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Northwest Regional Professional Development Program, in accordance with the Nevada Revised Statutes, is committed to building regional partnerships which provide equitable access for teachers and administrators to support and sustain professional and student learning. |
Northwest RPDP will work in collaboration with districts, the Nevada Department of Education, and institutions of higher education to provide high quality research-based learning opportunities, aligned with the Nevada Professional Development Standards and content standards adopted by the State of Nevada to: offer diverse professional learning opportunities centered around current research on effective instruction for student learnin; improve and increase communication among the Northwest RPDP region members concerning professional learning for teachers and administrators; improve and increase communication among the Northwestern, Southern and Northeastern Nevada RPDPs; use technology to build capacity among the partnerships. |
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Differentiating Instruction: It's okay to begin slowly...Just begin.
A popular topic discussed in many NWRPDP workshops is how to differentiate instruction as a technique for increasing achievement for every learner. What we've learned over the years is that differentiated instruction (D.I.) is a huge topic, much too large to explore in any single workshop. When teachers or schools choose D.I. as a professional goal, we strongly suggest they commit an entire school year for exploring differentiation in one piece of content they teach.
Any time less than one year is not enough for honoring the complexity that makes up the D.I. philosophy. Many educators and administrators still simplify D.I. as a series of high-interest, choice-based tools or classroom activities. It's so very much more than that, and our NWRPDP mission strives to help schools see D.I. as a professional goal only if they are willing to commit to a long-term series of workshops.
We also believe that differentiating instruction works much more effectively when educators possess strong skills in two other critical areas: engaging students in learning objectives and using formative assessment to inform instruction. Before a school or educator commits to a year-long study of D.I., we suggest they spend an entire year focused on these two foundational topics.
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Our Suggested PLC Plan for this Important Topic:
 Once a school has committed to a year-long exploration of differentiating instruction, then the NWRPDP can provide suggestions for the school's PLCs or teacher study groups. An important element of learning to differentiate well involves discussing D.I. strategies with colleagues before and after a lesson is taught. The NWRPDP supports schools with year-long D.I. goals by providing the tools and ideas found on this page. Although this page's content could be easily explored by a teacher working alone, our goal in posting materials here is for groups of colleagues to learn the intricacies of D.I. by designing and discussing the topic together.
In short, differentiated instruction is learned best by a group of like-minded professionals with the same long-term goal in mind.
In the NWRPDP's two-year program devoted to differentiated instruction--the SLF Program--our participants not only analyze the resources found below on this page, but they also explore two excellent texts: The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners (Tomlinson) and The Strategic Teacher: Selecting the Right Research-based Strategy for Every Lesson (Silver, Strong, and Perini). These books provide excellent support and supplements to the resources we've posted on this page.
 We also believe it's important for a collaborating team to have a common goal as they undertake any professional learning. Our common goal for PLCs include three essential questions, which we ask teachers to discuss every time they meet and share new learning about D.I.:
ØØ- Why should we plan to meet the needs of diverse learners?
- How do we begin to plan for and create a differentiated classroom that responds to the needs of all learners?
- Planning for which D.I. "Can" has the most impact on my understanding of differentiated instruction? The most impact on all of my students' learning?
We expect our PLCs to meet between fifteen and twenty times over a school year. For each meeting, we ask the individual teachers to bring either a new lesson they're differentiating or a new lesson they've differentiated. Using the three essential questions above and the resources below, each teacher shares what they've brought, explaining any new thoughts they have made about D.I., brainstorming new ideas for future lessons, and adapting techniques they've learned from each other.
What is Differentiated Instruction? What are the 6 D.I. "Cans"? |
"Differentiation is a philosophy that enables teachers to plan strategically in order to reach the needs of diverse learners. As individuals come to school with varying learning styles and numerous
intelligences, differentiated instruction becomes a means of addressing the
learning needs of everyone in the classroom" (Chapman, C. & Gregory, G. [2002]. Differentiated Instructional Strategies, One Size Doesn't Fit All.)
We refer to the graphic organizer at right as the "6 Cans of Differentiated Instruction" simply because the shapes we ask participants to take notes in look like cans to us. These six cans serve as the "entry points" into planning for a differentiated lesson. Learning how to differentiate well for all six cans is a life-long teaching goal. In the two years our teachers spend with us learning about D.I., we ask them to increase their skills with four of the six.
We always stress that the top three "cans"--content, process, and product--are three things the teacher has complete control over; the bottom three--readiness, interest, and learning profile--are things the teacher has very little control over.
- Content refers to what our students learn. Our standards tell us what must be taught, but a teacher can present the content in different ways. Providing different versions of the same content is one way to differentiate for this "can." Another is designing a "jigsaw" where students each become experts on different pieces of content so they can share it with others.
