Differentiation in Instruction

First time LAs

1. Define Differentiation in Instruction

2. Identify Strategies for Differentiation

Returning LAs

1. Apply Differentiation Techniques in Lesson Planning

2. Evaluate the Effectiveness of Differentiation

Rethinking How We Do School - and for Whom from the book Differentiated Classroom : Responding to the Needs of ALL Learners (in Canvas)

Discussions

• What is the best teaching you have experienced?

  1. Teaching Styles 

• Part 1

  1. What do the best teachers know and understand?

  2. How do they prepare to teach?

  3. What do they expect of their students?

  4. What do they do when they teach?

  5. How do they treat students?

  6. How do they check their progress and evaluate their efforts?

• Using your thoughts from Part 1, create a full list of descriptive words for each category. (Write these on the board.)

  1. Identify your top 5 words by circling them.

• What do the best LAs do?

  1. What do the best LAs know and understand? 

  2. How do they prepare to teach? 

  3. What do they expect of their students? 

  4. What do they do when they teach? 

  5. How do they treat students? 

  6. How do they check their progress and evaluate their efforts? 

If possible, plan to gather student data, including assessments, observations, and student work samples, to identify individual strengths, needs, and learning preferences for effective differentiation.

Collaborate with peers, classroom teachers, and other stakeholders to share insights, discuss challenges, and develop effective differentiation plans and practices.

The Myth of ‘Learning Styles’ The Atlantic

• There is no evidence to back the idea of learning types 

Teachers

• NPR Great Teachers series

• “What the Best College Teachers Do” 

  • Epilogue

  • Major conclusions (PSU)

Students

• “What the Best College Students Do” (by the same author)

  • Secrets of the Most Successful College Students