Differentiating for All Learners Everyday

“Certain motivational states interfere with learning. Two adverse conditions are especially dangerous: anxiety and boredom. Anxiety occurs primarily when teachers expect too much from students; boredom occurs when teachers expect too little. When curricular expectations are out of sync with students’ abilities, not only does motivation decrease, but also achievement.” (Talented Teenagers by Csikzentmihalyi, Rathunde, Whalen)

This week we have been hosting Rhonda Bondie to work with our staff on differentiation.

Key points:

  • Cognitive Science suggests that students need to engage with the lesson focus right away. This can be done by asking what they know about the topic (it’s OK if they don’t know anything), asking them to make connections with previous topics, or asking them what questions they have about a topic – before the lesson is taught. It is important to have them write their response down so they can come back to it and add to it.
  • Build in time to look and learn in every lesson, increase thinking time for teachers.
  • Every student should talk in every lesson. Weaker students tend to allow stronger students to dominate discussions, so routines need to be developed which require every student to take turns speaking and listening. Here are some great routines for this:
  • It is helpful to think in terms of mini-lessons and closing plenaries to capture main points within each lesson.
  • Provide help which increases student independence and autonomy, like vocab lists on walls.
  • The main reason teachers differentiate is for absences. Carefully plan for how absent students will be enabled to catch up.
  • Every unit should have support, scaffolds, and extension built in.
  • Scaffolds are designed to close a gap.
  • Differentiating should not be extra work for teachers.
  • Provide students with structured choice so that they can practice decision-making, feel autonomy, and engender competence.
  • Rubric criteria can be simplified to Must Haves and Amazing and can be designed with students.

An example of a scaffold –

Paragraph Frame

Sentence Purpose My Sentence(s) Example
Point State your point and introduce the topic you’re about to discuss. TBP
Evidence Support your point with evidence and examples. Evidence can include facts, statistics, research findings, quotes from a credible authority or a primary text. TBP
Explanation Show your understanding by explaining in more detail how and why your evidence supports your point. Interpret the evidence for the reader. TBP
Link Reinforce your original point or link your writing to the next paragraph. TBP

An example of Structured Choice –

Year 9 History Homework

  1. Complete the assigned reading
  2. Summarise the key points in 5 point form notes
  3. Then complete ONE of the following:
    1. Make a quick sketch illustrating the main point
    2. Write down a really good question about the topic
    3. Search the topic on YouTube and watch a clip that runs for less than 4 minutes. Capture the heart of the clip in a one sentence summary.

An example of Rubric Criteria – 

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