So how do you differentiate?

Explain away!

Between our quality review and a course with KDS that Im taking, just wondering how everyone does it.

Re: So how do you differentiate?

1. centers- skill or strategy based either with their just right book or leveled texts. (ex: the same topic, but in easy, medium, and challenging text)

*computer center is www.internet4classrooms.com they work on their own weak skills as determined by their item-skill analysis.

2. writing tasks-different degrees of scaffolding depending upon student need w/ the general task.

3. guided reading

4. differentiated expectations when we all have to read/listen to the same text and complete the same tasks (test prep)

5. guided math groups

6. math centers

im sure theres more but this is all i can think of!

ps i teach 4th grade

Re: So how do you differentiate?

i went to a conference a while back and the presenter said something that always stuck with me... He said, "Differentiation is NOT rate, it's DELIVERY."

Meaning, it's not the modifications we do like you do 5 problems instead of 20, or you get another 90 minutes for the test.....

it's HOW we teach...
it's pulling out the manipulatives for math, it's using the smart board for visual aids, it's matching kids to materials at their reading level, etc.

Re: So how do you differentiate?

We're doing a 2 year professional development on differentiating, granted I'm a music teacher, but we are working closely with an expert in differentiation to become experts ourselves.
You probably differentiate and don't even realize it.
Here's what I do in my class:
I modify the work for various skill levels. If we're working on compound rhythms, I group the kids according to their skill level.
I also give various options for evaluating them. For music history, they don't have to take a test, they can write a children's book illustrating a composer's life, they can write a short play about a time period in music history, etc.
I think a lot of it is realizing that not all students need to do the same work to get the same meaning out of something. That's why it's important to know your enduring meaning to your lesson, and how many different ways you can go about it.
We were shown a perfectly differentiated lesson that was taped by this woman who is doing our differentiation. She was teaching right out of the textbook, but had three diifferent groups going. In the end, they all had the enduring understanding and none of the three groups did the same work. It was great.

Re: So how do you differentiate?

I usually differentiate my instruction and only differentiate their work on occassion.

If we are writing a research paper, everybody is expected to write one. I just teach smaller groups in different ways.

Or

I teach the whole class the same thing using mulitple "things". For example, I use powerpoint presentations for the visual learners, speak for the auditory, have manipulatives for the kinestic, etc. It is a lot of work, but it does seem to work.