The purpose of this presentation was to explain the concept of "Differentiated Instruction" to my peers in a graduate school class.

1. An Exploration of Differentiated Instruction Ellen Brandt December 8, 2007

2. Differentiated Instruction What is it? Why is it Important? How is it Implemented? What is the Role of the School Library? Show me an Example!

4. An Example: A Differentiated Lesson on the topic of DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION. The target audience for my example is students in higher education, but as Tomlinson and McTigue say, “ there is a kindergarten version and a Ph. D. version of the big ideas…”. (Tomlinson and McTigue, p. 41)

5. The Virtual Teachers Gladys: A Traditional Instructor Kathryn: Models Differentiated Instruction

6. Real World Teachers REAL teachers are likely to be somewhere in between Gladys and Kathryn. Almost all teachers respond in some manner to the needs and interests of the students in their classes. On the flip side, it’s not really feasible to practice all the principles of differentiated instruction, all the time.

8. Real World Students Each of the four students in my example is a composite of many students. A real world K-12 classroom would likely have 20-30 students, all of whom are unique in important ways. Differentiated Instruction is NOT Individualized Instruction, but an acknowledgement that students learn in different ways.

9. The Goal of the Unit (T his should be communicated to the students) “ Students will learn about Differentiated Instruction” “ How can Differentiated Instruction make us more effective as teachers? What are the challenges? What are the benefits?”

10. Preassessment “ I do my assessments at the END of the Unit”

23. CONTENT (the differentiated approach) Goal (the essential question or underlying concept) is the same for all, but CONTENT can be differentiated. Kathryn lets her students choose to focus on a specific area or a specific perspective, as long as they are working toward the goal.

25. PROCESS: How the students will learn the material.

29. PRODUCT: How students demonstrate mastery of the concepts and skills.

36. Important Understandings (from the perspectives of the virtual students)

41. Ellen’s Research Topic How can the School Library support (and benefit from) Differentiated Instruction?

47. from professional reading by David Loertscher in Teacher Librarian, June 2006 A Few Parting Words