Differentiated Instruction
Differentiation According to Rick Wormeli
The concept of differentiation is already inherent in what we do as teachers. The important thing is that we take a step back from what we do as teachers and metacognitively evaluate the extent to which we are differentiating our instruction to best meet the learning needs of our students. The following information on differentiation is according to Rick Wormeli's 2007 book entitled Differentiation. I will try and break it down and outline the salient points of his work in order to better facilitate the reflective assessment of how we are doing and how we can tweak things to better help our students.
"As with anything, differentiation gets easier the more you do it. Give yourself three years to become comfortable with it. Try one idea per month, then one per week. Perhaps all you do is complete one thorough lesson per grading period. That's progress" (p. 24).
What is Differentiation?
In the most basic sense, differentiating our instructions is simply making adjustments to our instructional practice to best meet the learning needs of all our students. According to Wormeli, "when we differentiate, we do whatever it takes to help students learn by providing individual accommodations and making adjustments to our general lesson plans" (p. 3). We know, however, that as teachers this is sometimes easier said than done. The hope is, though, that we can make small adjustments on a regular basis to try and help our students be successful in any way possible.
When it comes to making those adjustments, or at least having the willingness to do so, it comes down to our philosophical approach to education. Wormeli states that "differentiation is foremost a professional and responsive mind-set" (p. 7). With the way education is going, and will continue to go in the province as Alberta Education continues to move forward with Inspiriting Education and its impact on the curriculum redesign and provincial assessment, the hope is that teachers are becoming more flexible in how they teach and facilitate student learning and success on an individual level. That is a significant shift from the old mindset of only teaching grades, subjects, or classes of students.
As teachers embrace the paradigm that it's okay for planning, teaching, and learning to be a somewhat messy exercise that moves away from rigidity and uniformity, they can begin to embrace and practice what Wormeli calls the "two simple charges of differentiation." They are, "(1) do whatever it takes to maximize students' learning instead of relying on a one-size-fits-all, whole-class method of instruction and (2) prepare students to handle anything in their current and future lives that is not differentiated, i.e., to become their own learning advocates" (p. 9).
Wormeli also points out that teachers who begin to differentiate need to change the way they think about how they engage students in meaningful learning opportunities. "Differentiation is not about requiring less or more work from students of varying degrees of readiness. We don't ask advanced students to do two book reports while struggling students do one. Instead, we change the nature of the work, not its quantity. Differentiation means we increase what students can achieve, and that takes work on everyone's part" (p. 10). What teachers begin to do instead is get to know students on both a personal and academic level. Once they know their students, they then begin to find ways to engage them in meaningful learning at their own respectful levels. For example, "In the differentiated classes... teachers take the time to know their students. And, armed with that information, they make learning so compelling that students have no choice but to become engaged. These teachers are keenly aware of how students need to grow, and they make adjustments to ensure that those gains occur" (p. 10).
Like I said before, though, teaching this way is easier said than done - especially when there is such diversity in terms of ability and understanding in the regular every day classroom. Realizing this, however, Wormeli provides some direction in terms of planning, instruction, and assessment to help teachers successfully embrace differentiated instruction.
Aspects of a Differentiated Lesson
When it comes to differentiating your instruction as a teacher, Wormeli suggests you break your practice down and look at it in three segments:
The following is a breakdown of what you can do in each of these three segments:
Steps to Take Before Designing the Learning Experiences
Steps to Take While Designing and Implementing the Learning Experiences
Steps to Take After Providing the Learning Experiences
Structures and Strategies for a Differentiated Class
The practicality of planning, teaching, and assessing students requires a little more meat than the suggestions listed above. As such, Wormeli provides some further suggestions in terms of tweaking your practice and working smarter instead of harder.
