Two 9th grade boys kept falling asleep while reading. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e sleepy,鈥� we told them, 鈥測ou could ask for a hall pass to get a quick drink of water, stand in the back of the room and read, or sit on the desk behind you as long as you are reading.鈥� They perked up at the chance to sit on the desks and were soon engrossed in their books.
鈥淲hat can I do to move this student forward? Is he processing the concepts? Is her thinking being stretched?鈥� As teachers who differentiate, we try to keep these questions in mind at all times. If we didn鈥檛, then our 鈥渟leepy鈥� students would have wasted valuable reading time. For us (and for many teachers), differentiation is a philosophy. We believe that all students can learn and be productive, and we recognize that our job is to build on what each student brings to the classroom.
The following 鈥淔ive-by-Five鈥� approach to differentiation contains ideas that we have found effective in our classrooms. It is not a road map: It doesn鈥檛 offer step-by-step directions. Instead we think of it as a compass: It is a set of strategies that guide our work with students.
Our first five points are about 鈥渟etting the stage鈥� for effective differentiation, while the other five highlight actions teachers can employ daily.
5 Ways to Set the Stage
鈥� Assessing: At the start of the year (and, in fact, throughout the entire year), we want to find out more about where our students鈥� skills are, a process that informs our differentiation approach. Education researcher Robert Marzano has called formative assessment 鈥渙ne of the more powerful weapons in a teacher鈥檚 arsenal.鈥� The word 鈥渁ssessment鈥� comes from the Latin 鈥渁ssidere,鈥� which means 鈥渢o sit beside.鈥� This origin is reflected in the process of formative assessment, as teachers work alongside students, evaluating evidence and making adjustments to teaching and learning.
In his Classroom Q&A blog, Larry Ferlazzo collects and offers advice on differentiating instruction.
Katie Hull-Sypnieski will be presenting her ideas in our upcoming PD webinar Making Differentiated Instruction Work for You.
鈥� Building Relationships: Marzano says positive relationships with students are a 鈥渒eystone of effective teaching.鈥� Plenty of other research concurs, as do we. The knowledge and trust we develop with individual students can make or break our differentiation efforts. For example, if our students are writing persuasive essays, is it necessary for all students to write about the same topic? Instead, if we know a struggling student is a football fan, why not suggest that she write about why her favorite team is better than another one? Or let鈥檚 say we are working with a reluctant reader who loves video games. When assigning reading, why not identify a challenging book on that topic that he will feel self-motivated to push through and enjoy?
鈥� Keeping Students Moving Forward: This priority drives everything we do with students鈥攅ven small moves like inviting sleepy readers to sit on top of desks. Studies of 鈥淭he Progress Principle鈥� have found that a key to intrinsic motivation is feeling that you are making progress in meaningful work. We can reinforce intrinsic motivation by emphasizing small wins (and using catalysts like the ideas we include in this article).
鈥� Teaching Life-Skills Lessons: Along with many of our colleagues, we front-load our school year with what we call 鈥淟ife-Skills Lessons.鈥� These simple, engaging activities can help students see how it is in their interest (in both the short-term and long-term) to try their best at all times. For example, a lesson might highlight how the learning process physically alters the brain. (This particular lesson was eye-opening to a student who had claimed, 鈥淲e鈥檙e born smart or dumb and stay that way.鈥�) Other lessons might focus on self-control (including examining the famous 鈥淢arshmallow Test鈥�) or goal-setting. The publisher of Larry鈥檚 most recent book has made these lessons plans, including hand-outs, available online for free (click on 鈥渟ample pages鈥�). As important as the lessons themselves are the frequent opportunities throughout the year when teachers and students can refer back to the concepts and reflect on their applicability.
鈥� Creating a Community of Learners: We do a lesson at the beginning of the year in which students decide if they want to be a 鈥淐ommunity Of Learners鈥� or a 鈥淐lassroom of Students.鈥� Working in side-by-side columns on an overhead or whiteboard, a teacher and students work together to outline the differences between the two options. For example, in a 鈥渃lassroom,鈥� people might laugh when others make mistakes, but in a 鈥渃ommunity,鈥� people are supported when they take risks. We also discuss the fact that people learn at different speeds, and in different ways, and discuss the meaning of the title of Rick Wormeli鈥檚 book, Fair Isn鈥檛 Always Equal. Time after time, our students have always chosen to be a 鈥淐ommunity of Learners,鈥� and we refer back to this decision as we use differentiation strategies throughout the year.
5 Day-to-Day Actions
鈥� Applying The Zeigarnik Effect: Bluma Zeigarnik, a Russian psychologist, identified what came to be called the Zeigarnik Effect: Once we start doing something, we tend to want to finish it. What can this teach us about differentiation? When we know a task will be challenging for some students, we can present a variety of ways to get started: a menu of questions to answer, the option to create a drawing or visual representation of a concept, the option to begin the assignment working with a partner, etc. We can also encourage students to get started by just answering the first question or the easiest one.
鈥� Differentiating Assignments: Students can complete the same types of mental tasks while producing different end products. Douglas Reeves describes this as 鈥渘ot uniformity of work, but similarity of proficiency.鈥� The idea is that students can gain proficiency even when completing different types of assignments or a different number of assignments (one big project vs. five smaller assignments). This happens in our classrooms during free reading time, when students practice using similar reading strategies while reading different books. We have some students reading 300-page books while others read a series of much shorter texts. As long as the level of text is challenging and students are using reading strategies to increase comprehension and drive analysis, then the length/genre/topic of the book doesn鈥檛 need to be uniform.
鈥� Using Computers: Computers can allow students to work at their own pace and ability level, make mistakes in private, and stay engaged and motivated. Of course we鈥檙e not suggesting that teachers plop their students in front of a computer and call it differentiation. However, there are many free sites that allow students to work independently at their skill level and let teachers check on their progress. Some sites, such as the Free Rice game and flash card tools even use 鈥渁daptive learning鈥� to adjust future questions based on student progress. A word of caution: automated 鈥渢eaching鈥� on computers should only supplement high quality curriculum and instruction, not serve as a replacement for it.
鈥� Praising Effort and Learning From Mistakes: One way to encourage all students to work at their highest level of productivity and intellectual capacity is to praise effort and not intelligence. Carol Dweck has published research on the benefits of praising students鈥� effort versus their intelligence. She recommends teaching children the difference between a 鈥済rowth mindset鈥� (the belief that intelligence can be developed through effort and practice) and a 鈥渇ixed mindset鈥� (the belief that intelligence is innate). One way to develop students鈥� 鈥済rowth mindset鈥� is to encourage them to risk making (and learning from) mistakes. Some students are afraid of making mistakes and being ridiculed for it. We want to turn that attitude on its head, helping them learn that, as Dweck says, we should instead 鈥渃elebrate mistakes.鈥�
鈥� Flexible Grouping: Some confuse differentiation with the practice of grouping students by ability levels and teaching those small groups. While this is sometimes necessary and valuable, it is also important that students have the opportunity to participate in interest-based groups, mixed ability level groups, student-choice groups, and other variations. As Carol Ann Tomlinson explains, 鈥淚n a sense, the teacher is continually auditioning kids in different settings鈥攁nd the students get to see how they can contribute in a variety of contexts.鈥�
We鈥檝e found that keeping this 鈥淔ive-by-Five鈥� strategy in mind has helped keep our students and us moving in the right direction鈥攆orward!
