultaneously. Differentiated instruction and Response to Intervention can and should be presented as mutually supportive.

Teachers have a tough job meeting the demands of national and state initiatives, parents, high-stakes testing and accountability, and increasing student diversity. We can support teachers by showing the convergence among ideas that lead to best practice rather than emphasizing the different vocabularies and terms associated with different models. Fortunately, differentiated instruction and Response to Intervention are a natural fit. We can approach them as such.

References

Goddard, Y. L., & Goddard, R. D. (2007, November). A statewide study of the effects of differentiated instruction on fourth grade students' mathematics and reading achievement. Paper presented at the University Council for Educational Administration annual conference, Washington, DC.

Goddard, Y. L., Goddard, R. D., & Tschannen-Moran, M. (2007). A theoretical and empirical investigation of teacher collaboration for school improvement and student achievement in public elementary schools. Teachers College Record, 109, 877-896.

National Center on Response to Intervention. (n.d.). Home page. Retrieved from www.rti4success.org.

RTI Action Network (n.d.). What is RTI? Retrieved from www.rtinetwork.org/learn/what.

Tomlinson, C. A. (1995). How to differentiate instruction in a mixed ability classroom. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Tomlinson, C. A., & Allan, S. (2000). Leadership for differentiating schools and classrooms. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Susan Demirsky Allan is a consultant and recently retired as assistant superintendent for curriculum, assessment, instruction and technology, Grosse Pointe Public School System.Yvonne L. Goddard is assistant professor, Educational Psychology Department, Texas A&M University.

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Differentiated Instruction and RTI: A Natural Fit

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October 2010 | Volume 68 | Number 2 Interventions That Work Susan Demirsky Allan and Yvonne L. Goddard First it was multiple intelligences, then learning styles, now differentiation! Which do you want us to do?" The teacher who voiced this complaint was expressing the frustration many educators feel when confronted with yet another new initiative.

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Kristine, Lauren, Ashley

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LAFS - Language Arts Florida Standards K-12

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Literacy  Center

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When I first started teaching 20 years ago I always had a coffee can full of popsicle sticks with my students name on them sitting on my desk .

When I needed to ask a question, I pulled a stick from

the can to randomly choose a student.

My old coffee can is now gone and instead there are tons

of great options for selecting students online!

They are super easy to use and so much fun- for you and for your students

I use these in my classroom and also when I'm training teachers.

Keep in mind that these toosl don't have to be limited to names and that you can enter lists of numbers, vocabulary words, research paper topics, characters in a story- basically anything you can create a list of.

The possibilities are endless!

{John obviously has a great sense of humor because when you click on his page,

the title at the top of the tab reads: Teach meet victim selector!}

The Random Name Selector allows you to randomly pick
names from a list you've created.

Once you have entered your student's names and clicked the Go button,

a name is selected {and said aloud}, you are given several choices.

You can start a two minute timer or a seven minute timer.

You also have the option of removing the name from your list.

It has fun animation, sound effects, and a large fun font
s o it's perfect for displaying on your SmartBoard.

John has even allowed an option for embedding the tool in a webpage-

To use the interactive, just click on in your names, numbers, or words. Then click Change Names, and type
Go!

This Dartboard Student Selector chooses a student from a dartboard.
There are options to save your class, remove names once selected, clear darts after each throw, and reset names. You can also increase the rate of your dart throw. What a fun student selector!

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When I first started teaching 20 years ago I always had a coffee can full of popsicle sticks with my students name on them sitting on my desk . When I needed to ask a question, I pulled a stick from the can to randomly choose a student.

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Developing assignments that address all learners' needs

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Most of the LEARN NC Content has been archived using the Wayback Machine. Instructions for how to access that content is below, including links to frequently requested materials.

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Skill Focus: Text Features and Text Structure

Objective:Use text features to distinguish elements of informational texts.