Planning
One of the suggestions that Wormeli makes for when teachers begin the planning process in an attempt to differentiate is that teachers don't simply adjust the quantity of the work students do, but the nature of the work they do. "With differentiation we strive to change the nature of our assignments, not the quantity" (p. 65). In attempting to do this as a teacher, her cautions that "you may be tempted to tell the advanced student to work on some puzzles in the back of the classroom while they wait for their peers to catch up, or you may ask them to help struggling classmates, read quietly, straighten up the bookshelves, or complete homework for another class. Although you might occasionally allow these activities, none of them should be your standard default response. It's disrespectful to student to force them to spin their wheels while the rest f the class tries to accelerate. It's also developmentally inappropriate, and differentiation is dong what is developmentally appropriate" (p. 36).
I'll admit, when I read the previous quote, I was a bit taken aback because I have used some of those strategies to occupy students when they finished early and I was trying to help struggling students catch up. Thankfully though, Wormeli clarified something that helps with this and to improve the planning process. "If you're struggling to find an effective way to reach students, consider asking them for ideas... No one should expect us to know how to differentiate instruction and assessment for all students every day" (p. 79). This allows for teachers to ask their students what they think would be most engaging for them. What a novel idea! So instead of feeling the pressure to reinvent the wheel for students all the time, have them identify through a teacher led discussion what would be an engaging extension activity to the curricular outcomes once they finish the regular work the class is doing.
Instruction & Student Expectation
Similarly, there are things students can do when they are either finished or stuck on a learning task in class. If the teacher is unable to get to a student right away, for whatever reason, Wormeli provides a list of things students could do until help can arrive.
Suggested Steps for Students to Take When the Teacher Is Not Available
When it comes to a deeper analysis of direct instruction, however, Wormeli provides some direction in terms of what teachers can do to effectively differentiate their direct instruction with students. This involves the models of instruction that teachers choose to structure their lessons. According to Wormeli, "Most teachers follow Madeline Hunter's direct instruction model... It's a logical and well-loved approach that can be part of a differentiated classroom. It is ineffective, however, if it becomes the only model we use. Teachers who successfully meet the needs of diverse students become adept at mixing and matching multiple models of instruction" (p. 72).
The following are the different models of instruction outlined in Differentiation:
Models of Instruction
Direct Instruction
Dimensions of Learning
Designed by Robert Marzano (1992), this model asks teachers to plan their lessons according to five different dimensions.
One-third Model
This is Robert Lynn Canady and Michael Rettig's (1996) method of dividing lessons into instructional sections.
Concept Attainment Model
This is a constructivist approach in which
Finally, Wormeli recommends that teachers think about the way they group and work with students regardless of the model of instruction they choose for a particular lesson. Citing Carol Ann Tomlinson, Wormeli states that "the 'ebb and flow' of instruction (Tomlinson, 2003) - moving from larger groups to smaller groups to independent study, and back again - is an important part of differentiated instruction" (p. 75). He also states that "flexible groupings enable us to move students fluidly through our lesson. Whole class instruction might be fine for a lab demonstration, but if we want students to practice an experiment, we'd choose one of the smaller groupings, such as working in pairs or triads" (p. 76). So when it comes to working with students, we should be actively considering the nature of what we're doing and how we're grouping our students to provide the best learning opportunities for them in the classroom.
Assessment & Evaluation
In the book Differentiation, Wormeli goes into extensive detail on the use of formative and summative assessments and how they work into a differentiated classroom. Without regurgitating all that he said, it sufficeth to say that "because the interaction between assessment and instruction is so crucial, teachers who differentiate try to spend the majority of their time designing and implementing formative assessments - more time, in fact, than they spend designing summative assessments. Sure, those summative assessments are important - they create direction for all we do - but formative assessments have the most impact on students' learning" (p. 68).
"Effective assessment involves both gathering data and using it to adjust our practices... In a differentiated classroom we don't separate assessment from instruction. We weave these two essential components of teaching together on the premise that we cannot have good assessment that does not instruct, and we cannot have good instruction that does not assess" (p. 67). This effectively means that we are always looking for evidence that our students are learning. Formative assessments can be observational, but they can also include works samples that students produce. In the same way, work that students produce can be both formative and summative depending on how you want to use them for assessment and evaluation purposes. Regardless of how we use student work in this way, "if we accept the premise that all assignments should be developmentally appropriate, then the grades we obtain from students' work will remain accurate and fair. If we grade an activity that has little to do with the focus of our lesson, the task becomes a means to baby-sit the student while the rest of the class catches up, and any grade earned is useless to both the teacher and the student" (p. 90).
