Understanding the World of Academically & Intellectuall - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Understanding the World of Academically & Intellectually Gifted

Watson School of Education AIG Mini-ConferenceAngela Housand, Ph.D.housanda@uncw.eduSlide2

A Practical Guide to DifferentiationSlide3

How do you differentiate?Slide4

They Are All So Different…

Children come to us in a variety of shapes, sizes, intellectual abilities, creative abilities, inter/intra personal skills, and a myriad more characteristics that makes each child we deal with unique and special.

Carol Ann TomlinsonSlide5
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Diversity in students can include:

Ability (aptitude) differencesAchievement differencesAcademic background differences—lower achievement can be due to poor preparation and limited exposure

Cultural differences—second language acquisition, interaction style differences

Differences in affect (enthusiasm level and personality) and effort (effort vs. ability issues)

Differences in styles of learning style (visual, auditory, concrete, abstract, hands-on, written)

Differences in interests

Differences in preferences for products and processes

Differences in self-regulation and study skills

Sally ReisSlide7

The success of education depends on adapting teaching to individual differences among learners

.Yuezheng,in 4th century B. C. Chinese treatise, Xue JiSlide8

Why Aren’t Some Students Challenged?Slide9

Classroom Practices Study

Teachers reported that they never had any training in meeting the needs of gifted students. 61% public school teachers 54%

private school teachers

Archambault, F. X., Jr., Westberg, K. L., Brown, S. W., Hallmark, B. W., Emmons, C. L., & Zhang, W. (1993).

Regular classroom practices with gifted students: Results of a national survey of classroom teachers

(Research Monograph 93102). Storrs, CT: The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, University of Connecticut

.Slide10

Classroom Practices Observational Study

Students experienced no instructional or curricular differentiation in 84% of the activities in which they participated: Reading Language Arts Mathematics Social Studies

Science

Westberg, K. L., Archambault, F. X., Jr., Dobyns, S. M., & Salvin, T. J. (1993).

An observational study of instructional and curricular practices used with gifted and talented students in regular classroom (

Research Monograph 93104). Storrs, CT: The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, University of Connecticut.Slide11

Types of Differentiation in Which Target Gifted Students Were Involved

No Differentiation

Advanced Content

Advanced Process

Advanced Product

Indep. Study w/ Assigned Topic

Indep. Study w/ Self-selected Topic

Other DifferentiationSlide12

The Five Dimensions of Differentiation

Yourself

Content

(Knowledge)

Process

(Pedagogy)

Classroom

Organization and

Management

Products

(Expression Styles)Slide13

What is differentiated instruction?

It’s teaching with

student variance

in mind.

It’s starting

where the kids are

rather than with a standardized approach to teaching that assumes all kids of a given age or grade are essentially alike.

It’s

responsive teaching

rather than one-size fits-all teaching.Slide14

W

ays to Differentiate ContentVaried Texts

Accelerated Coverage of Material

Varied Supplementary Materials

Independent Projects

Tiered Lessons

Interest Development Centers

CompactingSlide15

Approximately 40-50% of traditional classroom material could be eliminated for targeted students.

Reis, S. M., Westberg, K.L., Kulikowich, J., Caillard, F., Hébert, T., Plucker, J., Purcell, J.H., Rogers, J.B., & Smist, J.M. (1993).

Why not let high ability students start school in January? The curriculum compacting study (

Research Monograph 93106). Storrs, CT: The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, University of Connecticut.Slide16

Compacting

Assesses what a student knows and what content is not yet masteredContent not yet mastered becomes part of learning goalsPreviously mastered content is not required thereby “freeing up” time for enriched, accelerated, or interest driven activities

Renzulli & Reis (1997)

Tomlinson (1995)Slide17

When teachers eliminated as much as 50% of the curriculum, no differences were found between treatment and control groups in most content areas. In fact, students whose curriculum was compacted scored higher than control group students in some areas.

Reis, S. M., Westberg, K.L., Kulikowich, J., Caillard, F., Hébert, T., Plucker, J., Purcell, J.H., Rogers, J.B., & Smist, J.M.