Procedure: This station will have a large poster board folded into a brochure. The heading, subtitle, and contact information will be written on the cover of the brochure. Four copies of an informational text about a place (written in paragraph form) will be at the station. The instructions will tell the students to choose one aspect of the text, read the section, and create an informational section on the brochure. Section must include a certain number of text features given. *Envelopes not needed at this station.
Travel Brochure Instructions
Sample "Springfield" Handout

Objective: Students will identify the purpose of short texts by sorting them into Procedure: This is a cut and paste sort, so students will need Procedure: The activity incorporates paintings/pictures in place of literature. There are
identify, persuade, and Author's Purpose Sort Directions entertain categories. Author's Purpose Sort Handout
Fiction Match-Up
Skill Focus: Plot and Literary Elements of Fiction

Objective: Student will work cooperatively to identify literary terms and their meanings.scissors and glue. Students will work cooperatively to match literary elements and terms to their meanings.
Match-Up Terms

Match-Up Directions Color-Coding Mood and Tone

Skill Focus: Identifying Mood and Tone, Author's Purpose
Objective: Students will analyze poems and draw conclusions based on implicit and explicit clues.
five printed paintings at this station. There will also need to be colored pencils, crayons, or highlighters at this station. Students will analyze the art as a team, then determine the mood the author is attempting to communicate through the pictures, symbols, and colors. Choices of mood are represented by colors, and students are instructed to shade the box on the handout the correlating color of the mood. They will then defend their mood choices by writing out the evidence they inferred.
Color-Coding Mood and Tone
Inference Boxes

Skill Focus: Making Inferences and Drawing Conclusions

Objective: Make inferences based on explicit and implied information.

Procedure:This station will each have two boxes containing 4-5 items (i.e. College T-Shirt, receipt, academic award, food wrappers, graded paper, game case etc.) The contents of each box will contain various items that characterize two different personalities.Envelope 1 will contain a handout that asks to match character traits with actions based on the information they gained from the items in the boxes. On the back of the handout, there are inference questions asking which criteria best applies to the owner of which box. They will turn their handout in to the return envelope.
Inference Box Trait Handout
Inference Box Handout

Conflict Sort
Skill Focus: Identifying Conflict Types
Objective: Students will use manipulatives to determine conflict types, as well as sort them into internal and external.
Conflict Sort Directions

Procedure: This station requires two Procedure: At this station, students will need Figurative Fun Dice
Skill Focus: Synthesizing, Creative Writing, Understanding Literary Devices
Objective: Students will apply knowledge of figurative language to write their own figurative language examples.
6-sided dice. What we did was get large dice (available at local dollar stores) and hot-glued pre-printed paper slips; literary devices on one die and topics on the other. Students roll the dice, and whatever they land on-students must write. For instance, if they roll "personification" and "football", they write a sentence in which something about football is personified. Students take turns rolling and writing, and everyone can help each other when needed.
Figurative Fun Dice
Organizational Pattern Practice
Skill Focus: Distinguishing Among Organizational Patterns
Objective: Students will understand differences among text structures and organizational patterns.
glue and scissors to complete this cut and paste. They will analyze key words that indicate organizational patterns, as well as graphic organizers to visualize them.
Organizational Pattern Practice
Hyperbole in Commercials
Skill Focus: Explaining Impact of Hyperbole
Objective: Students will identify author's use of hyperbole in commercials and digital advertisements.

Procedure: This will be a
computer station. Students will watch 5-ten commercials (depending on time allowance). After viewing each advertisement, they will identify the figurative language illustration, then discuss how hyperbole is used by the writers to sell the product on their handout. Hyperbole in Commercials Directions
Hyperbole in Commercials Handout
Personification in Commercials

Skill Focus: Explaining Impact of Personification

Objective: Students will identify author's use of personification in commercials and digital advertisements.

Procedure: This will be a computer station. Students will watch 5-ten commercials (depending on time allowance). After viewing each advertisement, they will identify the figurative language illustration, then discuss how personification is used by the writers to sell the product on their handout.

Metaphor in Commercials
Skill Focus: Explaining Impact of Metaphor

Objective: Students will identify author's use of metaphors in commercials and digital advertisements.

Procedure: This will be a computer station. Students will watch 5-ten commercials (depending on time allowance). After viewing each advertisement, they will identify the figurative language illustration, then discuss how metaphors are used by the writers to sell the product on their handout.

Metaphors in Commercials Directions
Metaphors in Commercials Handout
Fiction Genre Sort
Skill Focus: Distinguishing Elements of Fiction
Objective: Students will use color pencils, crayons, or highlighters to categorize elements of various subgenres of fiction.
Fiction Genre Sort Key and Sort
Comic Compilation

Skill Focus: Making Inferences and Drawing Conclusions

Objective: Use knowledge of plot elements to infer sequence of events.

