SPECIAL EDUCATION

1. What Is Differentiated Instruction?

2. Differentiated instruction is a
way to reach students with
different learning styles,
different abilities to absorb
information and different
ways of expressing what they
have learned. Laura Robb

3.  Differentiation is a way of teaching; it’s not a
program or package of worksheets. It asks
teachers to know their students well so they can
provide each one with experiences and tasks that
will improve learning.

4. Differentiation defined- (2)
 In summary, differentiation means giving students
multiple options for taking in information.
Tomlinson(1999).
 Differentiating instruction means that teachers
have to observe and understand the differences
and similarities among students and use this
information to plan instruction.

5. PRINCIPLES OF
DIFFERENTIATION
 Ongoing, formative assessment: Teachers
continually assess to identify students’ strengths
and areas of need so they can meet students
where they are and help them move forward.

6. Recognition of diverse
learners
 The students we teach have
diverse levels of expertise and
experience with reading,
writing, thinking, problem
solving, and speaking. Ongoing
assessments enable teachers
to develop differentiated
lessons that meet every

7. Group Work:
Students collaborate in pairs
and small groups whose
membership changes as
needed. Learning in groups
enables students to engage
in meaningful discussions
and to observe and learn
from one another.

8. Problem Solving:
The focus in classrooms that
differentiate instruction is on
issues and concepts rather
than “the book” or the
chapter. This encourages all
students to explore big ideas
and expand their
understanding of key
concepts.

9. Choice:
Teachers offer students choice
in their reading and writing
experiences and in the tasks
and projects they complete. By
negotiating with students,
teachers can create motivating
assignments that meet students’
diverse needs and varied

10. differentiating instruction
asks teachers to continually
strive to know and to respond
to each students’ needs to
maximize learning.

11.  This article was excerpted from Visual Tools for
Differentiating Reading & Writing Instruction: Strategies to
Help Students Make Abstract Ideas Concrete and
Accessible by Roger Essley , with Linda Rief and Amy
Levy Rocci .
 What Are Storyboards?
 Storyboarding, or picture writing, is the origin of all written
languages, used by ancient cultures before text evolved
and as a natural bridge to text. The Chinese language was
built using pictographs. Egyptians used storyboards, or
hieroglyphics, first etched in stone and later written on
papyrus, to organize a complex society and to rule the
ancient world.
 Look at any comic strip and you’ll see picture writing in
action. A storyboard is a writing format, generally a set of
boxes (or rectangles, circles, or other shapes) placed in a
logically sequenced order. Each box or frame is a place for
the writer to put information, pictures, symbols, or text.

12.  Storyboards appear in many forms, from
emerging literacy books to emergency
instructions on airplaces to technical textbooks.
When writers in various fields want to make ideas
easily understood, they choose a storyboard
format or one of its close cousins: the flow chart,
the time line, or the PowerPoint presentation.
Storyboards are widely used because we know
pictures combined with text offer a rich synthesis
of information that can entertain and inform. The
pictures in picture writing can be simple cartoons,
photographs, or sophisticated technical diagrams.
