SISI - Standards and Indicators

Standard 1 - Academic Performance - Curriculum
1.1e The school curriculum provide specifics links to continuing education, life, and career options.
1.1g The curriculum provides access to a common academic core for all students.

Standard 2 - Academic Performance - Classroom Evaluation/Assessment
2.1a Classroom assessments of student learning are frequent, rigorous, and aligned with Kentucky's core content.
2.1b Teachers collaborate in the designing of authentic assessment tasks aligned with core content subject matter.
2.1c Students can articulate the academic expectations in each class and know what is required to be proficient.
2.1e Multiple assessments are specifically designed to provide meaningful feedback on student learning for instructional purposes.
2.1h Samples of student work are analyzed to inform instruction, revise curriculum and pedagogy, and obtain information on student progress.

Standard 3 - Academic Performance - Instruction
3.1a There is evidence that effective and varied instructional strategies are used in all classrooms.
3.1c Instructional strategies and activites are consistently monitored and aligned with the changing needs of a diverse student population to ensure various learning approaches and learning styles are addressed.
3.1f Instructional resources are sufficient to effectively deliver the curriculum.

Standard 4 - Learning Environment - School Culture
4.1c Teachers hold high expectations for all students academically and behaviorally, and this is evidenced in their practice.
4.1h There is evidence that the teachers and staff care about students and inspire their best efforts.

Standard 5 - Learning Environment - Student,Family and Community Support
5.1c The school/district provides organizational structures and supports instructional practices to reduce barriers to learning.

Scenario

Janelle is a 7th grader who has qualified for the special education program because of her learning disability in reading.  Janelle receives some small group instruction in reading from the resource teacher, but the majority of her day is spent in the general education classroom. 

 Janelle sees herself as a non-learner.  Her difficulty with reading has resulted in her being isolated from her friends in higher-leveled classes.  To access information she depends on someone reading to her or she watches what others are doing. 

Unfortunately, her teacher Mr. Hoyt primarily uses the textbook as the focus for his instruction.  Janelle feels lost, unhappy, and “dumber” than her friends.  Janelle is ready to give up.

Introduction

Students like Janelle are often relegated to low-achieving ability groups or classes where the instruction focuses on simplistic topics, traditional teaching strategies, and little or no challenge.  Teachers often confuse learning disability with learning differently.  Our responsibility is designing instruction that allows for the diversity of learners who grace our classes.  

Differentiated instruction is a philosophy of teaching that focuses on student choice, multiple approaches of instruction, flexible grouping, and positive proactive strategies for learning.

Differentiated instruction focuses on the responsibilities of the teacher as she/he designs learning experiences for the unique learners in her classroom.  Differentiated instruction does not mean that the teacher must provide specialized instruction for each individual within her class, but instead she must provide two or more learning options for the class.  Providing choice is a brain-compatible strategy for learning that eliminates boredom, offers challenging experiences, and gives the student ownership in his learning.

Implementation of differentiated instruction is dependent on the teacher’s desire to make her classroom a community of learners.  This article will focus on implementation through:

• Creating a Learning Climate
• Knowing the Learners
• Knowing How Learners Learn
• Delivering Content and Skills
• Assessing the Learner in a Variety of Ways
  

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Strategies

Creating a Learning Climate

Our students come to us with diverse cultures, socioeconomic factors, and family structures.  Differences are present in learning preferences, backgrounds, abilities, and needs.  Bringing this variety of students together is indeed an orchestral performance.  Students need to see their talents separately and together, and they need to see value and worth in what they are accomplishing.  Just as teachers recognize that students require different instructional approaches, so should students recognize that the guidance needed to perform at top levels may differ from that needed by other members of the classroom.

Trust is the foundation for building a community of learners.  A community of learners nurtures independence, creativity, and effort among its members, while it honors learning preferences, motivation, and differentiation.  Brain compatible research indicates that learning occurs best in classrooms where threat is eliminated, positive support abounds, feedback is timely, goals are set by students, positive emotions are activated, and choice is part of the menu.  (Jensen, 1998)

Students may inherently realize that they learn more quickly if they get to explore the topic on their own, or are given hands-on activities to support what they hear, or are encouraged to reflect on what they are learning or share their understandings with other members of the class.  However, to consciously celebrate the variety of learning styles and multiple intelligences in the classroom is to give students permission to access learning through the modality of their choice.

