1. Catering For Gifted Students
In Unit Planning:
Models and Strategies of
Differentiation

2. Framework For Gifted Education
To ensure effective provision for
individual students who are gifted, state
schools need to consider a range of
options for their curriculum and their
school organisation. These include
identification procedures, differentiated
curriculum and acceleration.
(Dept of Education and The Arts, 2004, p. 1)

3. Overview
• Curriculum Differentiation - definitions
• Why do we need to differentiate the
curriculum
• Types of learners
• A Model For Differentiation- Maker
Model
• Practical Strategies for differentiating
curriculum

4. Also known as:
–Differentiated Instruction
–Multilevel instruction

5. What is Curriculum Differentiation
CURRICULUM DIFFERENTIATION is a broad term referring to the
need to tailor teaching environments and practices to create
appropriately different learning experiences for different students.
Keirouz (1993) suggests typical procedures in the case of gifted and
talented students include:
• deleting already mastered material from existing curriculum,
• adding new content, process, or product expectations to existing
curriculum,
• extending existing curriculum to provide enrichment activities,
• providing course work for able students at an earlier age than usual,
and
• writing new units or courses that meet the needs of gifted students.
(http://www.gifted-children.com.au/link/resources/curriculum_differentiation, accessed
12 June, 2004)

6. When we recognise the diversity of the
learners in our classrooms and provide for
their diverse learning needs in our
planning, we differentiate the curriculum.
(Braggett, 1997)

7. … a set of planned learning experiences
that are designed to meet the specific
needs of learners (Eddie Braggett,1997).
A program that is qualitatively (rather than
quantitatively) different from the basic
curriculum… (Maker, 1982).

8. To differentiate instruction is to recognize students
varying background knowledge, readiness, language,
preferences in learning, interests, and to react
responsively. Differentiated instruction is a process to
approach teaching and learning for students of
differing abilities in the same class. The intent of
differentiating instruction is to maximize each
student’s growth and individual success by meeting
each student where he or she is, and assisting in the
learning process.
http://www.cast.org/ncac/index.cfm?i=2876 (accessed 12 June
2004)

9. Differentiated Curriculum refers to teaching
that is adapted to take into account the
individual differences and needs of students
in any one classroom.
It comprises modifications to the curriculum,
teaching structures, and teaching practices in
combination to ensure that instruction is
relevant, flexible and responsive, leading to
successful achievement and the development
of students as self-regulated learners.
(van Kraayenoord, 1997)

10. In a way, it's just shaking up the
classroom so it's a better fit for more
kids.
Carol Ann Tomlinson
Associate Professor of Educational Leadership,
Foundations, and Policy
The Curry School of Education, University of Virginia
From an interview with Leslie J. Kiernan, 1996

11. Why Differentiate?
• All students should be given an opportunity to
develop to their full potential.
• For most students the regular classroom will
provide appropriate challenge.
• For gifted learners special provision must be
made in the regular classroom if they are to
have the same exciting and challenging learning
experiences as their classmates.
• Gifted students need the opportunity to work
through the curriculum at a faster pace and need
less time on basics and revision.

12. Learner Profiles
We need to consider differences We must take into account:
in:
 Learning rates  Ways students take in
 Abilities
 Prior knowledge information
 Interests  Amount of time to
 Preferred learning styles complete work
 Affective needs
  Assignment or tasks
 Means to assess what
has been learned

13. Characteristics Of Gifted Learners
Gifted learners may display some or all of these traits:
 The ability to learn new materials in much less time and in
greater depth
 The ability to readily retain a quantity of information
 The ability to handle complex and abstract ideas
 The ability to simultaneously focus on a number of tasks
 Have intense interests and passions
 Draw generalizations about seemingly unconnected
concepts
 Ask provocative questions
Susan Winebrenner (2000)

14. Differentiation Can Be For:
• The Gifted
And For
• In Class (mixed ability differentiation)

15. What Can We Differentiate?
PROCESS
CONTENT
PRODUCT LEARNING
ENVIRONMENT
Maker Model of Curriculum Differentiation

16. The Maker Model
• June Maker
• 1982
• Differentiation requires modification of four
primary areas of curriculum development:
– Content
– Process
– Product
– Learning environment

17. Content
What we teach
Amount and type of new content • PRE-TESTING!!
Degree of complexity and • Curriculum Compacting
abstractness
• Abstraction, more
Number and sophistication of advanced concepts
resources
• Learning Contracts
Depth of study
• Flexible pacing
Use of specific methods of inquiry • Thematic, broad-based
Learner interests
integrative content
• Interdisciplinary approach
•Acceleration