Procedure: This station will have 3-4 comics (depending on length) taped to the desks/table. The comics will have no words. Students must decide what is happening in the comics. * Variation - students can add a panel to a comic, making a prediction as to what would happen next.

Cut it Down to Size

Objective: Students will practice identifying and applying only the most important, basic information to create summaries of fictional texts.

Synthesizing Information (Whiteboard/Chalkboard activity)

Objective:Demonstrate comprehension of informational texts

Procedure:Taped at this station will be two timelines documenting the lives of two superheroes. Students will be instructed to read and analyze the timelines, then compare and contrast the two superheroes by filling out an oversized Venn diagram (drawn on the board). *For accountability, the teacher must check the Venn before the time is up.

Procedure: At this station are several
Skill Focus: Analyze Authors Purpose and Use of Metaphors
Objective: Students demonstrate comprehension of metaphors.
printed advertisements and public service announcements. There is also a handout on which students will write their answers. Students work together to analyze the ad, interpret the author's use of figurative language, and determine how the author uses the literary device to sell the product or service.
Metaphors in Print Ads Directions
Metaphors in Print Ads Images
Metaphors in Print Ads Handout

Skill Focus: Analyze Authors Purpose and Use of Hyperbole
Objective: Students demonstrate comprehension of hyperbole.

Headline Match

Skill Focus: Main Idea and Summarizing

Objective: Students will determine the appropriate heading for a passage by summarizing the main ideas and details.

Procedure:At this station there are eight headings and eight short paragraphs. Students must read each passage and match the heading to its appropriate paragraph or article. To make the station challenging, we wrote four articles on the same general topic, and the other four articles on a different topic; so that students have to read for details in order to identify the appropriate heading.

Headline Match Handouts

Skill Focus: Sequencing/Cause and Effect

Objective: Students will use their knowledge of narrative elements to put the story scenes in the correct order.

Procedure:This station will have 8-10 excerpts from a story on numbered strips of cardstock. Students will be instructed to read each card and make inferences in order to put the story in order. Once they have completed the task, they will turn in only the card numbers written in order on an index card.
Scrambled Story Directions
Scrambled Story Handout

Skill Focus: Persuasive Writing, Summarizing
Objective: At this station, we take the "Facts of the Case" and blew it up into a large poster and taped it on the wall. Students read the facts, then each team member takes on a role: defendant, prosecutor, judge, and jury member. Each member will state their case, propose and outcome, and defend their decision.

Objective:Students will write and categorize conflicts.

Procedure:This station will have Procedure: This station will have Procedure: This is a Procedure: This will be a several magazines/catalogs for students to cut up. They will have an oversize (11.5 x 17) sheet of paper that they will turn in. The large paper will have two columns; one for internal conflict and one for external conflict. Students will be instructed to locate images in the magazines that depict conflicts. They will glue the image into the appropriate column, and label it with the appropriate "____________vs. ______________" caption.

Objective: Students will demonstrate an understanding of setting as time and place.
sheets of cardstock and images for students to choose from. We used printed sheets of clip art. Students are given a short descriptive text (or it can be based on a text that was recently read in class). Students will work cooperatively to choose images that describe the time and place of the setting. At our station, they needed scissors and glue to cut out images. They also were given markers and colored pencils to color their images or draw their own. Skill Focus: Identifying and Explaining Figurative Language

computer station. Headphones are needed at this station. Directions are posted that instruct students to follow a link (we often pull this up in advance). On the handout, students will analyze the lyrics (both from watching, listening, and reading the lyrics on a printed page; then they will identify literary devices and describe their impact on purpose, mood, and/or tone. Skill Focus: Making Inferences and Drawing Conclusions
Objective: Students will demonstrate their understanding of figurative language in authentic texts.

computer station with headphones. Each student may have a separate computer, but only one is needed. At this station, students will be watching clips of movies with no sound. We chose to use Disney's "Hook", and just put scenes on mute; we have also used Disney Pixar's "Up," in which there is a scene with just music. In either case, the students will pick up cues such as body language, expressions, and character reactions to determine what is happening and how character's feel.

Objectives: Students will make inferences and draw conclusions based on implied information.

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Skill Focus: Text Features and Text Structure Objective:Use text features to distinguish elements of informational texts. Procedure: This station will have a large poster board folded into a brochure. The heading, subtitle, and contact information will be written on the cover of the brochure.