It is advantageous to give interest inventories and learning style profiles to students, but it is even more powerful to teach students about multiple intelligences and learning styles in an on-going process of understanding how each child may learn differently from the next.  This strategy encourages students to delve into styles of learning that may be a bit uncomfortable at first, but with guidance from the teacher, challenges and extends their learning. 

Only through a relationship of trust between student and teacher and between student and student, will the learner be able to take educational risks without fear of embarrassment and failure.  Belonging to a true community of learners, where small successes are celebrated along with major accomplishments is the best start for healthy learning.  Differentiation is an element of building that community.

Knowing the Learners

A teacher who faces a classroom teeming with possibilities is wise to take the time to understand how her students differ in personal interests, learning preferences, pace of learning, cognitive abilities, and motivation.  Students are more likely to succeed when the teacher is more aware of those differences.

There are a number of tools for gathering academic information on individual students.  The most basic of those tools is the cumulative record housed in most schools.  This record maintains standardized test scores on a national and state level that can be compared to the classroom assessments used on a daily basis.  This knowledge will assist the teacher in creating learning tasks that boost a student’s success and breaks a cycle of failure. 

Interest inventories are a second tool used to discover the in-school and out-of-school interests of students, as well as learning preferences.  There are a variety of ready-made tools that can be used as a whole-class activity or as individual interviews with students.  This tool is especially helpful in the design of learning topics and tasks that address the interests of specific students.  It can also be used as a tool for forming partners and teams for academic groupings for projects and explorations.  (Heacox, 2002)

Another way to get to know your learners is by using Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences model.  Like the interest inventory, there are a variety of specific tools that address these eight intelligences through a list of questions to which the student responds.  The multiple intelligences are different ways that Gardner relates thinking and learning.  Each student will have strengths or limitations in each of the areas in regard to his learning preference. 

Teaching students about the multiple intelligences helps them to see how they learn best and offers them other styles that might benefit their learning as well.  Knowing about the multiple intelligences helps them when given choices of learning activities and projects.  This understanding builds more of a capacity for understanding the strengths and limitations of their peers as well.  Students will have more of a sense of diversity as they become more aware of the eight intelligences.  (Huggins, 1997)

Interviews with students and conferences with parents can also be windows of understanding about how students learn best.  Often conversations can be a key to a teacher’s understanding as students will share information that clues the teacher into a student’s method of learning as well as portraying the student’s own picture of himself as a learner. 

Parents are able to share the successes that the student has in a different learning situation such as home, community sports or volunteer groups, or work sites.  Successes outside the school setting can pinpoint how a child can succeed inside the school setting.  Information from these interviews can be helpful in addressing a student’s learning preferences through differentiated instruction.

Knowing How Learners Learn

Using the research findings from neuroscience as well as behavioral and cognitive sciences, the teacher can find research-based rationales for why and when certain instructional strategies should be considered.  The more teachers know about how the brain learns, the more varied and intentional the instruction within the classroom will become.  (Sousa, 2001)

Reading research from the sciences as well as the implications to education that the research makes is a first step in understanding how learning takes place.  One of the best ways to determine the value of the different strategies suggested in brain research is to conduct teacher action research at the classroom level.  Action research can provide valuable feedback on instructional strategies, assessment projects, pacing, community, memory, humor, music, movement, and a host of other brain compatible implications for education.  Working with other teachers to share data from the classroom will result in even more compelling reasons to study how the brain learns.

As understanding of how learning occurs grows, teachers can use that information in assessing where students are on the learning continuum and determine how best to address their needs.  Pretests or pre-assessments can give the teacher data on a student’s level of understanding of skills and content that is part of the Program of Studies.  This information will direct a teacher in providing specific teaching, extended time with the material, or enrichment.  Most adopted textbooks include skill exercises and chapter tests that can be used as pretests for students. 

In order to provide meaningful activities through differentiated instruction, it is imperative to know what students understand about a particular topic.  Two organized strategies to find this information the KWL and the LEARN strategy. 

