Cathy+G

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media type="youtube" key="iG9CE55wbtY" height="344" width="425"Differeniated instruction is a mindset that challenges us to meet the variety of learning needs within a classroom.

Since our last session, I have tried a few things in my classroom. I have documented these in a short journal. I think that I already have an established morning routine, but I have added some things to it. They students now bring in their take home reading and put it at a spot at the back. They must put their card in their envelope so then I know that they have returned their reading.

I have used the quick assessement further ahead of the lesson than I usually do, to see where they are in regards to that topic. I used the exit ticket after a social lesson. The students liked this and 18 out of the 20 were successful.

A fellow staff member sent me a website with a learner profile quiz that looks good for elementary students. I have not used it yet, but it is a future plan.

I had a wonderful discussion with my first base partner this morning. We thought about how we can make things more meaningful for boys as we tend to instruct to girls.

My plan is to do an on-line learner profile on all of my students. I will use the same survey that was used by my fellow staff member. It can be found on [|www.edutopia.org]./node/6140.

CHOICE;

We make choices everyday of our life, some good and some bad. I like the idea of student choice because then they take ownership of their choice and they are in control of their choice rather than the control being manipulated by others. Sometimes these choices need guidance. Perhaps not all students will want choice but hopefully they will take responsibility for their choices.



January 26,2010. One thing that I want to tell others about a Supportive Learning Environment is that there are many small things that you can do to get started. Establish routines that make each student feel welcome and a part of your class. Take the time to talk to them and find out their interests. It is a good beginning.

I have certainly changed one mindset of mine and that is i am not too old to learn and try new things. Although I still have a lot to learn, I actually feel quite excited about this journey. When I tried a few small things with my class and saw how excited they were, I realize that this is a great thing.

Sometimes, it frightens me, but I am excited about learning.

I believe: Differentiated Instruction will be great! Differentiated Instruction will benefit all students. Differentiated Instruction is a journey and will take time and committment.

May 11,2010

Today is our 5th session of DI. I am pondering the question, "Where are you in your DI mindset?' I certainly feel more comfortable with the terminology. Many of the terms that I heard at our first session now make sense to me . I see a great need for DI in our classrooms. This particular school year has been a challenge for me because my class consists of many students at a variety of levels and needs. By using many of the DI strategies, I hope it helped meet some of these needs. I have really found the pre-assessments a valuable tool. I often asume students know background information for a new concept and I have often been proven wrong. I also can see why many students become bored because the pre-assessments clearly show that they already know some of the information that will be presented and are ready for something else. I am still very eager to learn more about DI and hope to make even more changes in my classroom when the new school year begins in the fall. How can something that helps children and makes them feel good about themselves, not be a great thing?

2. What has changed for me and what has brought about the change? I joined the committee because I wanted one more challenge before I retired and I was curious to see what DI was all about. Anytime there is a shift in Education, I wonder if it will be good or whether it is just another fad that will disappear. The sessions that I have attended have been very interesting but I think the thing that has got me really interested is the practical things that I have tried in my classroom. They actually make sense and work. When I see positive results and students benefitting from the changes it is very encouraging to me. Though I still have many things to work on, I think the change will be good. I am excited to learn more and that is a positive sign for me as well.

My Reflection: My understanding of the three non-negotiables that we have covered, Supportive Learning Environment, Quality Curriculum, and Continuous Assessment is varied. I feel I have a good understanding of two of them but not as much with the third, Quality Curriculum. I do have a general understanding of this term but what not feel comfortable trying to explain it to someone else.

I feel about the same when it comes to the theory and practical use of the three non-negotiables. I feel very comfortable using Supportive Learning Ideas in my classroom. I am conscious of this and make a strong effort to increase it all the time. I am using pre-assessments more often and spend time looking on-line for other ideas for pre-assessments. These have been very helpful to me and I will continue to use these more often. They are a useful tool and I can gather data quickly. I find myself use other assessments tools on a daily basis rather than just a unit test at the end.

I need more practice with Quality Curriculum. I think that I need concrete examples of this and seeing how it is broken down and written out. I know this is a weaker area for me and I need to learn more about it before I can put the theory into practice more effectively.There is definetly room for growth in this area.The question is how do I achieve this? Do I need to do more research? Can I find more information in books or on-line? Do I need to experiment more in my classroom? I know some of my co-workers are more advanced with Quality Curriculum, perhaps this is a good place to start.

May 11, 2010

Have my students noticed any difference in our classroom? I think my students have noticed a calmer me in the fact that I am not stressed about each one of them completely finishing a workbook before the end of June. I don't think that I have ever mentioned the term differentiated classroom to them, but I believe they have noticed some changes. If I have the same group next year, I think they will notice a bigger change.

November 2,2010 We are assembled at our first meeting of year 2. I have started my year with high hopes, but also, with still a lot of questions. What exactly is UBD and how does it fit with DI? I have heard the term a lot lately, but I don't think that I would be able to explain it to someone. I need to do some more reading and research to find out the answers to my questions. I am looking forward to our planning sessions later on next year. I believe I am a visual learner and need to see a plan and see the plan in action. I have started my school with many changes. My classroom is set-up differently. I have used the baseball diamond as a way of changing partners. The students enjoyed this and did not complain about going to work with a new person. I am working a lot with the Daily 5 and the Daily Cafe. I think these will be a useful part of Di because the students have a lot of choice for thei reading material. There are opportunities for many of the learning styles to be met within the 5 daily activities.