18. Content
• Several elements and materials are used to support instructional content.
– These include acts, concepts, generalizations or principles, attitudes, and skills.
– The variation seen in a differentiated classroom is most frequently the manner in which
students gain access to important learning.
– Access to the content is seen as key.
• Align tasks and objectives to learning goals.
– Designers of differentiated instruction determine as essential the alignment of tasks with
instructional goals and objectives.
– Goals are most frequently assessed by many high-stakes tests at the state level and
frequently administered standardized measures.
– Objectives are frequently written in incremental steps resulting in a continuum of skills-building
tasks.
– An objectives-driven menu makes it easier to find the next instructional step for learners
entering at varying levels.
• Instruction is concept-focused and principle-driven.
– The instructional concepts should be broad based and not focused on minute details or
unlimited facts.
– Teachers must focus on the concepts, principles and skills that students should learn.
– The content of instruction should address the same concepts with all students but be adjusted
by degree of complexity for the diversity of learners in the classroom.
http://www.cast.org/ncac/index.cfm?i=2876 (accessed 27 May 2004)

19. Process
How we teach
• Thinking models- Hats, Blooms, Gardner’s
Thinking complexity Multiple Intelligences
• Critical and creative Thinking Skills (HOTS)
• Independent Study - student choice of topic for
Learning pace •
study
Use of advanced novels/texts
• Problem-based curriculum
• Active Investigation and Discovery Learning
Learning style • Simulations
• Concept Mapping
• Open-ended questions
Thinking creativity • Research skills
• Use of technology
• Student/adult mentors
Active decision- •
•
Tiered lessons
Learning Centres with advanced tasks
making • Cooperative Learning
• Use of Graphic Organisers

20. Process
• Flexible grouping is consistently used.
– Strategies for flexible grouping are essential.
– Learners are expected to interact and work together as they develop knowledge of
new content.
– Teachers may conduct whole-class introductory discussions of content big ideas
followed by small group or pair work.
– Student groups may be coached from within or by the teacher to complete assigned
tasks.
– Grouping of students is not fixed.
– Based on the content, project, and on-going evaluations, grouping and regrouping
must be a dynamic process as one of the foundations of differentiated instruction.
• Classroom management benefits students and teachers.
– Teachers must consider organization and instructional delivery strategies to
effectively operate a classroom using differentiated instruction.
– Carol Tomlinson (2001) identifies 17 key strategies for teachers to successfully meet
the challenge of designing and managing differentiated instruction in her text How to
Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms, Chapter 7.
http://www.cast.org/ncac/index.cfm?i=2876 (accessed 27 May 2004)

21. Product
What we expect students to do or show
Tasks that reflect: • Real World Problems
• Open-ended Tasks
Learning levels • Advanced projects, tasks,
assignments
Interests • PEP
Learning Styles • Tiered tasks
Multiple Intelligences • Reflection Journals
Open-endedness • Written/recorded response as well
Metacognition as oral response
Real audiences • Products that reflect student’s
preferred learning style
Purposeful deadlines • Synthesise rather than summarise
Shared development of information
criteria for quality • Should include a self-evaluation
process

22. Product
• Initial and on-going assessment of student readiness and growth are essential
– Meaningful pre-assessment naturally leads to functional and successful differentiation.
– Assessments may be formal or informal, including interviews, surveys, performance
assessments, and more formal evaluation procedures.
– Incorporating pre and on-going assessment informs teachers to better provide a menu of
approaches, choices, and scaffolds for the varying needs, interests and abilities that exist
in classrooms of diverse students.
• Students are active and responsible explorers
– Teachers respect that each task put before the learner will be interesting, engaging, and
accessible to essential understanding and skills.
– Each child should feel challenged most of the time.
• Vary expectations and requirements for student responses
– Items to which students respond may be differentiated for students to demonstrate or
express their knowledge and understanding.
– A well-designed student product allows varied means of expression, alternative
procedures, and provides varying degrees of difficulty, types of evaluation, and scoring.
http://www.cast.org/ncac/index.cfm?i=2876 (accessed 27 May 2004)

23. • Think of a specific activity that your students
participated in today in your classroom
• NOW place that activity on the ladder to
indicate its complexity
• Differentiate the activity in two directions-
one incorporating more high level thinking
and the other to provide scaffolding
• Think about the students in your class and
which of the versions of the activity they
would most benefit from