In keeping with this view of assessment and evaluation, as a method to support the differentiated instruction of students, more information will be provided on this website under the category of assessment.
The concept of differentiation is already inherent in what we do as teachers. The important thing is that we take a step back from what we do as teachers and metacognitively evaluate the extent to which we are differentiating our instruction to best meet the learning needs of our students. The following information on differentiation is according to Rick Wormeli's 2007 book entitled Differentiation. I will try and break it down and outline the salient points of his work in order to better facilitate the reflective assessment of how we are doing and how we can tweak things to better help our students.
"As with anything, differentiation gets easier the more you do it. Give yourself three years to become comfortable with it. Try one idea per month, then one per week. Perhaps all you do is complete one thorough lesson per grading period. That's progress" (p. 24).
What is Differentiation?
In the most basic sense, differentiating our instructions is simply making adjustments to our instructional practice to best meet the learning needs of all our students. According to Wormeli, "when we differentiate, we do whatever it takes to help students learn by providing individual accommodations and making adjustments to our general lesson plans" (p. 3). We know, however, that as teachers this is sometimes easier said than done. The hope is, though, that we can make small adjustments on a regular basis to try and help our students be successful in any way possible.
When it comes to making those adjustments, or at least having the willingness to do so, it comes down to our philosophical approach to education. Wormeli states that "differentiation is foremost a professional and responsive mind-set" (p. 7). With the way education is going, and will continue to go in the province as Alberta Education continues to move forward with Inspiriting Education and its impact on the curriculum redesign and provincial assessment, the hope is that teachers are becoming more flexible in how they teach and facilitate student learning and success on an individual level. That is a significant shift from the old mindset of only teaching grades, subjects, or classes of students.
As teachers embrace the paradigm that it's okay for planning, teaching, and learning to be a somewhat messy exercise that moves away from rigidity and uniformity, they can begin to embrace and practice what Wormeli calls the "two simple charges of differentiation." They are, "(1) do whatever it takes to maximize students' learning instead of relying on a one-size-fits-all, whole-class method of instruction and (2) prepare students to handle anything in their current and future lives that is not differentiated, i.e., to become their own learning advocates" (p. 9).
Wormeli also points out that teachers who begin to differentiate need to change the way they think about how they engage students in meaningful learning opportunities. "Differentiation is not about requiring less or more work from students of varying degrees of readiness. We don't ask advanced students to do two book reports while struggling students do one. Instead, we change the nature of the work, not its quantity. Differentiation means we increase what students can achieve, and that takes work on everyone's part" (p. 10). What teachers begin to do instead is get to know students on both a personal and academic level. Once they know their students, they then begin to find ways to engage them in meaningful learning at their own respectful levels. For example, "In the differentiated classes... teachers take the time to know their students. And, armed with that information, they make learning so compelling that students have no choice but to become engaged. These teachers are keenly aware of how students need to grow, and they make adjustments to ensure that those gains occur" (p. 10).
Like I said before, though, teaching this way is easier said than done - especially when there is such diversity in terms of ability and understanding in the regular every day classroom. Realizing this, however, Wormeli provides some direction in terms of planning, instruction, and assessment to help teachers successfully embrace differentiated instruction.
Aspects of a Differentiated Lesson
When it comes to differentiating your instruction as a teacher, Wormeli suggests you break your practice down and look at it in three segments:
- Steps to take "before" designing the learning experiences of students
- Steps to take "while" designing the learning experiences of students
- Steps to take "after" designing the learning experiences of students
The following is a breakdown of what you can do in each of these three segments:
Steps to Take Before Designing the Learning Experiences
- Identify your essential understandings, questions, benchmarks, objectives, skills, standards, and/or learner outcomes.