(1993).

Why not let high ability students start school in January? The curriculum compacting study (

Research Monograph 93106). Storrs, CT: The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, University of Connecticut.Slide18

What is Curriculum Compacting?

Modifying or streamlining the regular curriculum Eliminating the repetition of previously mastered materialUpgrading the challenge level of the regular curriculumSlide19

Family CircusSlide20

When once the child has learned that four and two are six, a thousand repetitions will give him no new information, and it is a waste of time to keep him employed in that manner.

J.M. GreenwoodPrinciples of Education Practically Applied, 1888Slide21

Student Behaviors Suggesting that Compacting May Be NecessarySlide22

Finishes tasks quickly

Completes homework in classAppears bored during instruction timeBrings in outside reading materialCreates puzzles, games, or diversions in classSlide23

Tests scores consistently excellent

Asks questions that indicate advanced familiarity with materialSought after by others for assistanceDaydreamsSlide24

For Students,

Compacting Eliminates boredom resulting from unnecessary drill and practice.

Provides challenge leading to continuous growth.Slide25

How to Compact

Step One: Identify the objectives in a given unit and pre-test students to ascertain mastery level.Slide26

How to Compact

Step Two: Eliminate or Streamline instruction for students who demonstrate mastery.Slide27
Slide28

How to Compact

Step Three: Keep records of the process and instructional options available to compacted students.Slide29
Slide30

Inconceivable

Should every student have an Individualized Education Plan?Slide31

W

ays to Differentiate ContentVaried Texts

Accelerated Coverage of Material

Varied Supplementary Materials

Independent Projects

Tiered Lessons

Interest Development Centers

CompactingSlide32

Tiered Lessons

Varied level of activitiesDesigned to ensure that students explore ideas at a level that builds on prior knowledgePrompts continued growthSlide33

Why use tiered instruction?

Maximizes the likelihood thatEach student comes away with key skills and understandings. Each student is appropriately challenged.Each student avoids work that is anxiety-producing (too hard) or boredom-producing (too easy)Slide34

Developing Tiered Instruction

Think about the students who will be using the activityReadiness

Interests

Learning Profile

Create one activity that is interesting, requires high-level thinking and is clearly focused on the key concept, skill or generalization.Slide35

Developing the Tiers

Create an activity or use a successful activity from the pastThe activity should:Be interestingEngender high level thinking and problem solvingCause students to utilize target skills to understand key ideas or conceptsSlide36

Chart the complexity of the activity

Is it high skill complexity or low skill complexity?Who will be challenged by this activity:Advanced students?On grade-level students?Struggling learners?

Developing the TiersSlide37

Based on where the activity falls on the ladder, you can define who needs more or less challenging versions of the same assignment

Clone the activity along the ladderHow many versions will you need?

Developing the TiersSlide38

All Tiers Should

build understandingchallenge studentsbe interesting and engagingbe respectfulSlide39

Group sizes may vary

The number of groups per tier will vary

The number of students per group will vary

For Example:

Tier One: Two groups of three

Tier Two: Five groups of four

Tier Three: One group of twoSlide40

What can be tiered?

AssignmentsActivitiesHomeworkLearning Centers

Experiments

Materials

Assessments

Writing

PromptsSlide41

Use two dice.

One person at a time, roll the dice. Add or multiply totals.The goal is to reach but not exceed 36.

Sample Tiered Math GameSlide42

1 + 2

1 x 2

= 3

= 2

First cast of the dice

3Slide43

3 + 4

3 x 4

= 7

= 12

3

+ 12

15

Second cast of the diceSlide44

5 + 1

5 x 1

= 6

= 5

15

+ 6

21

Third cast of the diceSlide45

3+ 6

3 x 6

= 9

= 18

21

+ 18

39

21

+ 9

30

Fourth cast of the diceSlide46

Modifications for Advanced Students

Play to 100Disallow paper for calculations or remembering numbersUse powersUse subtraction Allow negative numbersWhat about fractions?Slide47

3

4

4

3

= 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 = 81

= 4 x 4 x 4 = 64

81

Tiered Lesson:

Using Powers OptionSlide48

2+ 6 = 8

2 x 6 = 12

2

6

= 64

6

2

= 36

2 - 6 = -4

6 - 2 = 4

Tiered Lesson:

Exploring OptionsSlide49

What about

Using a multi-sided die

64

36

Or two?Slide50

We could really

shake things upTry three dice and use the distributive law!

