Growth Mindset and Differentiation

1. TELL & SCPS
Instructional
Model
Growth Mindset
& Planning for
Student Learning
April 28, 2015

2. • Has your “mindset” changed since we last met?
How?
• What progress did you make on your EPIC goals?
• What successes did you have?
• What struggles did you have?
• What do you need to keep working on?
Reflect and Share

3. LEARNING GOALS
1. Reflect on progress on growth
mindset goals
2. Review & Share progress on
personal goals for TELL
Environment and Planning
Domain
DQ1 1 Providing

4. Review and & your
EPIC Growth Plan

6. TELL P3
I ensure my planning
accommodates the needs of
heritage/native speakers and
identified exceptional learners,
as well as, struggling or
accelerated learners not
officially identified.

7. CLASSROOM PROFILE

8. What does
Differentiation mean to
you?
1.Write down what you think of
when you hear the word
differentiation – Be honest!! 
2.Round robin sharing of
definition
3.Reflection
DQ2 8 Previewing

9. DIFFERENTIATION ISN’T
A METHOD
It’s a way of thinking about teaching and
learning that can be translated into
classroom practice in many different ways –
In other words, it is a MINDSET!

10. WHERE DO WE
START?

11. Differentiation Teacher
Readiness - Pre-
Assessment

12. What is Differentiation
(DI)?
• Differentiated instruction, according to Carol
Ann Tomlinson, is the process of “ensuring
that what a student learns, how he or she
learns it, and how the student demonstrates
what he or she has learned is a match for that
student’s readiness level, interests, and
preferred mode of learning.”
Differentiated Instruction is teaching with the
child in mind rather than adopting a
standardized approach to teaching and learning
that seems to presume that all students of a
given age are at the exact same place
academically. DI is responsive teaching.

13. Differentiation and Classroom
Environment
Group 1 look at Marzano Placemat
and highlight indicators that have to
do with Differentiated Instruction
Group 2 look at TELL project Planning
and Environment and highlight
indicators related to DI
DQ2 6 Identifying

14. What? Why?
Content – What we teach Readiness
Process – How we teach Interests
Product – How we assess Learning Styles
The Basics of DI

15. Why is Differentiated
Instruction important?
Brain Research and DI

16. Differentiation, Environment,
and Brain Research
• Before the brain can attend to cognitive learning, students must feel emotionally and
physically safe. Negative emotions activate the limbic system and cognitive function
shuts down and survival instinct kicks in.
• Positive learning environment increases endorphins and stimulates the brains frontal
lob to support memory of the learning objectives
• Negative learning environment leads to increate anxiety level and causes brain to block
low-priority info (the lesson) and focus on the cause of the stress.

17. Differentiating Content by
Readiness
• Students who believe they can accomplish a task are
likely to attempt it and remember it than students who
have reason to believe they cannot (Zone of Proximal
Development & Mindset)
• When a task is perceived as too easy, the hippocampus
identifies it as already been accomplished and since it
doesn’t offer novelty and/or meaning the brain does
not “pay attention” to it

18. Differentiating Content by
Readiness
• Working memory is very limited. Time for
practice and reflection are necessary for learning
• When learners are confronted with too much
information, the chances for long term memory
storage decreases significantly
• The brain like patterns. Establishing patterns
takes time and needs to address:
• Sense (do I get this?) and
• Meaning (Is this relevant to me?)
• If the brain does not understand or see relevance
likelihood of long term memory storage
decreases

19. Goldilocks
Task can’t be too easy or too hard. It needs to
be “Just Right”

20. What is our greatest tool to
differentiate instruction in the
World Language classroom?

21. Proficiency Levels!
Level 1 – Novice Low-
Novice High
Level 2 – Intermediate Low-
Intermediate Mid
Level 3 – Intermediate High
– Advanced Low
Level 4 – Advanced Low –
Advanced Mid

23. What does
Differentiation look like
in a World Language
Classroom?

24. Next Steps?

25. 1. Identify what is to be taught
(content)
2. Pre-assess students needs and
capabilities
3. Choose the form(s) of assessment
to be used (products)
4. Decide on the method of
presentation
5. Select a variety of learning
strategies (process)
Planning a Differentiated Unit