- Identify those students who have special needs, and start thinking about how you will adapt your instruction to ensure they can learn and achieve.
- Design formative and summative assessments.
- Design and deliver reassessments based on summative assessments and identified objectives.
- Adjust assessments and objectives based on further thinking while designing assessments.
Steps to Take While Designing and Implementing the Learning Experiences
- Design the learning experiences for students based on the information gathered from those pre-assessments; your knowledge of your students; and your expertise with the curriculum, cognitive theory, and students at this stage of human development.
- Run a mental tape of each step in the lesson sequence to make sure that the process makes sense for your diverse group of students and will help the lesson run smoothly.
- Review your plans with a colleague.
- Obtain/create materials needed for the lesson.
- Conduct the lesson.
- Adjust formative and summative assessments and objectives as necessary based on observations and data collected while teaching the lessons.
Steps to Take After Providing the Learning Experiences
- With students, evaluate the lesson's success. What evidence do you have that students grasped the important concepts and skills? What worked and what didn't, and why?
- Record advice about possible changes to make when you repeat this lesson in future years.
Structures and Strategies for a Differentiated Class
The practicality of planning, teaching, and assessing students requires a little more meat than the suggestions listed above. As such, Wormeli provides some further suggestions in terms of tweaking your practice and working smarter instead of harder.
Planning
One of the suggestions that Wormeli makes for when teachers begin the planning process in an attempt to differentiate is that teachers don't simply adjust the quantity of the work students do, but the nature of the work they do. "With differentiation we strive to change the nature of our assignments, not the quantity" (p. 65). In attempting to do this as a teacher, her cautions that "you may be tempted to tell the advanced student to work on some puzzles in the back of the classroom while they wait for their peers to catch up, or you may ask them to help struggling classmates, read quietly, straighten up the bookshelves, or complete homework for another class. Although you might occasionally allow these activities, none of them should be your standard default response. It's disrespectful to student to force them to spin their wheels while the rest f the class tries to accelerate. It's also developmentally inappropriate, and differentiation is dong what is developmentally appropriate" (p. 36).
I'll admit, when I read the previous quote, I was a bit taken aback because I have used some of those strategies to occupy students when they finished early and I was trying to help struggling students catch up. Thankfully though, Wormeli clarified something that helps with this and to improve the planning process. "If you're struggling to find an effective way to reach students, consider asking them for ideas... No one should expect us to know how to differentiate instruction and assessment for all students every day" (p. 79). This allows for teachers to ask their students what they think would be most engaging for them. What a novel idea! So instead of feeling the pressure to reinvent the wheel for students all the time, have them identify through a teacher led discussion what would be an engaging extension activity to the curricular outcomes once they finish the regular work the class is doing.
Instruction & Student Expectation
Similarly, there are things students can do when they are either finished or stuck on a learning task in class. If the teacher is unable to get to a student right away, for whatever reason, Wormeli provides a list of things students could do until help can arrive.
Suggested Steps for Students to Take When the Teacher Is Not Available
- Draw a picture of what you think it says or asks.
- Move on to the next portion, then come back to the trouble spot later. Something may trigger an idea.
- Reread the directions or previous sections to see if you missed or misinterpreted something.
- Read the directions and/or your response aloud.
- Find a successful example and study how it was done.
- Ask a classmate.
- Define difficult vocabulary.
- Try to explain the topic or idea to someone else.
When it comes to a deeper analysis of direct instruction, however, Wormeli provides some direction in terms of what teachers can do to effectively differentiate their direct instruction with students. This involves the models of instruction that teachers choose to structure their lessons. According to Wormeli, "Most teachers follow Madeline Hunter's direct instruction model... It's a logical and well-loved approach that can be part of a differentiated classroom. It is ineffective, however, if it becomes the only model we use. Teachers who successfully meet the needs of diverse students become adept at mixing and matching multiple models of instruction" (p. 72).
The following are the different models of instruction outlined in Differentiation:
Models of Instruction
Direct Instruction
- State objectives and standards for the day.
- Provide an anticipatory set or "hook."
