Wendy+F

Differentiated Instruction Reflection Who am I as a learner Choices
 * __October 19, 2009__**
 * is a way of thinking
 * is planning to meet each students needs
 * is not expecting all students to do or learn exactly the same thing
 * allows for individuality
 * I think we did way more "differentiation" years ago than now.
 * When students say' "It's recess already! That was fast!", I know they have been very engaged I their learning.
 * I don't expect students to do all their work at their desks if they need to move. My rule is that they are on task where ever they choose to work.
 * Some of my students don't like to work with partners so I let them choose if they want to work alone, with a partner, or in a small group on many assignments.
 * Visual
 * Creative/Practical
 * Musical/interpersonal
 * EITP (extrovert,intuition,thinking, perceiving
 * By understanding the five basic needs, a person is better able to make choices to improve quality of life (Dr. william Glasser)
 * 1) Survival- food, shelter, clothing
 * 2) Power- feeling important
 * 3) Love/Belonging- feeling accepted and loved by others
 * 4) Freedom- free to choose what we want to do with our lives
 * 5) Fun- the ability to find enjoyment in life by learning and playing



**__January 26, 2010__**
Reflection One thing I want to tell other about Supportive Learning Environment is...

What has changed in my mindset this year?

What has changed in my practice this year?

What do I need to continue my DI journey?

__March 30, 2010__

A Supportive Learning Environment is like a stapler.
 * It holds things together
 * In order to work, all parts need to be assembled properly
 * If you try to staple to much together it might not work properly. You need to reassemble or re-organize.
 * Usually, each page is different. After they are stapled they all are together

Assessment Pre-Assessment "Assessment is today's means of understanding how to modify tomorrow's instruction."--Carol Tomlinson Pre-Assessment: When? Pre-assessment of readiness, interests, and learning preferences is a necessary component of differentiation
 * focused
 * scaffolded
 * challenging
 * engaging
 * important
 * __Worth Being familiar With__ What do I want them to know at the end of the unit? terminology, choices to get to outcomes, knowledge
 * __Important to Know and Do__ What do I want them to know 40 weeks from now? meaningful and relevant information, transferable to everyday success,
 * __Enduring Understandings__ What do I want them to know ten years from now? student focused, relationships developed while learninng, connections, transferable knowledge, strategies to learn and re-learn.
 * Why do I assess?
 * What ways do I typically assess the students in my classroom?
 * What can be assessed?
 * When do I assess?
 * at the beginning of the year
 * at the end of the year
 * at the beginning of each semester
 * at the beginning of a unit

**__All About Me__**
When I have free time at home I like to My favourite activity at school is If I could learn more about anything it would be I like to read about A famous person I'd like to meet is When I grow up I'd like to If I could go on holiday anywhere in the world it would be My favourite friends are My hero or heroine is The most interesting fact I know is If I could change something about school it would be

**__What If?__**
You are an author. What is your best selling book about? You are a film director. What kind of movies do you make? You are a coach. What sports team do you coach? You are a travel agent. Where would you tell people to go on holiday? You are a principal. What would students do in your school? You are an artist. What media and subjects do you use? You are an inventor. What is your most famous invention?

Homework: Do an Action Research Plan and reflections. 5. Pre-assess 6. Formative-informal/ formal 7. Summative- performance task
 * Quality Curricula( 1-4) Common Assessment (5-7) **
 * Use action research to come to an understanding of one of the following elements: **
 * 1.De-construct an outcome ** Does de-constructing an outcome help me in my planning?
 * 2.Pre-assess ** Does pre-assessment change my planning**,** make me reflect more on my planning?
 * 3. Enduring Understanding ** Decide on enduring understanding. Post and talk about it to my students. Does this help engage them. Does talking about the enduring understanding with my students, help them become engaged?
 * 4.Essential Questions ** Talk about an essential question

I Believe =**Tues. Nov 2**=
 * that DI could make school a good place for all students
 * if we teach with DI in mind, the gifted students will not learn dispite us

**Kid Friendly MI tests**
[|Birmingham Grid for Learning MI Inventory] looks good

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**DI in my classroom**

 * 1. Spelling- Each student has an individual spelling list. All students are given a pretest, and some take a challenge test. From this test, I choose five words each student needs to work on. I write them on a list and these are their words to learn for the week. Some students don't have 5 misspelled words so they choose words from their spelling dictionary that they have asked for or choose words that they would like to learn to spell. Other students may get one spelling word from the list and the other words may be words that rhyme with that word. Others students may get a list of words from a word family they need to learn.**
 * 2. Test writing- I have started using a scribe for certain students during testing. This has really opened my eyes. Some of my students find writing a test very difficult but when someone else is writing for them, they are willing to give much more in depth answers to questions.**
 * 3. Homework- I ask all my students to read for homework. They have a reading log which they fill out daily to record their reading minutes for the month. The goal is to read for 20 minutes per day. Reading material is student choice (novels, picture books, comics, boxes, etc.). Some students read more, some only the goal, some less, and some none. If over time, the students read less than 10 mins per day (50% of the goal), support in the form of a homework room is assigned at lunch time for the students to read in. If a student has read the night before, even if they have not read at 50% of the goal, they do not get assigned to the homework room, but may choose to go.**
 * 4. KWL- I start most units with a KWL.**

Why is DI worth putting all the effort?
=**January 2011**=
 * 1. If students are engaged there will be less discipline issues.**
 * 2. All students will learn! Often the "bright" kids already know what is being taught so nothing or very little new is learned. Other students are too challenged so nothing or very little new is learned.**

**Reflection: Relate what you heard today to your current practice.**
=March 1, 2011=
 * I use a variety of groupings in my classroom.**
 * **readiness**
 * **self-selected partners**
 * **work alone or with self-selected partners**
 * **random (use a group generator on the Smart Board)**
 * Now that the students have filled out a couple MI inventories, I should try grouping according to learning style.**

__** DI Action Research- Flexible Grouping **__ ** //Question:// ** ** If students are assigned partners randomly, will students start to be more comfortable working with partners they would not pick on their own? **

** Reconnaissance **

** I have noticed some students have difficulties finding a partner to work with. ** ** Some students are reluctant to work with partners because: ** · ** when they ask someone to work with them they are afraid of rejection, thus partner work is not emotionally safe for them. **  · ** they are only comfortable with a few best friends **

** Action and Data Collection **

** Using a random group chooser on the smart board, I will group students for various assignments. ** ** I will use the group chooser for fluency reading partners and test study partners. **

** How will I collect data? ** ** Before Data (observations) **
 * ** Three students choose to work alone because students often tell them they already have a partner. **
 * ** Two students choose partners they will have difficulty staying on task with. **

** After Data ** · ** observations ** · ** thumbs up, thumbs down ** · ** student comments **

** Reflection **

** Initially, some students were not wanting to work with different partners. ** ** At the end of one week, students were excited to see who their new partner/ partners would be. ** ** When I did not use the random chooser, students asked me to use it. ** ** Thumbs up/thumbs down- most students gave this a thumbs up. **

What does it mean? (interpretation)
· ** All students were better accepted in the end. **  · ** The marginalized students were happy to not have to find a partner. The anxiety of finding a partner was relieved. **

** AHA! **

** What does this mean for my practice? **

** Often choosing partners becomes a popularity contest; this is not positive, safe or even conducive to learning. Students need more direction when choosing partners. **

April 2011 Reflection on planning
 * UBD- Our math curriculum is fairly well laid out.
 * Performance tasks- As a group we started planning a GRASPS for our math outcome. It was quite difficult but .... I am already thinking of a GRASPS for my habitat unit.