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Three Trends That Define the Future of Teaching and Learning

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Three Trends That Define the Future of Teaching and Learning

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Sharing information and connecting with others -- whether we know them personally or not -- has proven to be a powerful tool in education. Students are collaborating with each other through social media to learn more about specific subjects, to test out ideas and theories, to learn facts, and to gauge each others' opinions.

They're finding each other on their own kid-specific social networking sites, on their blogs, on schools' sites, and of course on Facebook and Twitter. Though Facebook is still a red herring when it comes to school policy (Massachusetts districts have threatened to fire teachers who friend students on Facebook), and educators are split over whether tweeting in class is disruptive or helpful, the sites continue to be pervasive in both higher-ed and K-12. Educators know they can grab students' attention where they naturally live outside the classroom -- the online social world, whether or not it's Facebook.

"If you're teaching something that's usually bland and you insert a simple tool that allows students to connect with each other or their peers in other schools and countries whenever they want, you just see kids' faces light up," says veteran educator Chris Lehmann of the Science Leadership Academy.

Educators Unite

But social networking is not just for teens, as evidenced by the 500 million-plus Facebook users. Teachers are putting their collective smarts together to find the best ways of engaging students, using social media to teach everything from reading and writing to Shakespeare. Educators are also using social media to connect with each other, share ideas, and find the best teaching tools and practices. Sites like Classroom 2.0, Teacher Tube, PBS Teachers, Edmodo, Edutopia, and countless others are lit up with teachers sharing success stories, asking for advice, and providing support. Collaboration is happening offline, too, at schools where educators team-teach and organize professional learning networks.

Collaboration is also finding its way into curriculum with open-source sites to which everyone is encouraged to contribute. Working together is woven into the fabric of project-based schools like the Science Leadership in Academy, which focuses on science, technology, math and entrepreneurship, and Napa New Tech High High. The idea is simple: by working together, students figure out how to find common ground, balance each others' skills, communicate clearly, and be accountable to the team for their part of the project. Just as they would in the work place.

Watch for: (1) Department of Education working to establish a one-stop shop for teacher networks. (2) Commonly accepted guidelines for using YouTube, Facebook, and other social media in schools.

2. Tech-Powered.

Pens and pencils are far from obsolete, but forward-thinking educators are finding other interactive tools to grab their students' attention. School programs are built around teaching how to create video games. Teachers are using Guitar Hero, geo-caching (high-tech scavenger hunt), Google maps for teaching literature, Wii in lieu of P.E., VoiceThread to communicate, ePals and LiveMocha to learn global languages with native speakers, Voki to create avatars of characters in stories, and Skype to communicate with peers from all over the world -- even augmented reality, connecting students to virtual characters. And that's just a tiny sampling.

Flickr:Randy Pertiet

Creating media is another noteworthy tech-driven initiative in education. Media permeates our lives, and the better able students are to create and communicate with media, the better connected they'll be to global events and to the working world. To that end, programs like Digital Youth Network focus on teaching students to create podcasts, videos, and record music; and Adobe Youth Voices teaches kids how to make and edit films and connects them to documentary filmmakers.

Tech-savvy teachers are threading media-making tools into the curriculum with free (or cheap) tools, like comic strip-creation site ToonDo, Microsoft Photo Story 3 for slide shows, SoundSlides for audio slide shows, Microsoft Movie Maker, and VoiceThread to string together images, videos, and documents, to name just a few.

Students in high school and college are using digital portfolios -- the equivalent of resumes -- to showcase the trajectory of their work on websites that link to their assignments, achievements, and course of study, using photos, graphics, spreadsheets and web pages.

Watch for: The explosive growth of high-tech companies and venture capitalists investing ever-more capital in the education market.

3. Blended.

Simply stated, blended learning is combining computers with traditional teaching. Knowing that today's learners are wired at all times, teachers are directing students' natural online proclivity towards schoolwork. It's referred to as different things -- reverse teaching, flip teaching, backwards classroom, or reverse instruction. But it all means the same thing: students conduct research, watch videos, participate in collaborative online discussions, and so on at home and at school -- both in K-12 schools and in colleges and universities.

Teachers use this technique in different ways. Some assign interactive quizzes and online collaborative projects at home, some use computer time in class, some assign watching videos and lectures at home and use class time for hands-on projects, some place most of the curriculum online and work one-one-one with students in class. However they choose to do it, the best examples of blended learning programs involve teachers who use home-time online discussions and collaborative projects as fuel for content and discussion in the classroom.