- Teach, including experiences with reviewing previously learned material/homework, input, modelling, and checking for understanding.
- Provide guided practice with feedback.
- Reteach (as needed).
- Review both during and at the end of the lesson.
- Closure (summarization).
- Assign independent practice.
Dimensions of Learning
Designed by Robert Marzano (1992), this model asks teachers to plan their lessons according to five different dimensions.
- Positive attitudes and perceptions about learning.
- Acquiring and integrating knowledge.
- Extending and refining knowledge.
- Using knowledge meaningfully.
- Productive habits of mind.
One-third Model
This is Robert Lynn Canady and Michael Rettig's (1996) method of dividing lessons into instructional sections.
- One-third presentation of content.
- One-third application of knowledge and skills learned.
- One-third synthesis of the information.
Concept Attainment Model
This is a constructivist approach in which
- The teacher presents examples of a formula, concept, or idea being used, and students work with the examples, noting attributes or criteria of the formula, concept or idea.
- The teacher asks students to define the formula, concept, or idea being learned.
- The teacher critiques more examples of the topic in light of this new thinking.
- Through different activities, students practice and apply their understanding of the concept.
- Students are evaluated through additional applications.
Finally, Wormeli recommends that teachers think about the way they group and work with students regardless of the model of instruction they choose for a particular lesson. Citing Carol Ann Tomlinson, Wormeli states that "the 'ebb and flow' of instruction (Tomlinson, 2003) - moving from larger groups to smaller groups to independent study, and back again - is an important part of differentiated instruction" (p. 75). He also states that "flexible groupings enable us to move students fluidly through our lesson. Whole class instruction might be fine for a lab demonstration, but if we want students to practice an experiment, we'd choose one of the smaller groupings, such as working in pairs or triads" (p. 76). So when it comes to working with students, we should be actively considering the nature of what we're doing and how we're grouping our students to provide the best learning opportunities for them in the classroom.
Assessment & Evaluation
In the book Differentiation, Wormeli goes into extensive detail on the use of formative and summative assessments and how they work into a differentiated classroom. Without regurgitating all that he said, it sufficeth to say that "because the interaction between assessment and instruction is so crucial, teachers who differentiate try to spend the majority of their time designing and implementing formative assessments - more time, in fact, than they spend designing summative assessments. Sure, those summative assessments are important - they create direction for all we do - but formative assessments have the most impact on students' learning" (p. 68).
"Effective assessment involves both gathering data and using it to adjust our practices... In a differentiated classroom we don't separate assessment from instruction. We weave these two essential components of teaching together on the premise that we cannot have good assessment that does not instruct, and we cannot have good instruction that does not assess" (p. 67). This effectively means that we are always looking for evidence that our students are learning. Formative assessments can be observational, but they can also include works samples that students produce. In the same way, work that students produce can be both formative and summative depending on how you want to use them for assessment and evaluation purposes. Regardless of how we use student work in this way, "if we accept the premise that all assignments should be developmentally appropriate, then the grades we obtain from students' work will remain accurate and fair. If we grade an activity that has little to do with the focus of our lesson, the task becomes a means to baby-sit the student while the rest of the class catches up, and any grade earned is useless to both the teacher and the student" (p. 90).
In keeping with this view of assessment and evaluation, as a method to support the differentiated instruction of students, more information will be provided on this website under the category of assessment.
Alberta Education: Differentiated Instruction Checklist
Check out the following checklist from Alberta Education to help you in differentiating your classroom instruction. This checklist can help you ensure that you are considering the right things as you attempt to differentiate your instructional practice:
alberta_education_differentiated_instruction_checklist.pdf | |
File Size: | 128 kb |
File Type: |
Alberta Education - Making a Difference: Meeting diverse learning needs with differentiated instruction
Alberta Education - Making a Difference: Meeting diverse learning needs with differentiated instruction
Click below to access the PDF version of the book. It is full of strategies to differentiate your instruction within the Alberta context.
makingadifference_2010.pdf | |
File Size: | 4670 kb |
File Type: |