The KWL strategy stands for:

•  What do I KNOW about this topic?
• What do I WANT to learn about this topic?
• What have I LEARNED about this topic?

The LEARN strategy stands for:

• List what I know.
• Explore what I want to know.
• Access information.
• Reflect on what I am learning.
• Now make connections.

The use of either acronym gives information regarding the extent of knowledge on a particular topic and focuses on questions developed by the students.  The LEARN strategy is an extension of KWL and is more brain-based in its domain. 

List what you want to know gives the teacher a quick understanding of a student’s knowledge, but brain research theory supports the concept that true learning takes place only when a new experience or new information is linked to the knowledge and experiences that are already a part of the learner.  This listing activity can be accomplished through partner shares, journaling, drawing, and whole group sharing. 

The four remaining elements of the LEARN process are not necessarily sequential in nature.  Often good leading questions about a topic cannot occur to a student until some basic or engaging information is given to the learner that triggers further interest in that topic.  Therefore, some accessing information may precede exploring what you want to know.

Explore what you want to know encourages students to begin to formulate questions at the outset of the lesson, but instruction encourages students to continue to wonder and explore other questions they may have.  Some of the questions may be broad in scope and would require students to analyze and synthesize information in order to answer the questions, while other questions either cannot be answered or could be addressed directly in additional resources.  This exploration can lead differentiation into new areas for children by suggesting alternative teaching strategies or essential questions that need additional attention and time.

Access information  is the element of the strategy that helps learners engage in collecting information that will lead them to answers in a variety of ways.  This part of the strategy invites teachers to share important information through a variety of instructional strategies.  Content and skill information may come through experiments, explorations, guest speakers, videos, field trips, games, projects, mini-lectures, textbooks, print resources, internet resources, games, and other in-class and out-of-class experiences.  This particular part of the strategy demands differentiation in strategies, and also requires differentiation in the way students are assessed. 

Reflect on what you are learning is the element that allows students to begin processing what they have read, heard, and done.   This reflection process is on-going throughout the instruction in order to create meaning in the new learning.  Whole group sharing, small group conversations, journaling, and partner chats are some ways that reflecting can occur.  Meaning isn’t inherent in content, but rather is the result of how the students relate it to their past learning and experiences.  (Sousa, 2001)

Now make connections encourages the working memory of the student to summarize its perception of what has been learned.  This connection requires the students to connect, transfer, and implement the learning in some way.  It needs to associate what they have learned in one area with what is going on in their lives and with the learning that is occurring in other content areas.  The learning should become part of their life “experience.”  It also helps to enhance sense and meaning of new learning.      

Differentiated instruction encourages teachers to meld what they know about how children learn with a variety of effective teaching strategies to deliver success for all students within their community of learners.

Delivering Content and Skills

As the teacher begins developing plans to differentiate her instruction, she can choose from a variety of models to help her get started. 

She may use mini-lectures followed by group discussions or individual journaling.  She might use graphic organizers with the students to assist in recording “need-to-know” information.  Cued or guided notes might be part of her instruction to make sure that students interact with the new information, but also have the most important information at their attention. 

The teacher might use a constructivist approach and set up a task that will require exploration and creation of the students’ own understanding.  He could use guided experiments or design a research task that allows for students to come up with a researchable question that requires more than “looking-up” the answer in an encyclopedia.  He could model skills, watch students practice those skills, give students feedback on their progress, and eventually let students re-teach one another that skill.

The teacher might have specific information put to music through lyrics or through storytelling.  Students could be asked to use their bodies to help encode information in their brains.  Movement reinforces your memory by providing an anchor or external stimulus to match the internal cues.  For example, associating a physical gesture with a new vocabulary word results in two areas of the brain working simultaneously and therefore strengthens the memory.  Movement triggers memory just as taste, smell, and sight does.  (Markowitz, 1999)

The most important point is that teachers must deliver content and skill in a variety of ways to a community of learners who learn with humor, music, movement, and trust.

In order for students to make new learning their own, processing time and activities must be available to allow them that true learning time.  Listening and talking are critical in making sense out of new material and information.  (Karp, 1998)  Using the multiple intelligences as a way to process the information is an exciting and viable method. 