This movement is growing quickly -- the Department of Education plans to spend $30 million over the next three years to bring blended learning to 400 schools around the country.

Watch for: Schools using blended learning to save costs on books and supplements.

What these trends mean

Read the rest of this series:

Given the growing momentum of these trends, what does it mean for students, teachers, schools, and the education community at large?

Teachers' and students' relationships are changing, as they learn from each other.

Teachers roles are shifting from owners of information to facilitators and guides to learning.

Educators are finding different ways of using class time.

Introverted students are finding ways to participate in class discussions online.

Different approaches to teaching are being used in the same class.

Students are getting a global perspective.

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Three Trends That Define the Future of Teaching and Learning

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Sharing information and connecting with others -- whether we know them personally or not -- has proven to be a powerful tool in education. Students are collaborating with each other through social media to learn more about specific subjects, to test out ideas and theories, to learn facts, and to gauge each others' opinions.

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Differentiation and Acceleration Through Small Group Reading Instruction

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Differentiation and Acceleration Through Small Group Reading Instruction

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Ideas on Diferentiated Instruction for High School

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Ideas on Diferentiated Instruction for High School

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Ideas on Differentiated Instruction for High School _ eHow

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How to Meet the Needs of Every Student With Differentiated Instruction

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How to Meet the Needs of Every Student With Differentiated Instruction

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How to Meet the Needs of Every Student With Differentiated Instruction _ eHow

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"Flipperentiated" Instruction: How to Create the Customizable Classroom

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"Flipperentiated" Instruction: How to Create the Customizable Classroom

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“Fliperentiated” Instruction_ How to Create the Customizable Classroom _ Edutopia

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Websites and Apps that Support Differentiation

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Websites and Apps that Support Differentiation

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50 Tools for Differentiating Instruction

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50 Tools for Differentiating Instruction

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edutopia

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50+ Tools for Differentiating Instruction Through Social Media _ Edutopia

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Differentiation Is Just Too Difficult: Myth-Busting DI Part 3

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Differentiation Is Just Too Difficult: Myth-Busting DI Part 3

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Differentiation Is Just Too Difficult_ Myth-Busting DI Part 3 _ Edutopia

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Differentation Central

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Reconcilable Differences Standards Based Teaching and Dierentiation

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Reconcilable Differences Standards Based Teaching and Dierentiation

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Instruction Matters

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Choice Board

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George Lucas Educational Foundation

Editor's Note: The multiple intelligences quiz has been removed from Edutopia. While the test was a useful tool to explore different ways in which intelligence can be understood, research calls into question whether results were being interpreted and used appropriately.

To learn more, please see this 2018 article on some common misunderstandings about multiple intelligences theory and learning styles.

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The theory of multiple intelligences has captured the attention of many educators who are interested in how students learn. While the theory hasn't been corroborated by research, many teachers find it helpful to better understand the abilities of their students.

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Top 10 Strategies for Helping to Inform DI

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Top 10 Strategies for Helping to Inform DI

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15 Creative Ways to Group and Partner Students

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15 Creative Ways to Group and Partner Students

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Revision

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Vocabulary

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contributed by Christina Yu, knewton.com

Differentiated instruction, the tailoring of educational experiences to meet individual learner needs, is nothing new.

Hardworking teachers have always recognized the diverse needs of students and adjusted their instruction to account for them. Through one-on-one coaching sessions, small group activities, individualized course packets, reading assignments, and projects, teachers are addressing a range of student levels, interests, strengths, weaknesses, and goals in their classrooms today.

Differentiated instruction is difficult and time-consuming work, however, and class sizes are increasing all the time, making individualized learning harder to achieve. New adaptive learning technology can assist teachers and augment their efforts by recommending which concepts to focus on with a learner or an entire class and by providing instructors and students themselves with information about their concept level strengths and weaknesses.

These advancements allow teachers to make the most of class time, leaving students neither overwhelmed nor bored.
5 Examples Of Differentiated Instruction
Varying sets of reading comprehension questions to answer for a given book (either chosen by the teacher or student).

A personalized course packet with individualized remediation or enrichment materials.

An adaptive assessment that gets easier or harder depending on how a student is performing.

One-on-one coaching with a student, designed around his/her specific challenges.

Students grouped into small groups, which are designed around their strengths and weaknesses so that they can tutor each other.
5 Non-Examples Of Differentiated Instruction
Assigning 'advanced' students to teach 'struggling' students.

