Measures of Central Tendency: Mean, Median and Mode
Instructional strategies
1. Closing the Gap:
Raising Special Education Achievement
through Differentiation
Adam Zunic
2. Something to think about…
We Learn...
10% of what we Read
20% of what we Hear
30% of what we See
50% of what we See and Hear
80% of what we Experience Personally
95% of what we Teach Others
-William Glasser
70% of what we Discuss With Others
3. Our Goal
10% increase in the number of students in
our IEP population scoring Proficient or
Advanced on PSSA Math
How?
Differentiated Instruction
Understanding by Design - Backwards Design
Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy and Higher-Order
Thinking
4. Our Vision
Aide in the development of our students’ intellectual
abilities.
Focus on all aspects of human development
necessary for mature adult living
Educate and inspire a community of life long learners
Students are academically proficiency and have the
ability to succeed in either higher education or
productive employment.
5. Our Mission
To insure that all of our graduates
achieve their full potential as persons
competent to participate and interact
intelligently in the complex and dynamic
society of the 21st century.
6. It Fits
Higher-Order Thinking
Students become problem solvers, not problem
do-ers
Backwards Design
All students will gain the same core set of
knowledge and skills, meeting state standards
Differentiation
All students will be successful!
7. Research
Cognitive Development
Higher-order thinking engages frontal lobe of the brain.
This engagement helps learners make connections between
past and new learning, create new pathways, strengthens
existing pathways, and increases the likelihood that the new
learning will be consolidated and stored for future retrieval.
Asking students for explanatory responses to higher-level
questions prior to instruction activates prior knowledge and
focuses attention, resulting in better learning.
Sousa, David. How the Brain Learns. Chapter 7: Thinking and Learning Skills. p. 245-274.
Pressley, M., (1984). Synthesis of research on teacher questioning. Educational Leadership, 42(3), 40–46.
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8. Research
TIMMS
High achieving countries had similarities
Rather than “covering” many discrete skills,
primary aim is to develop conceptual
understanding in their students.
Emphasize depth vs. superficial coverage
Emphasize problem-based learning, in which rules
and theorems are derived and explained by the
students, thus leading to deeper understanding
Martin, M., Mullis, I., Gregory, K., Hoyle, C., Shen, C. (2000). Effective schools in science and mathematics: IEA’s Third
International Mathematics and Science Study. Boston: International Study Center, Lynch School of Education, Boston
College.
9. Student Performance Data
2007-2008 11th Grade Demographics
General Information
Enrollment 399
Special Education Population 15%
11th Grade Math PSSA Performance
Total
Number
Assessed
Percentage* of Students in each Performance Level
Below Basic Basic Proficient Advanced
All
Students
399 12 16 32 40
IEP 59 42 39 19 0
*percentages are rounded.
10. Our Concerns
Only 21% of our Special Education
population scoring proficient or above.
32% drop in the number of IEP
students scoring proficient or above
between middle and high school.
11. DI: What is It?
A way of teaching in which:
The teacher proactively modifies the curriculum,
instructional strategies, and student products
Lessons are designed around student readiness, interest,
and learning styles
The teacher and students collaborate in learning
Teacher and students work together flexibly
Maximum growth and individual success are the ultimate
goal
13. Three General Principals of DI
Respectful Tasks: Know your Students
Learning Profile: How a student learns
Learning Styles – www.howtolearn.com
Readiness: What does the student know already?
Interest: Students’ affinity, curiosity, or passion
for a topic or skill
15. Three General Principals of DI
Flexible Grouping
Heterogeneous grouping
Individual, Small group, or Whole Group
instruction
16. Three General Principals of DI
Ongoing Assessment and Adjustment
Instruction and assessment are inseparable
Content, process, and product are adjusted
based on the needs of the student
17. What does DI look like?
Video: A Visit to a Differentiated Classroom
Small Group Discussion:
What evidence of DI did you see in the video?
What questions do you have about DI after
watching this video?
Whole Group Discussion:
Share your observations and questions
18. The DI Continuum
Where are you on the continuum?
Place an ‘x’ on the line where you feel your
classroom practices fall.
Are your practices more traditional or more
differentiated?
