Multiple-Entry Journals

Explanation: A multiple entry journal provides a structure to guide students' reading by promoting focus, concentration, and thought as they read. When multiple entry journals are carefully designed, they can be powerful tools to help students become more proficient in using text material effectively

Two examples of multiple entry journals follow. The first example could be modified for use from elementary through high school in any subject that calls on students to read and make meaning of print material. The second is a high school math example designed to help students think more flexibly and fully about particular computational approaches and their applications. Both examples are tiered. In each instance, the second tier is more demanding and designed for more advanced students. The first tier calls on students to work with grade-level expectations. Additional tiers could be created as necessary. Not that designations like "basic" or "advanced" would not appear on student copies.

I really like the Multiple entry journal idea. These multiple entry journals are easy to follow and handy to use when going back over notes and study material. Multiple entry journals can also be used for any subject. This semester for literacy, We made multiple entry journals for a book we were reading as a class, and I really enjoyed this assignment.

Think Dots

Explanation: After students have worked to gain essential knowledge, understanding, and skill about a topic, they can use a versatile strategy called Think Dots to review, demonstrate, and extend their thinking on the subject. Developed by Kay Brimijoin in 1999, Think Dots is a modification of the strategy called cubing. The modifications make the approach teacher-friendly, while at the same time allowing for maximum flexibility in terms of differentiation. Unlike paper cubes that are often fragile, even when laminated, or plastic figure cubes that can be costly for large classes, Think Dots are inexpensive, easy to construct, and compact for storage.

A Think Dots set consists of six cards that are hole punched in one corner. The set is held together with a "notebook ring," a loop of string, or any other device that allows students to flip through the set easily. Each card has one or more dots on its front (each card corresponding to one of the six dot configurations on a die). On the back of each card is a question or task that asks students to work directly with important knowledge, understanding, and skill related to the topic they are studying. Dots are easily drawn on cards, or can be quickly created using small paper disks. Laminating the cards enables teacher and students to use them more than once during a year or unit, and allows teachers to use them in successive years.

Think Dots can be used to respond to learner readiness by developing Think Dots tasks at varying levels of difficulty. In addition, Think Dots can be used to respond to learning profiles by developing prompts based on varied intelligence preferences, requiring different modes of expression, or even by encouraging students to work alone or collaboratively with Think Dots tasks. Think Dots questions can also invite learners to apply key ideas and skills based on interest or choice.

For example, in one setting, teachers might place students of somewhat similar readiness levels together with a Think Dots set designed to review and extend key goals at a level of difficulty challenging for that group. In another setting, the teacher might design Think Dots sets to correspond to students' learning preferences, with one group expressing ideas through visual modes, another through kinesthetic modes, another in writing, and so on.

To address interests, students might select a group, for example, representing a particular interest in music, sports, science, and so forth. ThinkDots tasks in this instance would ask students to see how ideas studied in the unit apply to their particular interest. For example, in a unit on fractions, Think Dots questions could ask students to find out how fractions are used in a sport, develop a brief scenario showing how fractions work in action in the sport, explain how the sport would change if fractions ceased to exist, and so on. To address learning profile, students might select a group based on a preferred mode of learning (visual, practical, kinesthetic, reading, and others) and work with peers with the same preference. Students in all groups would address the same essential learning goals, but Think Dots tasks would aid them in exploring and expressing ideas in ways that are most effective for them. 

The procedure for implementing Think Dots includes the following:

• The teacher determines the key knowledge, understanding, or skill in which the Think Dots strategy will be used
• The teacher reviews students' readiness levels, interests, and learning profiles and assigns students to groups based on needs and learning goals
• Each student or group receives a set of activities, a die, and an activity log
• Students roll the die and complete activities marked with dots that correspond to the dots rolled on the die. Students may be asked to roll their die one to six times and complete the corresponding tasks. Generally, a student can complete only one or two tasks when the tasks are more complex, but it is feasible to expect each to complete multiple tasks when the tasks are less complex and multi-faceted or when students complete review and extension questions. In some cases, it might be appropriate for all students to complete other tasks as indicated by rolling the die.
• Each student then records answers or results in their activity log and attaches any additional material required to show work process, steps in thinking, resources consulted, and so on.

