Differentiating Instruction. Workshop by Inspector Mr. Mohamed Salah ABIDI Regional Summer School 2008/2009 (docs)

1. DIFFERENTIATING
INSTRUCTION
Mohamed Salah ABIDI
*Regional Summer School*
2008- 2009

2. Why should we raise the issue
of DI?
The trainer asks the following questions:
1-What is your biggest challenge as a teacher in a prep?
2-How do you generally address the diverse needs of
your learners?
3-How can you diagnose your learners' needs accurately
and practically?
4-How can you provide learning opportunities that increase
the likelihood of success for your learners:
“No child is left behind at school.”
The trainer leads the participants to deduce that the
answers to the above questions are what DI is all
about.

3. What may a teacher in a
preparatory school expect
from this training?
 Answers may range from:
 “Learn (more) about this teaching
method”
 to:
 “develop techniques to make
the job easier”

4. Defining the concept
 The trainer asks each group (4 Groups)
to read a text(Word doc.1) and provide
an oral summary.At the end of the
activity a clear definition of what
differentiation in the classroom means
is developed.

5. Is DI a new trend in pedagogy?
Trainer invites the participants to reflect on
the following:
 The Kutteb: the traditional Kuranic School.
 The two- level/ multi-level primary
classroom.
 The integration of learners with special
needs in the “usual classroom”.

6. What is the rationale underlying
this instructional method?
Trainer leads the participants to answer the
following set of questions:
1- Do you opt for a “one size fits all” in your
teaching?
-Today's classrooms are becoming more
academically diverse and generally contain
students with a range of exceptionalities and
markedly different experiential backgrounds.
These students almost certainly work at differing
readiness levels, have varying interests, and learn
in a variety of ways.

7. Why Differentiate?
How diverse is your classroom in terms of the following
characteristics?
 ♦ Cognitive abilities
 ♦ Confidence in learning
 ♦ Cultural/ethnic influences
 ♦ Gender influences
 ♦ How students value learning
 ♦ Interest in the subject you teach
 ♦ Learning pace
 ♦ Learning styles (visual, spatial, auditory, tactile,
kinesthetic, etc.)
 ♦ Readiness
 ♦ Socio-economic and family characteristics

8. HOW DIFFERENT ARE
STUDENTS IN A MIXED
ABILITY CLASS?
 Motivation
 Learning styles
 Types of intelligences
 Physiological needs
 Psychological needs
 Speed
 Maturity
 World knowledge
 Knowledge of and about English

9. “ZPD”
How can you avoid boredom and/or frustration in your
classroom?
 Psychologists tell us that a student learns only when a task
is a little too hard for that student. When a student can do
work with little effort, and virtually independently, that
student is not learning, but rather rehearsing the known.
When a student finds a task beyond his or her reach,
frustration, not learning, is the result. Only when a task is
a bit beyond the student's comfort level, and the student
finds a support system to bridge the gap, does learning
occur. This optimum degree of difficulty for learning is
referred to as a student's zone of proximal development.
Considering today's diverse classrooms, it is unlikely that
a teacher will be consistently able to develop one-size-fits-
all learning experiences that are in the zones of proximal
development of all students in a particular class.

10. How can you moderate challenge
for the learners?
Brain research suggests that when tasks are too hard for a
learner, the brain "downshifts" to the limbic area of the
brain that does not "think," but rather is designed to
protect an individual from harm. Also, when tasks are too
easy for learners, those learners do not show thoughtful
brain activity, but rather display patterns that look more
like the early stages of sleep. Only when tasks are
moderately challenging for an individual does the brain
"think" in a way that prompts learning. Once again,
teachers will find it difficult to consistently find single
tasks that are moderately challenging for all learners in a
class that includes a range of readiness and experiential
levels.

11. Do you build on prior-knowledge to
help your learners learn?
Culture has an important bearing on how
individuals learn. While it is clearly not the case
that all members of a given culture learn in
similar ways, it is the case that learning
environments and procedures that are comfortable
for many members of one cultural group may not
be so to many members of other cultural groups.
Students whose classrooms are a cultural misfit
often do poorly in school In classrooms where
varied cultural groups are represented, a single
approach to teaching and learning is unlikely to
serve all students well.

12. How can you motivate all your
learners?
Student motivation and task persistence increase
when students can work with topics that are of
personal interest. Modifying instruction to draw
on student interests is likely to result in greater
student engagement, higher levels of motivation,
higher student productivity, greater student
autonomy, increased achievement, and an
improved sense of self-competence. Encouraging
students to link required learning to that which is
personally interesting to them seems an important
modification for teachers in most classrooms.

13. What do we differentiate and what
strategies do we use to implement
in the classroom?
Instruction can be differentiated based on
three general areas. These areas include:
 the content of instruction
 the processes and techniques used to help
make sense of a given topic
 the products produced by students that
demonstrate their learning(Word doc.2)

14. STRATEGIES FOR DI
(Word doc.3)
 Readiness / Ability
 Adjusting Questions
 Compacting Curriculum
 Tiered Assignments
 Acceleration/Deceleration
 Flexible Grouping
 Peer Teaching
 Learning Profiles/Styles

15. Learning styles
 Visual Learners:
learn through seeing... .
These learners need to see the teacher's body language and
facial expression to fully understand the content of a
lesson. They tend to prefer sitting at the front of the
classroom to avoid visual obstructions (e.g. people's
heads). They may think in pictures and learn best from
visual displays including: diagrams, illustrated text books,
overhead transparencies, videos, flipcharts and hand-outs.
During a lecture or classroom discussion, visual learners
often prefer to take detailed notes to absorb the
information.

16. LEARNING STYLES2
Auditory Learners:
learn through listening...
They learn best through verbal lectures,
discussions, talking things through and listening to
what others have to say. Auditory learners
interpret the underlying meanings of speech
through listening to tone of voice, pitch, speed and
other nuances. Written information may have little
meaning until it is heard. These learners often
benefit from reading text aloud and using a tape
recorder.

17. LEARNING STYLES3
Tactile/Kinesthetic Learners:
learn through , moving, doing and touching...
Tactile/Kinesthetic persons learn best through a
hands-on approach, actively exploring the physical
world around them. They may find it hard to sit
still for long periods and may become distracted
by their need for activity and exploration.

18. WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF
MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE?
 Visual/Spacial Intelligence
 Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence
 Logical/Mathematical Intelligence
 Bodily/Kinaesthetic Intelligence
 Musical/Rhythmic Intelligence
 Interpersonal Intelligence
 Intrapersonal Intelligence
(Word doc.4)

19. MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE
INVENTORY
 Participants fill in the inventory (Word
doc.5)
 Recap.
 Evaluation of the training session