Handout #2
19. Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy
Six levels of thinking provide a framework for
planning units that incorporate low to high-level
thinking activities
When used as a planning framework we can plan
for student thinking at all levels.
Teach Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS)
20. BLOOM’S REVISED TAXONOMY
Creating
Generating new ideas, products, or ways of viewing things
Designing, constructing, planning, producing, inventing.
Evaluating
Justifying a decision or course of action
Checking, hypothesising, critiquing, experimenting, judging
Analyzing
Breaking information into parts to explore understandings and relationships
Comparing, organising, deconstructing, interrogating, finding
Applying
Using information in another familiar situation
Implementing, carrying out, using, executing
Understanding
Explaining ideas or concepts
Interpreting, summarizing, paraphrasing, classifying, explaining
Remembering
Recalling information
Recognizing, listing, describing, retrieving, naming, finding
Handout #3
21. How to use it
Higher order thinking occurs at the top
three levels of the taxonomy: creating,
evaluating, and analyzing
We must teach students how to think,
providing opportunities for:
Problem-solving
Open-ended responses
22. Teaching HOTS
Help students understand the thinking
process
Incite discovery, invention, and creativity
Make learning meaningful to the student
Engage students in real life problem solving
Encourage questions and discussion
Make cross-curricular connections
Provide models, graphic organizers
23. The Top Three Levels
Analyzing:
Breaking information
into parts to explore
understanding and
relationships
Analyzing Verbs:
Comparing
Organizing
Deconstructing
Attributing
Outlining
Finding
Structuring
Integrating
24. The Top Three Levels
Evaluating:
Justifying a decision
or course of action
Evaluating Verbs
Checking
Hypothesizing
Critiquing
Experimenting
Judging
Testing
Detecting
Monitoring
25. The Top Three Levels
Creating:
Generating new
products, ideas,
ways of thinking, or
ways of viewing
things
Creating Verbs:
Designing
Constructing
Planning
Producing
Inventing
Devising
Making
26. Put your HOTS to the test
Take a Concept Up the Taxonomy
Split your small group into pairs
Choose a concept that you teach in class
Using the handout, create a question or activity
related to your concept for each level of the
taxonomy.
Handout #4
28. What is Backwards Design?
An approach to designing curriculum or unit that
begins with the end in mind and designs toward that
end.
Viewed as backward because many teachers begin
their unit with the means - textbooks, favored
lessons, and time-honored activities - rather than
deriving those from the end - the targeted results, as
content standards or understandings.
(Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, Understanding by Design, 2005, page 338)
29. How to use it
Identify desired results
Goals, knowledge and skills, essential questions,
enduring understanding
Determine acceptable evidence
Tests or quizzes, academic prompts, formative
assessment, performance tasks, observations or
dialogue
Plan learning experiences and instruction
Based on desired results and acceptable evidence
30. Handout #5
Backwards Framework
This framework can be used to plan your
lessons utilizing backwards design
Stage 1 – Utilize the Standards
Stage 2 – Products and Assessments
Stage 3 – Implement DI
Video: Connecting Differentiated Instruction,
Understanding by Design and What Works in
Schools: An Exploration of Research-Based
Strategies
31. Culminating Activity
Lets put it all together
You will need:
Handout #2 – DI Continuum
Handout #4 – Take a Concept up the Taxonomy
Handout #5 – Backwards Design Framework
32. Culminating Activity
Your Task:
Choose a concept you teach in class
Create a lesson using the Backwards Design
Framework
Include differentiated instruction strategies
Include questions/activities related to Bloom’s
Revised Taxonomy
33. Questions for Discussion
How can you implement DI in your
classroom?
Using HOTS
Using Backwards Design
How can we support you in this
process?
What resources/support systems will
you need to be successful?
34. Closure
Set a goal.
Choose an area from the DI continuum that you
rated yourself more traditional
Brainstorm ways to make this are more
differentiated
Create a Plan of Action describing how you will
implement this change in your classroom
Share this with your principal for informal
observations and feedback
See Handout #6 “Look-Fors”
35. Remember:
Our goal is to increase the success of
our students on the Math PSSA’s.
Take what you learned today and use it
to help our students reach their
maximum potential!