DIFFERENTIATING INSTRUCTION
You may be thinking, “You want me to do what! But I have 30 students! How can I possibly do it? Where do I begin? I don’t have time for that amount of planning!”
The idea of differentiation can be overwhelming. Our intention is to bring it to you one small step at a time that ends in an action plan that won’t overwhelm you. Whether you are a new teacher looking for strategies on how to meet the needs of all your students or an experienced teacher looking to expand your skill set, this course has something to offer you.
From learning what differentiated instruction is and is not to use of the Gradual Release of Responsibility to planning differentiation strategies that are effective for your most naïve group of students the course offers step by step guidance that enables you to use explicit instruction strategies that result in a clear plan for the use of differentiated instruction in your classroom while it increases positive interactions between teacher and student.
Join the thousands of teachers that have benefited from JP’s evidenced based and field proven professional development for over a quarter of a century. Learn how to make a difference in your classroom!
Module 1:
Learn how to:
- Increase use of effective strategies such as student surveys to enable a teacher to know his or her children in depth
- Increased the effective use of both formal and informal pre-assessments to determine student’s pre-requisite skills prior to each new learning activity
- Learn specifically what is effective differentiation and what
is not effective differentiation
Module 2:
Learn how to:
- Use the GRR model of instruction in all content areas
- Guide children by use of the ‘lead’ or guided practice step on the part of teachers.
- Increase use of immediate and specific correction procedures
- Increase use of meaningful repetitions or practice for those students in need of further teaching
- Increase use of explicit instructional techniques: verification, think time, pause and punch.
- How to effectively use teaching/non-teaching examples when teaching something new or when correcting to eliminate ambiguity
- Increase knowledge and application of concise use of language of instruction
- Increase use of transposing vocabulary definitions
- Increase use of Anchor Charts as a visual representation of rules, routines, steps in a procedure for those students in need of added structure
Module 3
Learn how to:
- Increase use of low planning strategies for differentiation as trained: small groups, varied assignments/lessons, more student choice,
- Increase use of KWL charts
- Increase use of a variety of exit tickets as formative assessment
Module 4
Learn how to:
- Increase use of learning contracts for individual students to motivate learning
- Effectively use tiered assignments based on individual’s mastery of pre-requisite skills
- Implement Choice boards and learning centers
- Use routines and procedures so children can work independently when using the learning centers
- Scaffold questions according to student academic needs and on the 4 types of questions
- Conduct In-depth planning to meet the individual needs of students
Module 5
Learn how to
- Increase use of lesson plan template which includes differentiation activities
- Increase ability to make minor or major adjustments to a lesson based on student’s responses
- Create and firmly put in place a clear action plan for effective differentiation