- Process refers to those sense-making activities we design for our students so that we can formatively check-in with them as they learn. A teacher who designs multiple formative activities to accommodate different students' needs is differentiating process.
- Product refers to the end-products we have our students create. These are the summative assessments from our lessons. A teacher who designs multiple formative activities to accommodate different students' needs is differentiating product.
- Readiness refers to a student's entry point relative to a particular understanding or skill. A teacher who differentiates for this "can" designs scaffolded support for the student who might not be quite as ready to grasp a big idea independently yet.
- Accommodating for students' Interest is a big component when differentiating instruction. Most of the tools you will find on this page offer students choices as they move through learning experiences. Choice keeps students interested in the learning, and a skilled teacher designs choice-based experiences that keep students thinking about the lesson's big ideas.
- Accommodating for Learning Profiles is often where our teachers begin when they are starting with differentiating instruction. Students learn using different modalities. It's important for students to be able to show they've learned in their preferred style of learning, but it's just as important for them to understand how others learn and to try techniques that help others make meaning. Skilled differentiated instructors design experiences that honor many learning profiles.
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Our Differentiated Instruction Graphic Organizer:
Essential Questions for Differentiated Instruction:
Our teachers meet weekly for an 90 minutes to discuss differentiated instruction with other teachers. Every week, each teacher brings a lesson or instructional tool that was newly designed and that honors the philosophy of differentiated instruction. Using student samples and lesson artifacts, our teachers focus on the following questions as they share and discuss their own learning.
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Our Semster-long Questions:
- Why should we plan to meet the needs of diverse learners?
- How do we begin to plan for and create a differentiated classroom that responds to the needs of all learners?
Our Weekly Meeting Questions:
- Which "top can" and which "bottom can" had the most influence on your planning as you designed this differentiated piece of instruction?
- What would you add to/change in your lesson if you wanted to accommodate any of the other D.I. "cans"?
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Three Beginning Tools to use when Designing Differentiated Instruction |
Tool #1: A Learning Matrix A well-designed learning matrix should challenge students to think about a single topic or problem using several different thinking techniques. Our favorite example of a learning matrix is the following math example. Teachers are sometimes criticized for "covering information" rather than asking students to think deeply about a topic; this example demonstrates a math teacher who is planning to have students think deeply about fewer problems. This particular matrix requires the students to think four different ways about each problem.
(Click on image to view a larger version.)
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Essential Questions teachers should ask when analyzing their own and other teachers' learning about learning matrices:
- Which of the six "D.I. cans" does this tool fall into?
- Can this tool be used both formatively and summatively? How so?
- What learning styles would do better with this particular matrix's column tasks?
- How could you have students learn together and from each other using this structure?
- What topics lend themselves to possible matrices to use with your students? How would your matrices look different than the examples provided here?
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Matrix tools from our D.I. Training Packet:
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Essential Questions teachers should ask when analyzing their own and other teachers' learning about student contracts:
- Which of the six "D.I. cans" does this tool fall into?
- Can this tool be used both formatively and summatively? How so?
- What learning styles would do better with this particular contract's shape tasks?
- How could you have students learn together and from each other using this structure?
- What topics lend themselves to possible contracts to use with your students? How would your matrices look different than the examples provided here?
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Contract tools from our D.I. Training Packet:
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Tool #2: The Student Contract A well-designed student contract allows students to make choices about which tasks they will complete to show they have understood the big ideas behind a lesson or unit. Students select their learning tasks from a collection created by the teacher; the selections can be made independently by the students, or certain students might be coached into selecting certain options. The contracts below require students to cut out the shapes that represent their choices, and to attach them to a cover sheet so they teacher is aware what choices have been made.
(Click on image to see it in larger form.)
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Tool #3: A Task Rotation A well-designed task rotation purposely accomodates multiple learning styles. Based on a learning goal, the teacher designs learning style-based tasks that students can choose from, or they can be expected to complete all the tasks. This particular example is inspired by the learning style categories introduced by Silver, Strong & Associates, which breaks the learning styles into four categories: mastery learners, interpersonal learners, understanding learners, and self-expressive learners. A task rotation could just as easily be created based on other classifications of learning styles.
(Click on image to see it in larger form.)
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Essential Questions teachers should ask when analyzing their own and other teachers' learning about task rotations:
- Which of the six "D.I. cans" does this tool fall into?
- Can this tool be used both formatively and summatively? How so?
- What learning styles would do better with this particular contract's shape tasks?
- How could you have students learn together and from each other using this structure?
- What topics lend themselves to possible contracts to use with your students? How would your matrices look different than the examples provided here?
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Task Rotation tools from our D.I. Training Packet:
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