Provided for teachers to support grade level conversations.

1. Accelerating Student Achievement Through
Differentiated Instruction
Developer: T'Nesia J. Hurley, K-12 Turnaround Solutions of Nor CA

2. Outcomes
Today we will:
1. Develop a shared understanding of
differentiated instruction and its
purpose;
2. Become familiar with the four ways
to differentiate in the classroom;
3. Get an overview on specific
differentiated instructional strategies
to use in the classroom
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3. Agenda
Welcome
Warm up
Review of the Research
Table Talk
Differentiation Strategies
Group Activity
Wrap up/ Closing
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4. Opening Activity/ Warm up
Take 5 minutes to write about a time when you
experienced frustration while learning a new skill or task.
What was the task? Why was the task difficult?
How did you overcome the situation? What support or
intervention did you receive?
If you were going to teach this skill or task to another
person, what special adjustments or considerations would
you make?
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5. Group Discussion
At your tables, take 2 minutes to share your personal
story.
After everyone has shared, discuss your
commonalities.
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6. Differentiated Instruction
(Review of the research)

7. Differentiated Instruction
Refers to the way a teacher provides varying
approaches to instruction;
Supports the learning needs of an academically,
culturally, and linguistically diverse group of
students;
Approaches vary according to students’ readiness,
interests, and learning profiles.
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8. Reasons for differentiating instruction
(Tomlinson, 2003)
Students in a classroom are learning at a different
pace- either faster or slower than the curriculum or
standards require;
Student(s) come from a linguistically diverse
background and do not have command of the
academic language used for instruction (English
Learner or Standards English Learner);
Student(s) in the class have given up on learning, or
show little motivation to learn new content.
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9. Differentiation may influence one or all
essential elements of instruction
Content- what students are
expected to learn
Product- evidence or work
completed by students to
demonstrate key understandings
(assessment)
Process- how students engage in
the learning.
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10. The goal of differentiation?
To help each learner achieve as high an academic level as
possible, by providing instruction that meets and
challenges their individual learning needs.

11. Differentiation Methods
Student
Readiness
Student
Learning
Profile
Student Student
Interest Affect
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12. Differentiation by Readiness
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13. Readiness
Refers to:
A student’s knowledge, understanding, and skill related
to a particular sequence of learning. A student’s general
cognitive proficiency affects his or her readiness as does a
student’s prior learning and life experiences, attitudes
about school, and habits of mind.
(Tomlinson, 2003, pp.3)
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14. Differentiation by Readiness
Refers to the approach teaches use to vary
instruction;
Based upon a student’s current skill level and
understanding of a topic;
Instruction focuses on building prerequisite skills,
and/ or extending students’ knowledge and skills
beyond their independent performance level.
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15. Examples:
Reading leveled text:
independent vs.
instructional level
Writing a multi-
Solving three
paragraph
digit addition vs.
summary vs. a
solving two digit
single paragraph
addition
summary
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16. Assessments and Differentiation
Pre- assessments and ongoing assessments should be
used to guide differentiation
Assessments give teachers an understanding of
students’ current performance levels;
In cases where students are working below their
grade level expectations, teachers should
differentiate in order to address the gap in students’
skills and understandings.
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17. Table Talk
Turn to a partner and take 5
minutes to reflect on what you
have heard so far. Share your
thoughts about what it means
to differentiate lessons based
upon students’ readiness.
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18. Differentiating by Interests
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19. Differentiating by Interests
Teachers can differentiate learning by knowing
students’ areas of interest and curiosity
Interest based learning inspires students’ passion
about a topic,
High interest materials serve as a bridge for building
new knowledge and heightening student motivation
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20. Why interest based differentiation?
Studies show that students whose interests are
utilized in the classroom are more likely to sustain
their engagement and deepen their learning in the
content area .
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21. Examples
Students may research topics they have
curiosity about that relate to the curriculum;
Students may self select independent
reading books based on an area of interest,
Students may work in centers or specialty
groups focused on an area of interest
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22. Important Considerations:
Link interest based inquiry to
relevant curriculum or scope &
sequence
Provide scaffolding and essential
questions to guide students’
thinking on the topic;
Provide a protocol for allowing
students to share or report back to
the class about the interest based
learning topic
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23. Table Talk
Turn to a partner and take
5 minutes to reflect on
what you have heard so
far. Share your thoughts
about how you can
differentiate lessons
based upon student
interests?
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24. Differentiating by
Learning Profile
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25. Learning Profile
Refers to how students
learn best: cognitive style,
group orientation,
environment, and
intelligence preference
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26. Group Orientation
Refers to how students respond best to the learning
environment or learning task:
one on one/ individual
small groups/ few students
whole groups/ large group settings
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27. Cognitive Style
Long
People attention Reflective vs.
Linear vs.
oriented vs. span vs. short Action
Nonlinear
Task Oriented attention Oriented
span
Whole to part Auditory/
Concrete vs.
vs. Part to Visual/ Tactile-
Abstract
Whole Kinesthetic
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28. Other Preferences:
Analytical/ practical/ creative
Verbal- Linguistic
Logical- Mathematical
Spatial- Visual
Rhythmic- Musical
Interpersonal or Intrapersonal
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29. Table Talk
Take 5 minutes at your tables
to reflect on what you have
heard so far?
What elements of your
instruction can be
differentiated according to
learner profile?
How does our understanding
of the learning profile match or
mismatch our understanding
of students and their cultural
or linguistic backgrounds?
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30. Differentiation by Affect
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31. Affect
Refers to students’ confidence level, feelings, and
emotions in learning environments or when
presented with academic tasks.
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32. Differentiating by Affect
Requires teachers to know their students’ emotional
needs, how their needs are affected by the
classroom environment, how the relationships with
their peers in the classroom influences their learning.
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33. The Five Basic Student Needs
Tomlinson identifies five basic student needs:
Affirmation, Contribution, Power, Purpose, and
Challenge
Each of these needs influences how students learn in
the classroom environment
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34. Affirmation
Feeling accepted
Feeling Safe
Feeling listened to
Feeling like the teacher believes
in the student
Interests and perspectives are
valued
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35. Contribution
Feeling valued for being an
individual
Feeling connected to others in
the environment
Feeling connected through
common goals and mutual work
Feeling like student is making a
difference in their environment
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36. Power
Learning experiences are useful
Personal choices contribute to
individual success
Knowing what is expected of
the student
Knowing how to achieve
expectations
Support is available for
individual students
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37. Purpose
Student understands the
what and why for learning
Learning relates to student
on a personal level and
global level
Work is engaging and
meaningful
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38. Challenge
The work stretches student’s
thinking and abiiltles
Student is accountable for
learning
The work is difficult but
attainable
The work helps student
contribute to learning of others
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39. Table talk
Take 10 minutes at your
tables to reflect on what
you have heard so far.
What elements of
differentiation by
affirmation exist in your
classroom already?
What elements are
missing?
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40. Differentiation Instructional
Strategies and tools
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41. Closing thoughts…
Differentiating instruction begins with knowing who
are students are and creating safe and supportive
learning learning environments that are responsive to
our students’ readiness, interests, and learning
profiles.
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42. Sources for Further Reading
Tomlinson, C. (2003) Fulfilling the Promise of the
Differentiated Classroom. Alexandria, VA: ASCD
Tomlinson, C. (2001) How To Differentiate in Mixed
Ability Classrooms. Alexandria, VA: ASCD
Tomlinson, C & J. McTighe. (2006) Integrating
Differentiated Instruction + Understanding by Design.
Alexandria, VA: ASCD
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