24. Learning Environment
Where we teach/our class culture
Student-centred • Variety of resources
Encouraging independence
• Extension of learning
beyond the classroom
Open to new ideas, materials, • Flexible groupings
people
• Opportunities to work
Accepting of others’ ideas and alone
opinions
• Learning centres
Freedom of movement, mobile • Cooperative learning
Flexible use of time

25. Learning Environment
Curriculum
(State directives
and school based
programs)
Summative evaluation
KLA Content
Assessment
Outcomes What we teach
Product
Student What we
Pre-assessment
expect
Readiness Process students to do
Talents/Interests How we teach or show
Prior knowledge
(Adapted from Oaksford and Jones, 2001)

26. Planning for differentiation
Differentiation/ Assessment
Intervention
Strategies
Orientating
Phase
Enhancing Phase
Synthesising
Phase

27. Passow’s Test of Appropriate
Curriculum for the Gifted
• Children should be introduced to materials and activities
which would be beyond the capabilities of their age-peers
of average ability.
• Teachers should ask:
– Would all students want to be involved in such learning
experiences?
– Could all students participate in such learning
experiences?
– Should all students be expected to succeed in such
learning experiences.
(Passow 1988)

28. Not More of the SAME!!
XMOTS

29. •
Comparing Classrooms •
Student differences are masked or acted upon Student differences are studied as a basis for
when problematic planning
• Assessment is most common at the end of the • Assessment is ongoing and diagnostic to
learning to see who “got it” understand how to make instruction more
• A relatively narrow sense of intelligence prevails responsive to learner need
• A single definition of excellence exists • Focus on multiple forms of intelligences is evident
• Student interest is infrequently tapped • Excellence is defined in large measure by individual
• growth from a starting point
Relatively few learning profile options are taken
into account • Students are frequently guided in making interest-
• based learning choices
Whole-class instruction dominates
• Many instructional arrangements are used
• Coverage of texts and curriculum guides drives
instruction • Student readiness, interest and learning profile
• shape instruction
Mastery of facts and skills out of context are the
focus of learning • Multi-option assessments are frequently used
• Single option assignments are the norm • Time is used flexibly in accordance with student
• need
Time is relatively inflexible
• Multiple materials are provided
• A single test prevails
• Multiple perspectives on ideas and events are
• Single interpretation of ideas and events may be
routinely sought
sought
• The teacher facilitates students’ skills at becoming
• The teacher directs student behaviour
more self-reliant learners
• The teacher solves problems
• Students help other students and the teacher solve
• The teacher provides whole-class standards for problems
grading
• Students work with the teacher to establish both
• A single form of assessment is often used whole-class and individual learning goals
• Students are assessed in multiple ways
Tomlinson, A (1999). The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of all Learners (some chapters available
online at http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/1999tomlinson/1999tomlinsontoc.html, accessed 21 June 2004)

30. Elaborations
• Not all students are alike.
• Differentiated instruction applies an approach to teaching
and learning so that students have multiple options for taking
in information and making sense of ideas.
• The model of differentiated instruction requires teachers to
be flexible in their approach to teaching and adjusting the
curriculum and presentation of information to learners rather
than expecting students to modify themselves for the
curriculum.
• Classroom teaching should be a blend of whole-class, group
and individual instruction.
• Differentiated Instruction is a teaching theory based on the
premise that instructional approaches should vary and be
adapted in relation to individual and diverse students in
classrooms.

31. Guidelines that make differentiation
possible for teachers to attain:
• Clarify key concepts and generalizations to ensure that all learners gain powerful
understandings that serve as the foundation for future learning. Teachers are encouraged
to identify essential concepts and instructional foci to ensure all learners comprehend.
• Use assessment as a teaching tool to extend versus merely measure instruction.
Assessment should occur before, during, and following the instructional episode, and help
to pose questions regarding student needs and optimal learning.
• Emphasize critical and creative thinking as a goal in lesson design. The tasks,
activities, and procedures for students should require that students understand and apply
meaning. Instruction may require supports, additional motivation, varied tasks, materials, or
equipment for different students in the classroom.
• Engaging all learners is essential. Teachers are encouraged to strive for development of
lessons that are engaging and motivating for a diverse class of students. Vary tasks within
instruction as well as across students. In other words, and entire session for students
should not consist of all drill and practice, or any single structure or activity.
• Provide a balance between teacher-assigned and student-selected tasks. A balanced
working structure is optimal in a differentiated classroom. Based on pre-assessment
information, the balance will vary from class-to-class as well as lesson-to-lesson. Teachers
should assure that students have choices in their learning.
http://www.cast.org/ncac/index.cfm?i=2876 (accessed 27 May 2004)

