Planning Differentiated Instruction

1. Planning Differentiated Instruction Sharon Walpole University of Delaware Michael C. McKenna University of Virginia

2. RAND Model of reading Reading comprehension is our goal. It involves extraction of ideas from text and construction of ideas in the head of the reader. It is influenced by characteristics of the reader, the text, the activity, and the context in which it happens. http://www.rand.org/multi/achievementforall/reading/readreport.html

3. Stage models of reading When children are acquiring literacy – developing the skills necessary for reading comprehension – they tend to move through stages in which their focus is very different. All along, during each stage, they are developing oral language skills.

4. Start thinking . . . • If you were trapped on a desert island until you could come up with an ideal reading program for your school, what would it include? • To what extent does your current program include these things? • If there are missing elements, why don’t you think the designers included them?

5. Overview • Define differentiation • Describe instructional tiers • Propose instructional diets and groupings • Introduce a planning process

6. “At its most basic level, differentiation consists of the efforts of teachers to respond to variance among learners in the classroom. Whenever a teacher reaches out to an individual or small group to vary his or her teaching in order to create the best learning experience possible, that teacher is differentiating instruction.” Carol Ann Tomlinson, Differentiation of Instruction in the Elementary Grades. ERIC Digest. http://www.ericdigests.org/2001-2/elementary.html

8. Defining Differentiation (adapted from Tomlinson)

9. Let’s think it through • You’ve read aloud a piece of children’s literature to develop vocabulary and comprehension. • How could you differentiate for students on or above grade level, just below grade level, and well below grade level? • Would you choose to differentiate content, process, product, and/or learning environment? Why?

10. Let’s think it through • Make it more complex. You have a class of 20 students and a well-designed core reading program. Your goal is to develop at least grade-level competence in decoding, fluency, and comprehension. • How could you differentiate for students on or above grade level, just below grade level, and well below grade level? • Would you choose to differentiate content, process, product, and/or learning environment? Why?

11. Researchers have long tried to focus differentiation for reading “Balanced reading” was a critical concept in literacy history. It curricularized differentiation as one part of reading instruction. Teachers read aloud from children’s literature, engaged in shared reading from big books and posters, formed flexible groups for guided reading of little books and leveled books, and finally provided time for independent reading from a wide range of materials.

12. Guided reading … “takes advantage of social support and allows the teacher to operate efficiently, to work with the tension between ease and challenge that is necessary to support readers’ moving forward in their learning.” (p. 6) Fountas, I. C., & Pinnell, G. S. (1996). Guided reading: Good first teaching for all children. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

14. Defining Differentiation(Fountas and Pinnell)

15. Let’s think it through • You have first graders, 12 of whom have been identified as at-risk in the area of decoding by your screening assessment. • How would a guided reading format support their development? • What would you gain by planning guided reading for all of them? • What would you lose by planning guided reading for all of them?

16. This text was dedicated specifically to coaches and teachers in Georgia. It is derived from challenges and lessons in implementing Reading First.

17. Differentiation is “instruction that helps [children] accomplish challenging tasks that are just out of their reach” “instruction that targets a particular group of children’s needs directly and temporarily” “instruction that applies a developmental model” Walpole, S., & McKenna, M. C. (2007). Differentiated reading instruction: Strategies for the primary grades. New York: Guilford Press.

18. The concept of three tiers of instruction The 3-tier model (University of Texas System/Texas Education Agency, 2005) is a general framework — and just a framework — for explaining how any research-based program can be executed in a school. (http://www.texasreading.org/utcrla/materials/3tier_letter.asp) Sharon Vaughn

19. Tier I: Core Classroom Reading Instruction 1. A core reading program grounded in scientifically based reading research 2. Benchmark testing of all kindergarten through third-grade students to determine instructional needs at least three times per year (fall, winter, and spring) 3. Ongoing professional development to provide teachers with the necessary tools to ensure that every student receives quality reading instruction

20. Tier II: Supplemental Instruction For some students, core classroom reading instruction is not enough. Tier II is designed to meet the needs of these students by providing them with additional small-group reading instruction daily.

21. Tier III: Instruction for Intensive Intervention A small percentage of students require more support in acquiring vital reading skills than Tier II instruction can provide. For these students, Tier III provides instruction that is more explicit, more intensive, and specifically designed to meet their individual needs.

22. In Georgia Reading First • All students should have access to both Tier I and Tier II instruction during the 135-minute block • Our ideal is that all students have small-group differentiated instruction every day • Tier III instruction (Intensive Intervention) occurs outside the block and is reserved for those students for whom Tiers I and II are not working

23. Do children come in tiers, too? Think about last year’s instruction. • How well did your strongest students do? • How well did your middle group do? • How well did your struggling students do?

24. It may be hard to accept, but the results you’re getting are the results you’re supposed to be getting. In other words, whatever you are doing right now is bringing you the results you are getting right now . . . Change what you are doing and you can change your results. Pretty simple really. Vitale, J. (2006). Life's missing instruction manual : The guidebook you should have been given at birth. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.