Because students will not complete all the tasks in the set, it is important that each task require them to work with the unit's essential knowledge, understanding, and skill. It is also very helpful to have students share their work with peers to have the key goals reinforced by seeing them explored through various approaches. Careful and systematic collaboration is imperative if varied tasks call on only selected essential unit goals so that students explore ideas they "missed" in their own work by learning from peers. In these instances, it is particularly necessary for teachers to bring common closure to the Think Dots process so that all students are comfortable with all key outcomes. Such closure not only helps students understand they are working toward common goals, but also gives them an opportunity to take part in a teacher-guided review of all the lesson's key ideas and skills, even though the student may not have worked directly with all those ideas and skills in the Think Dots activity.

Tiering

How can I tier my lessons for differentiation?? In Carol Ann Tomlinson's book, Fulfilling the promise of the Differentiated Classroom, she talks about Tiering lessons..

Explanation: Tiering is an instructional approach designed to have students of differing readiness levels work with essential knowledge, understanding, and skill, but to do so at levels of difficulty appropriately challenging them as individuals at a given point in the instructional cycle. To tier an activity or work product:

• Clearly establish what students should know, understand, and be able to do as a result of the activity or product assignment
• Develop one activity or product assignment that is interesting and engaging for students, squarely focusses on the stated learning goals, and requires students to work at a high level of thought. It's a good idea to begin with an advanced level activity, because doing so is likely to raise the teacher's sights for other learners as well. It is also possible to start with a version of the activity or product that teacher and students have used successfully in the past.
• Think about the readiness levels of students in the class based on pre-assessment, ongoing assessment, and continually growing teacher knowledge of students' general skills levels (in reading, writing, math- or whatever skills are fundamental to the subject at hand).
• Develop enough versions of the original task or product assignment to challenge the range of learners. You may need to create one, two, three, or four additional versions.
• To create multiple versions of a task at different degrees of difficulty, refer to the following graphic. "The Equalizer" and ensure that the versions for students who continue to struggle with ideas and skills the task calls for are more foundational, concrete, simple, have fewer dimensions, and so on. To increase the degree of difficulty of a task, move one or more of the equalizer buttons to the right (making the task more transformational, abstract, complex, multifaceted, and so on).

Learning Contracts

Explanation: A learning contract is a means of providing practice for learners based on their particular learning needs as those needs relate to overall learning goals. Contracts take many different forms and are used in a great range of ways. In general, learning contracts include:

• Clarification of learning goals for a unit or topic of study;
• Assessment of learner proficiency with those goals to determine learning needs;
• A "package" of tasks, activities, meeting times with the teacher, and other components likely to help the student continue to develop essential knowledge, understanding, and skills;
• Directions for how the student is expected to work during the contract time, a timeline for completing work, instruction on how to get work approved when it is finished and where to turn it in, and criteria for grading; and
• The actual tasks a student is expected to complete as part of the contract.

CONTRACT EXAMPLE

The following example of a contract was developed by an elementary teacher during a unit of study when it became evident to her that her students were "all over the place" in their understanding and skill regarding the math topics they had recently explored. She developed the contract in the shape of a ticket, and students got their ticket punched whenever they successfully completed a particular task. Successful completion of a task was noted by the teacher or a designated teacher "checker." While everyone's ticket looked alike, different students might have differing assignments under the common headings or topics on the ticket. Note that each student has a time to meet with the teacher

When a teacher knows a student finds the number of parts to an assignment confusing, the teacher can allow that student to select between two activities at a time, glue the choice on the ticket, and move through other tasks in that fashion. Similarly, the teacher can provide timelines for work completion to those students who do not yet plan their own time efficiently. Contracts also lend themselves very well to students with Individual Education Plans, who may need to work on different skills than many of their classmates.

Directions: We have been working hard on a number of important topics in math. Right now, different students need different kinds of practice to keep growing with the topics. To make sure everyone gets the practice and help he nor she needs to be comfortable with the topics, each student has a Math Ticket to complete in the next four days. We will work on the tickets in math time. You can also work on them as an anchor activity when you finish other work. Your ticket will also be your math homework during the next four days.

To be successful with your contract:

• Sit where you can work hard and concentrate
• Pay attention to your own contract
• Help your friends when they get stuck, as long as helping doesn't cause you to get behind in your work
• When you finish a part of your ticket, bring it to the teacher or a student who is a checker for that task.
• If your task is done correctly, you will get your ticket punched in that place. If now, you will need to work some more until your work is good
• Keep all your work in your ticket folder until it is all due on Friday, then turn in your folder when the teacher asks for it
• You will need to meet with the teacher when she calls your name during the week. That's the Teacher Feature. The Teacher will help you and some of your classmates with your math during the Teacher Feature and will see how you are doing with your ticket.
• Your ticket grade will come from four places:

1. How hard you work during ticket time every day,
2. Whether you finish your ticket work on time,
3. One piece of work you select to represent your understanding,
4. One piece of work the teacher picks randomly from your ticket folder.