33. Print Resources
• Braggett, E. (1994). Developing programs for gifted students: A
total school approach. Highett, Vic.: Hawker Brownlow.
• Braggett, E. (1997). Differentiated programs for primary
schools: Units of work for gifted and talented students.
Chelterham, Vic.: Hawker Brownlow.
• Eyre, D & McClure, L. (2001). Curriculum provision for the gifted
and talented in the primary school. London: David Fulton
Publishers.
• Heacox, D. (2002). Differentiating instruction in the regular
classroom: How to reach and teach all learners, grades 3-12.
Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing.
• Renzulli, J. (1986). Systems and models for developing
programs for the gifted and talented. Highett, Vic.:Hawker
Brownlow
• Renzulli, J. (1994). Schools for talent development: A practical
plan for total school improvement. Chelterham, Vic.: Hawker
Brownlow.

34. Links to Learn More About
Differentiated Instruction
• Differentiated Curriculum Information on The Learning Place
http://www.learningplace.com.au/deliver/content.asp?pid=14958 contains definition,
guidelines, frameworks and proformas for differentiated units as well as a range of practical
strategies.
• Guild, P.B., and Garger, S (1998). What Is Differentiated Instruction? Marching to Different Drummers 2nd Ed.
(ASCD, p.2)
http://www.ascd.org/pdi/demo/diffinstr/differentiated1.html
Initially published in 1985, Marching to Different Drummers was one of the first sources to pull together information on
what was a newly-flourishing topic in education. Part I defines style and looks at the history of style research; Part II
describes applications of style in seven areas; Part III identifies common questions and discusses implementation and
staff development.
• Hall, Tracey. (2003). Differentiated Instruction.
http://www.cast.org/ncac/index.cfm?i=2876
• Tomlinson, C.A., (1995). Differentiating instruction for advanced learners in the mixed-ability middle school
classroom. ERIC Digest E536.
http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed389141.html
The ability to differentiate instruction for middle school aged learners is a challenge. Responding to the diverse
students needs found in inclusive, mixed-ability classrooms is particularly difficult. This digest provides an overview of
some key principles for differentiating instruction, with an emphasis on the learning needs of academically advanced
students.
• Web Article: Mapping a route toward differentiated instruction.
http://www.ascd.org/pdi/demo/diffinstr/tomlinson2.html
Carol Ann Tomlinson, an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership, Foundations and Policy at the Curry School
of Education, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA provides an article entitled; Mapping a route toward
differentiated instruction. Educational Leadership, 57,1.

35. Links to Learn More About
Differentiated Instruction
• The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) Web site
www.ascd.org/pdi/demo/diffinstr/differentiated1.html
A site by ASCD (2000). which discusses differentiated instruction. Page links to other pages with examples from a high
school* and elementary school*, key characteristics of a differentiated classroom, benefits, related readings, discussion, and
related links to explore. *might be good to look at for case story ideas
• Holloway, J.H., (2000). Preparing Teachers for Differentiated Instruction. Educational Leadership, 58 (1).
http://web.uvic.ca/~jdurkin/edd401su/Differentiated.html
This site is from an education course by Dr. John Durkin. It includes a diagram with suggestions for approaches to
differentiated instruction. It also includes a listing of what differentiated instruction is and is not, rules of thumb on how to
instruct, and management strategies.
• Theroux, P. (2001). Enhance Learning with Technology. Differential Instruction.
www.cssd.ab.ca/tech/oth/learn/differentiating.htm
Theroux provides a thorough site on differential instruction for a Canadian school district. Provides links to teacher attitudes,
learning strategies, teacher resources, integrating technology, integrating outcomes, exploring projects, sample lesson plans*,
planning projects, thinking skills, developing Web pages, assessing, and tutorials.
• Differentiated Instruction: Sources of Information
http://tst1160-35.k12.fsu.edu/mainpage.html
A site with sources about differentiated instruction plus links to lesson plans for Elementary and Middle school, and a
differentiated instruction lesson template.

36. Links to Learn More About
Differentiated Instruction
• Differentiating Instruction
www.ascd.org/pdi/demo/diffinstr/differentiated1.html
(accessed 1 April 2004)
• Elements Integrated into Curricula
http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/metks4/curricul/k-s4curr/elements
(accessed 1 April 2004)
• Partners in Enrichment: Preparing teachers for
multiple classrooms
www.cec.sped.org/bk/martec.html (accessed 1 April
2004)
• Selected ERIC Abstracts on Differentiated Instruction
http://www.ascd.org/educationnews/eric/differinstructionabs.
(accessed 1 April 2004)