Giving 'advanced' students no homework.

Grouping students into different classes based on their ability.

Letting advanced students out of class early or giving them more free play time.

Simply allowing students to choose their own books to read off of a list.

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10 Examples & Non-Examples Of Differentiated Instruction -

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What Is Differentiated Instruction? contributed by Christina Yu, knewton.com Differentiated instruction, the tailoring of educational experiences to meet individual learner needs, is nothing new. Hardworking teachers have always recognized the diverse needs of students and adjusted their instruction to account for them. Through one-on-one coaching sessions, small group activities, individualized course packets, reading assignments, and [...]

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ELA & Language Lesson Plans - Implementing Effective Differentiated Instruction

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Network 17 Study Group on Differentiated Instruction

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Sir Ken Robinson made the analogy that " Teachers are like gardeners." Gardeners cannot make the plants grow, but they do prepare and nurture the conditions that enable plants to thrive. Robinson explains that great teachers do the same by providing the support necessary for each student to grow in his or her learning.

In Steve Jobs' 2005 commencement speech to Stanford graduates, he encouraged the value of exploring passions and interests, because you never know where they might lead. Jobs once took a calligraphy class, which years later inspired the many font options we have today (including the words you're reading now).

The time between the end of one school year and the beginning of the next is a season for reflection and renewal. It's important to celebrate student successes and recall challenging times when things just didn't go as planned. This season between school years is an opportunity to plan for new and modified instructional approaches to increase learner success. What follows are suggested readings and resources for developing and deepening your practice to meet the diverse needs of all learners. The readings are grouped from easy starts to deeper complex implementation. Like Steve Jobs, feel free to choose what captures your passion.

Preparing the Soil

All educators differentiate within the moments of instruction. Only when we step back can we make that invisible practice visible. Here are resources to build vocabulary for what occurs in instruction. Preplanning intentional differentiation is like preparing the soil -- learners, like plants, will thrive under conditions suited to their needs.

Plant Care: Watering and Fertilizing

Effective differentiation begins and ends with assessment for learning. Fair assessment that targets academic learning for all students can be challenging. A starting point to exploring the many voices on this topic begins with Assessment Through the Student's Eye by Rick Stiggins. The article provides the right conditions for growth to occur. Read Stiggins before choosing from the following material for strategies to weed out the obstacles that might be in the way:

Making Cuttings and Transplanting in New Soil

As with gardening, conditions that work for some students may do little for others. Sometimes we need opportunities to grow in new and different ways to find additional strategies for handling diverse situations. One approach is to explore familiar ideas from a different lens, such as Classroom Instruction That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement, 2nd Edition. These strategies provide a frame through which we can support and challenge all students toward growth. Using a variety of these frames leads to strategic differentiation of learning. Following is a list of other resources that inspire new and different thinking to explore how students can address and process learning concepts:

Gardening Is Zen Time

Summer renewal is a chance to reflect on practice and deepen understanding to improve growth of the learner experience. As you follow your summer reading list, consider the following reflective questions:

1. What concepts and strategies will make the learner experience even more supportive and inviting to students?

2. How can I shift from teacher-friendly structures to primarily learner-friendly structures?

The resulting answers might not be new ideas, but they can liberate you to explore deeply what we are most passionate about in education: students.

In the comments section below, share your reflections from the readings suggested here. You can also reach me via Twitter. I promise to join the dialogue about your thoughts and questions. As you prepare for the upcoming school year, may you have a rejuvenating time for planning (and planting) more powerful learning conditions.

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Summer Readings on Differentiation: 150+ Seedlings for Growing Stronger Learners | Edutopia

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Sir Ken Robinson made the analogy that " Teachers are like gardeners." Gardeners cannot make the plants grow, but they do prepare and nurture the conditions that enable plants to thrive. Robinson explains that great teachers do the same by providing the support necessary for each student to grow in his or her learning.

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The Education Week Spotlight on Differentiated Instruction is a collection of articles hand-picked by our editors for their insights on:

Using differentiated instruction to help struggling students

Grouping large classrooms, or flexible classrooms, by student learning needs

How technology can enable teachers to lead differentiated classrooms

Using formative assessment, building relationships, and creating communities of learners

You get the six articles below in a downloadable PDF.

A Detroit school has put "differentiated instruction" into operation to help especially those at risk of falling further behind.