25. I define insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting to get different results. – Einstein

26. Our state-level data indicate that we are not yet meeting the needs of all students; our school visits indicate that differentiated instruction is not yet fully realized.

27. Setting the stage for differentiation requires careful analysis of the core.

28. Decide what to teach when. We are more likely to achieve improvements in vocabulary and comprehension for K and 1st grade during whole-group read-alouds, using both core selections and children’s literature. We can introduce and practice phonemic awareness and phonics concepts during whole group, but we’re more likely to achieve mastery during small-group time.

29. Decide what to teach when. We are more likely to achieve improvements in fluency and comprehension in 2nd and 3rd grade if we introduce them in whole-group and practice in small-group time. We can introduce word recognition concepts during whole-group time, but we will likely achieve mastery only during small-group time. What do we have to do to accomplish this?

30. Make more time for small groups. • Literacy coaches and grade-level teams must determine exactly how to use the core program • Sort core instructional components from extension and enrichment activities • Moderate and control instructional pacing so that early introductions and reviews are fast What do we have to do to accomplish this?

31. Make a very simple centers rotation. • Look for materials already in the core. • Consider daily paired readings and rereadings. • Consider a daily activity linked directly to your read-aloud. Your children can write in response to that text every day. • Make your centers coherent! They are not babysitting stations but tools to reinforce and extend what you teach. • Consider a daily activity linked directly to your small-group instruction. Your children can practice the things you’ve introduced. What do we have to do to accomplish this?

32. Considerations for K Centers • Strategic and intensive children are struggling with LNF • Computer station? • Letters for distributed practice at home? • Only half the children are established with ISF. Only 5 children are low risk for PSF • Picture sorts • Pictures to say and spell

33. Considerations for 1st-grade Centers • Fluency: • Paired rereading of old stories • Paired reading of additional texts (benchmark) • Phonics: • Picture sorts, word sorts • Spelling for sounds • Vocabulary/Comprehension: • Listening station

34. Considerations for 2nd-grade Centers • Fluency: • Assisted fluency work for intensive • Paired rereading of old stories for strategic • Paired reading of additional texts for benchmark • Phonics: • First grade materials? • Intervention materials? • Practice with core vocabulary • Vocabulary/Comprehension: • Listening station with retelling sheet (intensive) • Leveled books and expository texts with retelling sheets (strategic and benchmark)

35. Considerations for 3rd-grade Centers • Fluency: • Assisted fluency work for intensive • Paired rereading of old stories for strategic • Paired reading of additional texts for benchmark • Phonics: • First grade materials? • Intervention materials? • Practice with core vocabulary • Vocabulary/Comprehension: • Listening station with retelling sheet (intensive) • Leveled books and expository texts with retelling sheets (strategic and benchmark)

36. Now you have set the stage for differentiated reading instruction. It’s time to plan. • Gather your resources. • Consider your children’s needs. • Try it out.

37. Gather your instructional resources. • Remember that time is a resource! • Make a daily or weekly schedule for instruction at each grade level. • The more collaborative it is, the better. • The more specific it is, the better. • The more time you reserve for small-group instruction, the better. • The more specific you are about the texts for read-alouds, the better.

38. Where’s the teacher? – Walpole & McKenna, The Literacy Coach’s Handbook

39. A Basic Template

40. For First Grade, perhaps

41. Gather your instructional resources. • Summarize, in list form, the scope and sequence of instruction at each grade level. • What order for letter names? • What order for letter sounds? • What order for letter patterns? • What order for high-frequency words? • What order for comprehension skills and strategies?

42. Gather your instructional resources. • Examine ALL assessments that are designed as part of your core; they would be useful to test the extent to which your children are keeping pace with the pace of the core. • Make decisions about exactly which assessments to use, for which children, and when. • Make decisions about exactly which assessments to omit and why.

43. Gather your instructional resources. Once you know what assessments you have in your core, gather others together from your professional books; we proposed a checklist Walpole, S., & McKenna, M. C. (2006). The role of informal reading inventories in assessing word recognition. The Reading Teacher,59, 592-594.

44. Make an assessment toolkit. For phonemic awareness • A test of phonological awareness levels (e.g., syllable, onset-rime, phoneme) • A test of phoneme segmentation

45. Make an assessment toolkit. Alphabetic principle • Letter name inventory • Letter sound inventory • Phonics inventory • Pseudoword decoding test • Spelling inventory

46. Make an assessment toolkit. Word recognition • High-frequency word reading test • High-frequency word spelling test • Graded word lists

47. Make an assessment toolkit. Fluency • Set of graded passages • Norms for reading rate • Prosody rubric

48. Monitor Student Progress:Words Correct per Minute

49. Make an assessment toolkit. Comprehension • Retelling rubrics for narratives and information texts • Passages with comprehension questions

50. Consider your children’s needs. • Given your screening data, you will know that some portion of children are likely at benchmark, some are just below grade level, and some are well below grade level. • For children at benchmark, you can decide to focus small-group time on fluency and comprehension or on vocabulary and comprehension. • Only the below-grade-level children need additional assessments.