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Friday, August 14, 2009

Responses to Texted Questions

John McCarthy, Ed.S. – General Session on August 13, 2009

Participants texted questions they needed answered to move forward as edcuation leaders for re-imaginging Differentiated Instruction. The questions reflected the varioius needs for action from leading by example to facilitating professional growth and systemic change. Here are responses.

  • Any books or websites available with examples of tiered lesson plans across the curriculum?
Fulfilling the Promise of a Differentiated Classroom by Carol Tomlinson (Tool box) Sample chapters list here.

http://www.doe.in.gov/exceptional/gt/tiered_curriculum/welcome.html
This site has several examples under Readiness. The interest and learning styles examples are not necessarily tiered focused, but may have ideas to look at.

  • Teachers in our district want to know how to grade tiered lessons where students are working on different levels of activities?
Hold clear standards-based objectives for all students. The assessment can be common or differentiated based on the tiered focus. When different, it’s because the learning is at different stages of mastering the concepts. Eventually you want your students to have similar core level of understanding. Some may be above expectations, but all will share the essential knowledge and understandings. Rubrics can be helpful in this format.
  • What is the name of the ASCD video series you showed this morning?
Instructional Strategies for the Differentiated Classroom, Part 1: Complex Instruction, chapter 2 (Sample video at this link)

  • Where do you start using Differentiated Instruction?
Begin where you feel most comfortable, preferably in a content area you feel confident in. Two books to consider for guidance are by Carol Tomlinson:
How to Differentiate Instruction in a Mixed Ability Classroom
--Great primer for where to start and common vocabulary
Fulfilling the Promise of Differentiated Instruction
--Deeper book for instructional practice and curriculum. Great resource for strategies.

  • High school teachers will ask you about time! How do we fit DI into our short periods and still cover all the hsce’s?
The challenge of short periods exists at all grade levels. Elementary teachers deal with the daily challenge of instruction being broken up by specials and other important needs. Having taught in a 40 minute period, I feel your pain regarding teaching and learning in general, much less “coverage.” Addressing the HSCE’s is not a challenge with regards to DI. We differentiate because it’s what students need in order to achieve. To not differentiate virtually guarantees that students will fail. The pressures for teaching HSCE’s and GLCE’s are real, and should not be ignored. A path for meeting that need is addressed by Concept-Based Instruction. This approach is championed by Wiggins and McTighe in Understanding by Design, Lynn Erickson (Concept-Based Instruction), and the Buck Institute (Standards-Focused Project-Based Instruction), just to name some. Their approach is about “uncoverage” of essential learning.

  • What is Compacting?
“A 3-step process that (1) assesses what a student knows about material to be studied and what the student still needs to master, (2) plans for learning what is not known and excuses student from what is known, and (3) plans for freed-up time to be spent in enriched or accelerated study.”
Carol Tomlinson. How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed Ability Classrooms. 2nd Edition, p. 98. (Book preview)

  • What’s a good article on Standards-Based Grading?

ASCD’s Education Leadership has an excellent article for why schools should transition from traditional grading practices to a Standards-Based grading approach. In the issue, Expecting Excellence, read Seven Reasons for Standards-Based Grading by Patricia L. Scriffiny, Pages 70-74, October 2008 | Volume 66 | Number 2

A Repair Kit for Grading: 15 Fixes for Broken Grades by Ken O’Connor is a great resource, and What’s Fair Isn’t Always Equal by Rick Wormelli is an effective way to start the conversation that leads to real change in grading practices. Here's a sneak preview.

  • Can we get the Math video?
Ma and Pa Kettle doing multiplication is a YouTube video at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfq5kju627c

MI ASCD Conference on DI: Day 2

Day 2 opened with a general session to "Re-Imagine Differentiated Instructruction." In the course of the morning session participants explored the need for integrating Differentiated Instruction as part of effective models for student learning, beginning with the reflective question: Will you take responsibility for the learning success of your students? The learning time generated quite a productive conversation that spilled into the break as well as the entirity of the session.

Exploration included looking at how "Teachers respond" from Carol Tomlinson's work on the 3 cogs for differentiation (Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom, ASCD. p. 28.) Read the sample chapter. 3 Dimensional Instruction (John McCarthy, 2008):

  1. Identify the objective(s)
  2. Develop the assessment
  3. Brainstorm 8-15 3D processing activities to teach the concept(s)
  4. Build lesson steps with 3D processing activities

We looked at 4 Quadrants for instruction and learning by International Center for Leadership in Education, and Project-Based Learning (Buck Institute and support by www.leading pbl.org)

In this busy morning, participants texted questions, some of which were addressed during the session, while a compilation was answered in a post at MI ASCD. Here is the transcript.