The eight intelligences are simple for students to understand and easy to integrate into instruction.  Teachers are masters of the verbal/linguistic intelligence and usually choose that modality to begin differentiating.  Having students experience poetry, debate, storytelling, and journaling around a specific topic and through the various levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy is a natural choice for teachers.

The intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences also fit more naturally in traditional classrooms, and so are good places to begin extending those intelligences through journals, self-assessments, editorials in the intrapersonal modality to discussions, conversations, and cooperative group activities in the interpersonal modality.

Moving through the other intelligences takes more of a leap of faith to begin to incorporate, but are so engaging that the students’ enthusiasm will be noticeable.  From creating songs, lyrics, and jingles in the musical area to diagramming, charting, and graphing in logical/mathematical areas to collecting, forecasting, exhibiting, and observing in the naturalist area—all strong modalities and interesting methods of teaching and learning.

In choosing to adopt a differentiated approach to instruction, the teacher becomes more of a facilitator than a dispenser of information.  He not only delivers content and skill in multiple ways through a mix of mini-lectures, explorations, conversations among students, internet research, and hands-on activities, but he creates learning tasks that have a scaffolding or tiered approach.

A science task might involve collecting, organizing, and analyzing data for all students.  For some the task might involve a very limited set of criteria, while others, who are quite capable of that task, may be asked to synthesize the data and explain how that data compares with other sets of information.  All students may be asked to create a product that showcases their understanding, while some may evaluate their data on different levels of criteria.

The teacher also has the responsibility to organize a flexible grouping of students based on task, abilities of students, common interests, learning preferences, or where the student is on the learning continuum.  Groupings can be developed at the beginning of a task especially when interest levels are similar, or toward the end of a learning unit when students are found to need additional challenge or additional support. 

The key to grouping students is to keep those groups flexible, with students able to move in and out of an assigned or chosen group based on need.  Keep in mind that a group may also be a “group” of one.  There are times when some students prefer to work individually, and that must also be taken into consideration when choosing tasks and group assignments.

Assessing the Learner in a Variety of Ways

Teaching in a differentiated way demands assessing in the same ways.  The traditional paper and pencil test that requires answers in multiple choice, true-false, or fill-in-the-blank formats cannot truly show what our students “know and can do” with curriculum content and skills especially when that content was taught in a differentiated format.  Standard testing may always be a part of our assessment system, but performance and products should take a major role in assessing our students.

Creating a rubric or scoring-guide to lead our students through the criteria and levels of understanding for particular tasks is a fair and more reliable method of assessment.  The guidelines of a rubric allow the student to know upfront what is expected of the learner, what the performance or product “looks” like, and what grade will be determined at different levels. 

 Rubrics are advantageous as students do not have to guess what the teacher has in her mind as “good”, and students can use the scoring guide continuously through the project to guide their work. 

Students may be assessed on the content information, resources used, presentation, product, as well as other criteria decided on by the teachers.  A performance assessment might be designed in order to observe students working together, solving a problem, finding multiple solutions, or creating a product.  Research tells us that students can retrieve information better when it is asked for in the same way the memory was encoded.

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Resources

Kentucky Resources   

Arc of Kentucky – The Arc is the largest volunteer organization in the state dedicated to attaining and ensuring a better life for Kentuckians. The Arc is your platform and voice working to provide the opportunities and support for Kentuckians with any disabilities, to live, learn, work, and play in the community….as their right! arcofky@aol.com 1-800-281-1272 (502) 875-5225

Bluegrass Technology Center, Inc. – BTC is an organization assisting individuals technologies and services that provide the Alliance for Technology Access and the Eastern Regional Center for the Kentucky Assistive Technology Services (KATS) Network. BTC provides quality services to thousands of individuals with disabilities, their families, and professionals throughout Kentucky. www.bluegrass-tech.org

Clark County 4-H Self Esteem Program – This program is presented to grades 1-8, including those with disabilities, of the Clark County Educational System and seven after school groups of high-risk youth. The high risk youth are lacking in good behavioral skills, decision making skills, and social skills. The program has made a difference in these youth by teaching them how to think and act ways that build their positive self-image. Clark County Extension Service 34 South Main Street Room 8 Winchester, KY 40391 (859) 744-4682