January 19, 2011 - Education Week

Rocketship Education's new approach to blended learning seeks to increase teacher collaboration and further individualize instruction, but the model poses new challenges for classroom educators.

January 29, 2014 - Education Week

Technology isn't a silver bullet, says Salman Khan, but when used appropriately, it can enable teachers to lead differentiated and interactive classrooms.

October 3, 2012 - Education Week

Katie Hull-Sypnieski and Larry Ferlazzo offer stage-setting strategies and daily actions to help teachers effectively differentiate instruction in their classrooms.

January 17, 2012 - Teacher

What is the best advice you can give to a teacher about differentiating instruction?

January 17, 2012 - Classroom Q&A with Larry Ferlazzo

What is the best advice you can give to a teacher about differentiating instruction? (Part II)

January 28, 2014 - Classroom Q&A with Larry Ferlazzo

Differentiated Instruction (2010)

With student diversity growing and schools facing pressure to boost achievement, many teachers must find ways to attend to unique learning needs. This Spotlight focuses on how teachers use differentiated instruction to give individualized support.

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Differentiating instruction and adapting teaching strategies for diverse learners is no easy task. In this Spotlight, explore how teacher-led schools are approaching differentiation and grouping, learn how blended learning can support instruction, and hear expert strategies for assessing student learning.

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Team Shake provides a technological and environmentally friendly way to choose teams for board games, sporting events, tournaments, school projects or anytime groups are required. The newest release brings many new features including full iPad support, balancing teams based on skill or gender, importing users from a file, enabling video output, and sharing teams via facebook or email.

Team Shake is the premier iOS App for creating teams. Instead of a hat and scraps of paper, the user enters his friends' names in his iPhone and gives it a shake. The screen will then display a random set of color-coded teams. These teams can immediately be used for game play or shared via facebook or email. The quick and easy selection of random (or balanced) teams eliminates fighting over who will be on which team. Innovative use of the iPhone shake gesture gives users the satisfying feeling of shaking a virtual hat without the trouble of carrying around an actual hat. Conventional buttons can also be used for those who would rather not shake their expensive hardware about.

The app is designed with ease of use and simplicity in mind. Names can easily be entered with the onscreen keyboard, chosen from the user's contacts, or imported from a file. The email and facebook functions document the members of each individual team as well as preserving the team number and color assigned by the app. For repeated use of Team Shake, lists of friends can be easily saved and loaded later. The current list is also automatically saved so that if you exit the app, or even reboot the device, changes will not be lost. For teachers and others with large lists of people, Team Shake supports the ability to import teams from text or csv files.

If you have any problems, feature requests, or comments please send an email to support@rhine-o.com.

Features:

* Create 1 to 64 random teams
* Create completely random or balanced teams
* Full iPad support
* Eliminates fighting over choosing teams
* Share / Save teams via email or Facebook
* Teams can be chosen by the number of teams or by the size of teams.
* Save lists of friends for later games
* Import lists from email or spreadsheet
* Export lists and options for use on another device
* Satisfying feeling of shaking a "virtual" hat to create teams
* Animated shaking hat
* Entry of names via onscreen keyboard
* Entry of names via iPhone contacts
* Temporarily disable people who are absent
* Set groups of people to always be on the same team
* Set groups of people to always be on different teams
* Set user strength to make more even teams (now supports fully balanced teams)
* 5 users strengths level
* Pick a single random person from the list of players
* User strength indicator on the main screen (can be disabled in options)
* Number of active players and total players is now displayed on the main screen
* Video Out Support
* Option to Sort Teams by Name
* Option to balance male / female team members
* "Equal Ability" option to create teams where all players have the same strength
* Option to create separate male and female teams
* Configurable Team Colors
* Configurable Team Names
* Print Support
* Export Teams in CSV or XLS Format

