Chapter 1 (first half): Summary

• plan to adapt and pace teaching for faster learners
• provide for student to master essential knowledge (difficulty learning)
• active support system
• to fill in gaps
• & to move ahead
• ELL students: mechanisms in place to help student...
• manage critical material
• practice the new language
• culture/gender differentiation: 
• expand range of learning modes
• support effective/efficient learning
• "given up" students:
• active & continual planning
• help student reconnect with
• the power of learning to shape his/her life

Not just WHAT we teach but WHO we are teaching: matters!

Differentiated classroom GOAL: 

• plan actively & consistently to help students 
• move as far
• and as fast as possible
• along a learning continuum

Numbers of ELL students are increasing.
  75% of U.S. teachers are Caucasian
  70% of U.S. students will be non-Caucasian within the next 25 years

Special Ed. students benefit the General Ed. classroom along with being benefitted by being included in the General Ed. classroom. Developing character (e.g., patience, understanding, helpfulness, etc.) is one of the obvious ways a Special Ed. student can benefit the General Ed. student.

Don't funnel every student through the same pathway. Brighter students may lose motivation if they're not expected to progress at least a year's worth academically. A student who fits in this category could just get left by the wayside, because he/she's already ahead, and the teacher might focus only on students who need to be at the end-of-year level.

What is differentiated instruction? Answer: Responsive Instruction

How to differentiate:

1. understand students as individuals
2. comfortable with the meaning & structure of the subject matter
3. expert at teaching flexibly
1. to match instruction to student need

Goal of differentiation:

1. Maximize student potential

Why particular elements are significant:

1. STUDENT TRAITS:
1. readiness
2. interest
3. learning profile
4. affect
2. the first four are addressed extensively in other books
3. this book focuses on affect

Readiness = student's knowledge, understanding and skill related to sequence of learning.
  affected by student's cognitive proficiency.

1. prior learning
2. attitudes about school
3. habits of mind

Learning takes place ONLY when student works at a level challenging but attainable.

Interest = topics that evoke curiosity & passion

• they invite students to invest their time,
• energy...
• to: know, understand, or be able to do something.
• new interests
• developing interests
• yet-undiscovered interests
• to Engage
• & Persist

Learning Profile = how students learn best

Factors:

• learning style
• intelligence
• preference
• culture
• gender

= more effective & efficient learning.

Affect = how students feel about themselves, their work & the classroom.

• what excites one may discourage another
• attend to students' emotions & feelings
• & student cognition
• inextricably bound (the two, above)

= "the Gateway to helping each student become more fully engaged & successful in learning." (p. 4)

The four student traits call for...

• flexible
• responsive
• differentiated
• instruction

Classroom elements:

• content
• process
• product
• learning environment

(The first three have been previously explored in other books. This book: learning environment.)

CONTENT = what teachers teach

  what we want students to learn

• HOW students gain access to that knowledge
• focus & build on essential information,
• ideas,
• skills
• of a unit/lesson.
• Effective if teacher is CLEAR on the TRUE essentials of that learning sequence.
• Teachers vary HOW students ENCOUNTER the information 
• rather than WHAT they are teaching
• visuals/graphic organizers w/ lecture
• manipulatives/role play (+ oral)
• recorded text (for student with encoding difficulties)
• native-language material (to assist ELL students)
• varying access may not be adequate

May need to Vary CONTENT

• if serious cognitive challenges
• student readiness is lacking
• e.g., 1st grader who reads at 3rd grade level
• Spanish speaking student may need the grammar lesson in Spanish I
• don't waste time on days of week, months, etc.

PROCESS = how student makes sense of information, ideas & skills (at heart of lesson).

• class activity
• homework
• grapple with
• apply
• make meaning of...

PRODUCT = assessments or demonstrations of what students have come to...

• know
• understand
• or come to be able to do
• as the result of an extended sequence of learning
• opportunity for student to show what learned (in unit/semester).
• evidence student can use the knowledge/skill/info.

Forms of PRODUCT:

• assessments
• tests
• solutions to problem-based inquiries
• exhibitions
• portfolios
• etc.

LEARNING ENVIRONMENT:

• operation
• tone
• of classroom
• Examples:
• rules
• furniture arrangement
• guidelines
• how to get help
• procedures
• Key Ingredient:
• "mood" of the classroom
• balances seriousness of learning
• w/ celebrating success
• respect for everyone
• no favoritism
• all share responsibility for operation of the class
• both concrete & abstract tones affect responsive teaching.

Student Traits & Classroom Elements:

• continually assess student readiness
• interest
• learning profile
• affect
• modify content
• process
• product
• learning environment
• to maximize learning for each
• based on learners' needs

Metaphors to Guide Thinking about Differentiation:

  "The Little Prince"--what it means to be "tamed"

• "One only understands the things one tames," the Fox.
• Taming takes...
• time
• patience
• listening
• words = source of misunderstanding (often)

1. "What is essential is invisible to the eye," the Fox (p. 9).
2. "You become responsible forever for what you have tamed," the Fox (p. 9).

Sadness in parting; yet,...
Happiness born of fulfillment.
Joined forever by small memories/times shared.