Education Office of Accountability – Helpful in answering school questions and aiding in resolving issues. Regular Education 1-800-242-0520 Special Education 1-800-252-7776

F.I.R.S.T. Project – This project is an early intervention, court diversion program for youth in grades 5-10. It is founded in providing servide coordination, wraparound services, and family education. There is a screening process done by a Court Designated Social Worker (CDW), an assessment process, a service plan is developed, and finally an exit plan for the child. 100 Fair Oaks Lane, 4W-C Frankfort, KY 40621 (502) 564-7610

First Steps – This program will help you find answers to questions about your baby developing certain skills. Many school systems have implemented this program for student-mothers who want to continue their education. Kentucky Early Intervention and Services include evaluation, assessment, developmental intervention, respite, nutrition, therapy and much, much more. 100 Fair Oaks Lane Frankfort, KY 40621 (502) 564-7700 1-800-242-520 -or- 1-800-252-7776

FIRSTLINK of the Bluegrass – This was formerly known as ASK US. They are the number one source if you need to be linked to social service agencies and community organizations in the Bluegrass region. If you don't not know where to start when looking for help, they are a wonderful resource. 1412 North Broadway Suite 206 Lexington, KY 40505 (859) 255-2374 (859) 233-9370

KATS (Kentucky Assistive Technology Services Network) – Provides information and referral services primarily in the area of assistive technology. The KATS mission is to connect organizations and individuals to resources, services, agencies, support and information to enhance the quality and productivity of life through assistive technology. Phone: (502) 564-2733 Fax: (502) 327-9991

Kentucky Child 2000 Initiative – Their vision to be a state of communities where all children, youth, and their families and valued and in which they may prosper. Their mission is to work in partnership with local and state organizations to forge a movement of communities mobilized to achieve this vision. www.kychild2000.com   327 S. Eagle Creek Drive Lexington, KY 40515 (859) 421-4640

Kentucky IMPACT – Serves those children who are the most severely emotionally disabled and in need of coordinated services among human services and education agencies. Through interagency collaboration, community-based services are individually coordinated for each child and his/her family. Each child has a service team, which may include a parent, a social worker, a mental health therapist, a schoolteacher, and a court worker. Kentucky Impact 100 Fair Oaks Lane 3W-C Frankfort, Kentucky 40621-0001 Phone: (859) 564-7610 Fax: (859) 564-9010

KY-SPIN (Kentucky Special Parent Involvement Network) – This is a non-profit statewide organization. Currently KY-SPIN operates three programs: FTIC (Family Training and Information Center), Project V.I.S.I.O.N. (Voices Implementing Statewide Involvement of Family Networks), and KY-SPINVRI (Vocational Rehabilitation Initiative). Parents and professionals provide guidance and assistance to the various programs. spininc@aol.com  2210 Goldsmith Lane, Suite 118 Louisville, KY 40218 (502) 456-0923 1-800-525-7746

Kentucky State Government Page – Offers great links and resources to finding information about services, facilities, and agencies in your area. www.state.ky.us/

Learning Disabilities Association of Kentucky – LDA brings together parents, educators and adults, with Learning Disabilities, to work together to improve the conditions under which LD children – youth – adults, learn, work, grow, and flourish. The organization shares knowledge, spreads information, provides programs, and searches to influence policies related to learning disabilities, dyslexia, and attention deficit disorders. The LDA also publishes a wonderful newsletter. www.ldanatl.org

 LDA 2210 Goldsmith Lane #110 Suite 222 Louisville, KY 40218 (859) 473-1256

 Additional Resources

The ERIC Digest - Selected articles from ERIC Abstracts on Differentiated Instruction. Includes articles on *Reteaching, *Using a Matrix Plan, *Difficult-to-Remediate versus Readily Remeadiated Readers, *Differentiating Instruction for Gifted Students, *Inclusive Classrooms, *Curricular versus Instructional Differentiation. www.ascd.org/educationnews/eric/differinstructionabs.html

Family Education Network – Offers a fun place for parents and kids to learn about various topics from soccer to religion to mental health. http://familyeducation.com

Free Federal Resources for Educational Excellence - Lists several free resources for every aspect of education. The Health and Safety section of the site however has information on children’s health issues. www.ed.gov/free/comment.html