Yappler-Tags: Teams, Groups, Random, Hat, Entertainment, Games, Utilities

Version 3.0.2

Version 3.0.2 brings the ability to assign multiple subteams and oppose teams to iPad and Mac devices. XLSX files will now be exported with the same order as is seen on the screen.
Version 3.0.1 is a minor bug fix release that fixes some problems with the import of list via CSV and XLSX files
Version 3.0.0 is a major update bringing in some major features:
- Team Shake now supports simultaneously assigning players to multiple subteams and / or oppose teams at the same time.
- Subteams / Oppose teams can now have customized names to make selection easier
- Subteams / Oppose teams can now be enabled or disabled globally so that teams can be made quickly without subteams / oppose teams. In particular, Balance Teams Strengths will work when separate Male / Female teams are created.
- Team Selection algorithms have been update to be more compatible with each other
- A new options to choose team color automatically has been created.
- New option to choose the default number of teams / people for a new list has been added.
- New option to choose if a new list should default to creating a # of Teams or a # of People has been added.
- Subteam X in Team X option has been added to all subteams to be assigned to particular teams
- Fonts and Font Sizes can now be changed for both the main screen and the teams screen
- Team Shake can now force all teams to have an even number of players.
- An option has been added to show user strength on the Teams Screen
- An option has been added to show gender on the Teams Screen
- All subteams / oppose teams can now be cleared with a single action.
- If a subteam is larger the team size, the subteam will be split into 2 or more subteams rather than ignoring the subteam.
- If an oppose team is larger than the number of teams, it will be distributed evenly between teams so that the users are as separated as possible rather than ignoring the oppose team.

Very Useful!

The program is quick to use and has an attractive output. Students volunteer to be the one to shake the hat. It is easy to toggle between the choice of number of groups as opposed to the number in each group and easy to temporarily omit absent students.
A teacher can also use the program to determine the order of oral presentations by setting the number of groups to be one.
Moreover, the program accepts Japanese characters, which makes it better for my Japanese classes.
Do be sure not to ignore warnings to save list changes before opening another list.

worth a slight learning curve

I am a middle and high school teacher. We often divide our classes into teams for sports, small group discussions, etc. and I find this app invaluable for that purpose. It takes a little while to get fully comfy with all of the features, but it's worth it as all of the functions are very useful. Highly recommended.

Highly recommended

I teach an adult ESL class, in which the students are at drastically different levels. This app makes it so easy for me to arrange them in either homogenous or heterogeneous groups, depending on the activity. I can leave the iPad opened, so they can easily find their group or partner, allowing me to facilitate those who have already begun. Worth every penny!

The developer, Rhine-o Enterprises LLC, indicated that the app's privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer's privacy policy.

Data Not Collected

The developer does not collect any data from this app.

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

Information

Seller

Rhine-o Enterprises LLC

Compatibility

iPhone

Requires iOS 12.4 or later.

iPad

Requires iPadOS 12.4 or later.

iPod touch

Requires iOS 12.4 or later.

Mac

Requires macOS 10.15 or later.

Apple Vision

Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.

Family Sharing

Up to six family members can use this app with Family Sharing enabled.

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‎Team Shake provides a technological and environmentally friendly way to choose teams for board games, sporting events, tournaments, school projects or anytime groups are required. The newest release brings many new features including full iPad support, balancing teams based on skill or gender, impor...

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What Differentiated Instruction Is and Is Not

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What Differentiated Instruction Is and Is Not

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by TeachThought Staff

There is a difference between personalized learning and differentiation.

Differentiation is a kind of personalized instruction, where teachers adjust process, & product, according to a student's readiness, interest, & learning style. Planning of the learning starts with the content, and the content remains the same for all students. This is a school and curriculum-centered approach that attempts to amend the delivery of the content to match the student's needs, strengths, and general readiness.

Personalized learning starts with the learner and asks the question, "What does this student need to understand, and how best can that happen?" This is a student-centered approach, and is built around the idea of recognizing the vast differences in students-not just in terms of literacy or schema, but an authentic need to know.

In that context, consider the above graphic from Mia MacMeekin (who also gave us 27 Simple Ways To Check For Understanding). It frames the idea of personalized learning around the who/what/where/why/when series of questions, and then separates things again into three categories:

1. What is personalized learning?

2. How to personalize learning

3. Examples of personalized learning

In this way, it represents an excellent beginner's guide to personalized learning. The fact that it's highly visual and limited to brief questions and examples makes it all the more readable, shareable, and fun. Give Mia's site a visit, and let her know what you think!
A Beginner's Guide To Personalized Learning

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A Beginner's Guide To Personalized Learning -

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A Beginner's Guide To Personalized Learning by TeachThought Staff There is a difference between personalized learning and differentiation. Differentiation is a kind of personalized instruction, where teachers adjust process, & product, according to a student's readiness, interest, & learning style. Planning of the learning starts with the content, and the content remains the same for all students.