The Differentiation Project: Differentiation Gone Wrong

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Differentiation Gone Wrong

Substitute differentiated lesson plan = bad idea. One of my students said to me the next day, "You know, not everyone knows how to do what you do."

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Differentiation Modules/Professional Development Services

Ilana Rembelinsky and Kacy Smith are teachers at Whitford Middle School in the Beaverton School District. Ilana teaches Humanities for the Summa magnet program for highly gifted middle school students, and Kacy teaches mainstream students, including many who are working below grade level. They are actively implementing differentiated instruction in their classrooms. They have presented a differentiation training for writing at the fall OCTE conference, will present a training for reading and literature at the spring OCTE conference, and have facilitated a five-session PLC for middle and high school teachers in the District on five aspects of differentiation:

Engagement Strategies
Writing
Reading/Literature
Social Studies/Critical Thinking
Planning for Differentiation

Modules on any or all of these facets of differentiation for meeting the needs of diverse skill levels, learning styles, and brain modalities are available for staff training at the middle and high school level.

Highlights of the modules

Engagement Strategies
Strategies for increasing engagement and focus for all students
Routines
Characteristics of a differentiated classroom

Writing; Reading/Literature; and/or Studies and Critical Thinking
Strategies for differentiating instruction and lessons
Hetero- and homogeneous groupings
Examples of lessons and units used in our differentiated classrooms
Readings and discussion on differentiation research

Planning for Differentiation
History, research, importance of differentiation in today’s classroom
What differentiation is and isn’t
Strategies for integrating differentiation into curriculum
Up front planning for differentiation
Types of differentiated learning (ability, modality, readiness, learning style)
Low and high preparation differentiated instruction ideas
Possible roadblocks and how to avoid them
Differentiation with Standards-Based Learning Systems

For more information, contact:
Ilana Rembelinsky
e-mail: Ilana_Rembelinsky@beaverton.k12.or.us

Kacy Smith
e-mail: Katherine_ Smith@beaverton.k12.or.us