Future Horizons – Website offers information on conferences, newsletter, childcare publications, resources and links. www.futurehorizons.com  1-800-489-0727

LD Online – A complete guide to answer all of your learning disability questions. www.ldonline.org

Kentucky PIRC (Parent Information Resource Center) – offers services and support for Kentucky. www.kyparentinfo.org

Mental Health Net – Gives complete directory on all disorders, treatments, professional resources, reading room, discussion groups, links, doctors list, and more. www.mentalhealth.net/ National Network for Health – Good for lesson planning. This website offers a comprehensive source for hundreds of sites on nutrition, exercise, mental and emotional health, safety, environmental issues, and other health issues. http://www.nnh.org/

Special Education Resources on the Internet (SERI) – A collection of internet accessible information resources of interest to those involved in the fields of Special Education. This collection exists in order to make on-line Special Education resources more easy and readily available in one location. http://www.seriweb.com/

Tomlinson, Carol Ann, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership, Foundations and Policy, The Curry School of Education, University of Virginia, Room 179 Ruffner Hall, 405 Emmet St. South, Charlottesville, VA 22903-2494. Phone: (804) 924-7161

National Clearinghouse on Disability Information – Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Offers free information on mental, emotional, and behavioral disabilities. (202) 205-8241

Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services – National information and referral center that provides information on disability-related issues for families, educators, and other professionals. Their special focus is children and youth (birth to 22 years old). This website is offered in English and Spanish. www.nichcy.org  1-800-695-0285

Schwab Foundation for Learning – website offers a complete resource collection, information desk, membership. The Schwab Foundation is dedicated to raising awareness about learning differences, and providing parents and teachers with the information, resources, and support they need to improve the lives of learning differences. infodesk@schwablearning.org    www.perc-schwabfdn.org    1-800-230-0988

References

Gurian, Michael.  How Boys and Girls Learn Differently.  San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Heacox, Diane.  (2002).  Differentiating Instruction in the Regular Classroom.  Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing.

Huggins, Pat and Donna Manion, Lorraine Shakarian, and Larry Moen.  (1997).  Multiple Intelligences:  Helping Kids Discover the Many Ways to be Smart.  Longmont, Colorado: Sopris West.

Jensen, Eric.   Different Brains, Different Learners: How to Reach the Hard to Reach; Teaching with the Brain in Mind. ASCD, 1998.

Brain Based Learning. Del Mar, CA: Turning Point Publications, 2000 (revised)

Karp, Karen, E. Todd Brown, and Linda G. Allen.  Feisty Females: Inspiring Girls to Think Mathematically.  Portsmith, NH: Heinemann.

Kaufeldt, Martha.  (1999).  Begin with the Brain: Orchestrating the Learner-Centered Classroom.  Zephyr Press: Tucson, Arizona.

Markowitz, Karen and Eric Jensen.  (1999). The Great Memory Book.  San Diego: The Brain Store.

Peterson, Ralph.  (1992)  Life in a Crowded Place.  Portsmith, NH: Heinemann.

Simkins, Michael and Karen Cole, Fern Tavalin, and Barbara Means.  (2002)  Alexandria, VA: ASCD

Sousa, David.  How the Brain Learns-2nd Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2001. How the Special Needs Brain Learns

Sprenger, Marilee.  (1999).  Learning and Memory: The Brain in Action.  ASCD.

Becoming a “Wiz” at Brain-Based Teaching.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2002.

Wolfe, Pat. Brain Matters: Translating Research into Classroom Practice.  Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2001.

 

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Comments

 

Our 7th grade student, Janelle, would find that learning is truly manageable and enjoyable when she is encouraged to learn in different ways along with her small group instruction in reading skills. 

Janelle, along with other special needs students, gifted students, students-at-risk, and   other non-labeled students will be challenged, taught, assessed, and supported in learning by the teachers who choose differentiated instruction as a foundation and philosophy for their work.

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Key Words

Bloom’s Taxonomy, conferences, constructivist approach, cued notes, experiments, feedback, graphic organizers, guided notes, interest inventories, interviews, LEARN, mini-lectures, model skills, multiple intelligences, pre-assessments, pre-tests, research task, rubric

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