The afternoon was a big hit. Participants left with much information and take aways to begin implementing in their schools. Thank you all who attended. The conference existed to support the critical need to help all students achieve.

Now the planning starts for next year and adding additional strands that go deeper and more complex.

Have a great school year!!!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

MI ASCD Differentiated Instruction Conference: Day 1

Dr. Susan Allan’s keynote and general session set a great tone for the necessity, if not the urgency, for differentiation to take a greater role in instruction. She addressed the misnomers about what is differentiated instruction (DI) and what it is. For example, it’s not planning individualized lessons for every student, nor less work for struggling students and more work for students further along in their learning. Rather it’s meeting students where they are in learning, which forms groups based on common needs, interests, and/or learning profiles. DI is about teacher flexibility and developing a classroom towards a student-centered culture. She guided participants into a deep exploration of Readiness issues and strategies that support students from struggling to advanced. By the end of the morning session, I hope that participants walked away with a core understanding of Differentiated Instruction, and steps towards implanting.

In tomorrow morning’s general session I will discuss how as education leaders, administrators and teachers, we must re-imagine DI in a 21st century world. Thinking of DI needs to be expanded in our thinking, and viewed most significantly as a cornerstone to instructional pedagogy, regardless of the model or system that is followed. There’s a taste. More to come.

The Teacher panel was well balanced. The four teachers ranged from elementary to high school, and veteran to a teacher who completed one year. The questions were diverse. Responses had a common strand as to how best to develop successful practice that includes DI:

  • Peer collaboration,
  • Leadership support,
  • Recognition of the complex work,
  • Communicate with peers, students, and parents

One question focused on how to differentiate instruction with large class sizes. A panelist stated, “Differentiated Instruction may vary with class size, but there is no question that it will be implemented.”

The Grading and Assessment session was surprising in the turnout. I expected 10 or less as it was a mini-break out of 85 minutes. Most sessions were 3 hours and the mini-break out that preceded mine was a small number. Over 40 participants came after the common break. Clearly, grading is a hot enough concern that people want to know what are new options.

The issues around grading are challenging as traditional practices appear to fail students on multiple levels. Entrenched ideology around grading makes the issues more complex and deeply problematic. As one educator shared, what is a situation that plays out in many districts, getting a group of educators to agree on new solutions is next to impossible as discussions get bogged down over what to do. My intent in a 85 minute session was to raise awareness for why grading practices need to be assessed, and explore issues that might compel educational leaders to establish changes in grading policies. Not too ambitious :)

There are many compelling arguments for rethinking grading. Perhaps in a later piece I’ll go more in-depth into each.

  1. Percentages, Zeroes, and Mean (averaging) scoring are inconsistent in accurately assessing learning at best, and at worst kill student desire to put forth their best efforts.

  2. Grading often hurts students who take longer to learn a concept. In connection to this, mismatched assessments, that is reliability is questionable, gives inaccurate information.

  3. Factors such as participation, homework/classwork completion, and extra credit distort assessment of learning when factor into grades.

There’s more. A Repair Kit for Grading: 15 Fixes for Broken Grades by Ken O’Connor is a great resource, and What’s Fair Isn’t Always Equal by Rick Wormelli is an effective way to start the conversation that leads to real change in grading practices. Here's a sneak preview. In the end, I’d like to believe that the time was well spent. From the anecdotal feedback I received, perhaps it was.

A next step is to Standards-Based Grading. ASCD’s Education Leadership has an excellent article for why schools should transition from traditional grading practices to a Standards-Based grading approach. In the issue, Expecting Excellence, read Seven Reasons for Standards-Based Grading by Patricia L. Scriffiny, Pages 70-74, October 2008 | Volume 66 | Number 2

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

MI ASCD Conference on Differentiated Instruction

A major conference on Differentiated Instruction starts tomorrow in Michigan. It's a 2-Day event, kicked off by Dr. Susan Allan. The breakout sessions are done mostly by teacher practicioners. Participants will learn alot and take away much to impelement in their schools. May MI ASCD continue this great tradition each year.

During the conference, follow the goings on:

MI ASCD on Twitter
http://twitter.com/MichiganASCD
Check for conference updates, news, and DI ideas.
 
MI ASCD on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Michigan-ASCD/125394864523
Check here for post conference news and updates, plus upcoming events in Michigan.

More to follow...