"Good Instruction as a Basis for Differentiated Teaching" from Carol A. Tomlinson's The Differentiated Classroom

1. Good Instruction as a Basis for
Differentiated Teaching
“The Differentiated Classroom”
by Carol A. Tomlinson
Chapter 5 Summary
Presented by: Anthony Lemons
CED568

2. Teachers must have a clear understanding of
what students should know and be able to do
as the result of a lesson or unit. Otherwise,
they cannot plan learning tasks that are
engaging and that lead the students to learn.

3. Two essential elements for durable learning
are:
•Engagement
•Understanding

4. Educational researchers (Hilda Taba in Schiever,
1991) have defined several dimension or levels
of learning:
•Facts- discrete bits of information that we
believe to be true
•Concepts-categories of common elements that
help us organize and retain information.
•Principles- rules that govern concepts
•Attitudes-degrees of commitment to ideas
•Skills and strategies- the ability to apply that
has been learned.

5. Content standards should be a vehicle to
ensure deep learning. Each content standard
is a fact, concept, principle, attitude or skill.
See page 41, Figure 5.1 for a matrix of
Examples of the Levels of Learning across
several content areas.

7. To ensure effective teaching and learning,
teachers need to link together three key elements
of curriculum (which were introduced in Chapter
3):
•Content (The “What”) – what students should
know (facts), understand (concepts and
principles), and be able to do (skills and
strategies)
•Process (The “So What”) – the learning activities
and tasks that give students the opportunity to
make sense of the content
•Product (The “Now What”) – the way that
students show what they understand and can do
with the content

9. Remember that differentiation takes time and
planning. It’s not just about designing engaging
activities. It’s about designing standards-based
learning tasks that engage students with the
purpose of leading them to learn rich content
deeply.

10. When teaching, one must distill the key concepts
and principles of their content into meaningful
learning activities that give students the
opportunity to apply what they are learning and
create a product that demonstrates their learning.
Teachers can differentiate content, process and/or
product while ensuring that all students learn the
key concepts and principles.