12

12 + (3 x 18) = 12 + 54 = 66

(12 + 18) x 3 = 30 x 3 = 90

Did you get closer to 100?Slide51

A Quick Differentiation QUIZ

Did every student do it?

NO

Should every student do it?

NO

Could every student do it?

NO

Would every student want to do it?

NO

Did the student do it willingly and zestfully?

YES

Did the student use authentic resources and methodology?

YES

Was it done for an audience other than (or in addition to) the teacher?

YESSlide52

Avoid the Management NightmareSlide53

The Learning Environment

The physical classroom (3 basic settings):Whole class meetingIndependent stationsTeacher-directed small group workSlide54

The Learning Environment

The “working” environmentProvide opportunities for self-directed exploration of materialsEstablish guidelines for cooperative groupsMake groups inclusiveAsk students to reflect on their performance

Intervene when necessary

Establish a classroom conducive to student risk-takingSlide55

Learning Contracts

An agreement between teacher and studentAn opportunity for a student to work somewhat independentlyIncreases student responsibility for their own learningProvides some freedom for the student in acquiring skills and understandingsSlide56

Learning Contracts Include:

A skills componentA content componentA time lineSpecification of expectations Behavior

Criteria for successful completion and quality

Signatures of agreement to terms (Student

and

Teacher)

ACSD (1997)

Tomlinson (1995)Slide57

Consequences:

Learning contracts set positive consequencesExample: continued freedomThey also set negative consequencesExample: teacher sets work parametersSlide58

Flexible Grouping

Employs several organizational patterns for instructionStudents are grouped and regrouped according to:Specific goalsActivitiesIndividual needsInterestsDesired outcomes (products)

http://www.eduplace.com/science/profdev/articles/valentino.htmlSlide59

Grouping Options

Teacher-Led GroupsWhole classSmall groupIndividualStudent-Led GroupsCollaborativePerformance-based

Dyad (Pairs)

http://www.eduplace.com/science/profdev/articles/valentino.htmlSlide60

More Grouping Options

Within Class GroupingAbilityInterestQuestion-BasedReadinessLearning StyleBeyond Class GroupingAcross-ClassMulti-Age

Team Regrouping

Renzulli & Reis (1997)

Tomlinson (1995)Slide61

Ways to Differentiate Content in Groups

Varied TextsVaried Supplementary MaterialsVaried Graphic OrganizersIndependent StudyTiered Questions/AssignmentsInterest Development CentersSlide62

Anchor Activities

Self-paced, purposeful, content-driven activities that students can work on independentlyCan be done over the course of a unit, grading period, or longerActivities that are meaningful, ongoing, and appropriate to students’ learning needshttp://wblrd.sk.ca/~bestpractice/anchor/Slide63

The Question of Equity

Equity, the quality of being fair, is not about offering the exact same thing to every student, it is providing individuals with suitable challenges and experiences that will enable them to be successful and grow beyond where they are now or where they have been before.Slide64

Questions?Slide65

References and Resources

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (Producer). (1997). Differentiating instruction: Instructional and Management Strategies [Motion picture]. (Available from the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1250 N. Pitt Street, Alexandria, VA, 22314-1453)

Fogarty, E. (2005).

Differentiation as the key to successful grouping

. Presented at Confratute, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut.

Renzulli, J. S. & Reis, S. M. (1997).

The schoolwide enrichment model.

Connecticut: Creative Learning Press.

Strictland, C. A. (2005).

Differentiation of Instruction

. Presented at Newark, Delaware Public Schools.

Tomlinson, C. A. (1995).

The differentiated classroom

. Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

http://wblrd.sk.ca/~bestpractice/anchor/

http://www.eduplace.com/science/profdev/articles/valentino.html