Why is Differentiated Instruction worth putting all the time and effort into it? There are nany times that I ask myself this question. However, I have experienced some of the benefits of using DI, and as the year progresses, I know I will see more. For many years, I have struggled with how to meet the needs of every student in my class. Let's face it, classrooms are very different now. I have seen frustration on the faces of students who struggle and boredom on the faces of the students that know the lesson already and don't need more of the same questions. DI will help with both. I think it will be worth the effort!

January 25, 2011 DI Action Research

Question: Does tiering assignments allow my students to learn more deeply? Did the choices in the RAFT assignment keep the students engaged and help them learn more deeply?

Reconnaissance: I did some research on the computer to see if I could find some examples of both types of activities. They were difficult to find. They was a lot of information about how to wriete them and why we should be using them but not a lot of examples that had been used in classrooms. I also re-read the information that we were given last meeting and the information in the Tomlinson books. They provided me with some useful data.

Action and Data Collection: What did I experiment with? What action will I take? For the tiered lesson, I did an ELA lesson on alphabetical order. The tiered assignment that I gave the students was based on readiness. My pre-assessment had indicated that many of my students were at the beginning levels of putting words in alphabetical order, some were comfortable with putting words in order using the same beginning letters, and some were ready for more challenging work like placing words in alphabetical order using the seond and third letters of words. The class was given a brief mini-lesson on what alphabetical order means, and where we could find help ( dictionary). The assignments were color coded and I told them I was going to give out different colored assignments. The first level gave three words choices based on alphabetical order and students selected the correct word that would fit between the given words, if the words were in alphabetical order. Level 2 had to choose 3 of their own words to go between two given words, ( these were also based on first letters), level 3 had to think of 2 words that would fit between two given words based on looking at the second letter. Both levels 2 and 3 were given the option of choosing words from the dictionary. The RAFT assignment was given during a science unit on Endangered Animals. The lesson had been the various reasons why animals have become endangered. The assignment was, Role:-The endangered animal of their choice, Audience:-The person, group, or thing that is threatening your existance. Format:-Letter, and Topic:- Persuade the person, group, or thing that is threatening you to stop what they are doing that is endangering your existance on planet earth.

How Will I Collect Data?

One method was formal observation-who was still struggling? - One student in the tiered lesson still struggled with some of the questions on level one. Another tier using just letters of the alphabets rather than words, and an alphabet line would have helped this student be more successful. Also, through observation I could see which students were engaged and which needed a lot of support. The other method was to assess the completed products.- Were they successful in completing their tasks? The RAFT activity was well-responded to by my students. Some did some extra research on their animal to help find reasons why they have become endangered..They liked the idea that they could choose their own animal and the person or thing that they would write to as well. I felt this was a very successful assignment.

Reflections: The RAFT assignment did not take a lot of time to write and it gave choices. The students worked well on it and I felt they learned a lot about the reasons animals have become endangered and writing for someone else's point of view. The Tiered assignment was basically successful. I did realize I needed another tier for a student who was not ready for any of the levels. It took a lot more time to make but provided success and challenges for all levels.

** DI Action Research **

** Coming to the Question ** Participation n DI   Reflections on your class and your own teaching values and beliefs

** //Question:// ** ** How will flexible grouping help my students meet important learning goals? **

** Reconnaissance ** How will I learn more?

** I will try to use some of the flexible groupings outlined on the Flexible Grouping Bingo Card. **

** Action and Data Collection **

**What do I experiment with? What action will I take? (**what, when, who)

** Since I was going to be away from my classroom for several days, I only had a little over two weeks to try some of the ideas on the bingo card. I will try to experiment with several different groupings in this time frame without inventing ways to use them just for the sake of getting it done. **


 * 1) ** Reading Groups- These were selected by myself based on readiness. I chose to work with a small group and a small group was given to the E.A. in my room. The other students worked independently, in small groups, bases on their readiness as well. This worked well and gave me an opportunity to work on a specific reading strategy with a small group that all needed to develop that strategy. **


 * 1) ** During the read to Someone phase of the Daily 5-reading partners were randomly selected based on which students chose that rotation. It had a few glitches. Some of the stronger readers got bored listening to the developing readers. **


 * 1) ** I quickly selected trios to worked on tall tales randomly. This worked well. In some groups, a leader emerged to decide who would read first, then who would have a turn next. **


 * 1) ** Many times I gave them the option to work with a partner or work on their own. A few preferred to work on their own. When I said they could choose their own partner, they often grouped themselves with the same peer. They generally preferred to group themselves than when I formed the groups. **


 * 1) ** I did not experiment with groups based on learning preferences, as I still need to do more work with my students in this area. Many of them have not displayed a dominant learning preference. I need to do more research and pre-planning in this area. **

H**ow will I collect data?** (formal observation**,** survey, questionnaire, interview, etc.) Most of my data was collected with formal observation. Was rushed to collect data for this action research project, so did not get as much data as I would have liked.

April 12,2011 Today we spent some time on planning. Before the meeting I did some unwrapping on one of the math outcomes. This was good because it finally made sense to me when we worked through stage 1 of Understanding by Design. I see now how the outcomes can be unwrapped to show what we want students to know, what we want them to be able to do and the enduring understandings we hope to achieve. We also wrote a couple of essential questions and I see how they all fit together. Stage 2 was trickier. The formative and summative sections I feel confident in doing, but I struggled with the performance task. I am not sure that the one we created included all the understandings. I do not feel confident yet to create an entire unit of work that would accurately complete all stages and include differentiated instruction as well.