RAFT Activities

Explanation: RAFT is an acronym for Role, Audience, Format, and Topic. In a RAFT, students take on a particular role, develop a product for a specified audience in a particular format on a topic that gets right at the heart of what matters most in a particular segment of study. At some points, a teacher may want to assign students particular RAFTs and at other points may want the student to make the choice. RAFT assignments are typically of fairly short duration and can be completed at school or at home. RAFTs offer teachers great flexibility to plan for students readiness, interest, and learning profile.

Schedule Chart

Explanation: This is an example of a daily schedule chart used by a teacher to help organize classroom time and help students work more independently as they learn to follow the schedule. Because the students' names are on clothespins, they can be easily moved to allow flexibility in group composition and size. What students do in a particular task (for example, listening or writing) can vary based on learner interest or need. The teacher can use the schedule with a horizontal row representing five "periods" or blocks in part of a morning, or simply say at a given time, "Boys and girls, we are going to work now on Block No. 4. Please look at our schedule and see where you should go to do your work." Of course the number of options and rotations on a schedule chart can be smaller or larger than the number represented here, and student groups can be smaller or larger as well. Note that in each vertical rotation, the teacher has scheduled herself to work directly with one group of students on a basic skills need (math with the teacher or reading circle).

I like the idea of a Schedule chart because the chart has everything the teacher wants to do and when the teacher says its time for a certain part, the students just go look at the schedule to see where they are, go to their designated spot and begin their work for that portion of the schedule.

Think-Tac-Toe

Explanation: Think-Tac-Toe, which plays off the familiar childhood game, is a simple way to give students alternative ways of exploring and expressing key ideas and using key skills. Typically, the Think-Tac-Toe grid has nine cells in it like a Tic-Tac-Toe game. The number of rows and cells can, of course, be adjusted. As with related strategies, it's important that no matter which choices students make, they must grapple with the key ideas and use the key skills central to the topic or area of study. Think-Tac-Toe allows for differentiation by readiness, interest, and learning profile.

Think-Tac-Toe Example:
The Example that follows was developed as an alternative to book reports in middle school. Rather than having specific content goals, the teacher wanted students to explore characterization, setting, and theme in their novels. This reinforced key concepts students were discussing in their language arts class. The teacher also developed the Think-Tac-Toe to help students make connections between their own lives and the elements of literature.

This example of Think-Tac-Toe is tiered. That is, while both versions below ask students to explore the concepts of character, setting, and theme in novels of their choice and in there own lives, and while both allow multiple modes of expressing ideas (learning profile differentiation), the first version is somewhat less complex and abstract than the second (readiness differentiation). You'll notice that one item in each row of the second (more advanced) version also appears in the first version. This allowed students who received different versions to work together if they elected to do so. It also blurred distractions between the two versions. Criteria for student work are also slightly more advanced on the second version. The teacher worked with students to develop descriptions of each of the criteria to help them determine if their work was accurate. Descriptors for "accurate" might include showing where the idea comes from in the book or how faithful it is to the books theme. Versions are designated on the examples below, but were not noted on student handouts.

At a prescribed time students turned in the Think-Tac-Toe sheet with choices marked, a reading log, and their three pieces of work. Teachers might have students set due dates individually within an appropriate window of time both to accommodate students' schedules and to give teachers more time to provide feedback. It would also work well to have students provide feedback to one another on some or all of the work.

(Activity found in "Fulfilling the promise of the Differentiated Classroom" By Carol Ann Tomlinson).

Writing Bingo

Writing Bingo looks like a fun activity, also, for differentiating.

For Writing Bingo, there are several options, such as:

• Recipe
• Thank you note
• Letter to the editor
• Directions from one place to another
• Rules for a game
• Invitation
• Email request for information
• Letter to a pen pal, friend, or relative
• Skit or scene
• Interview
• Newspaper article
• Short story
• Free Your choice
• Grocer or shopping list
• Schedule for your work
• Advertisement
• Cartoon strip
• Poem
• Instructions
• Greeting card
• Letter to your teacher
• Proposal to improve something
• Journal for a week
• Design for a webpage
• Book- think aloud

Student Interest Survey

Student interest surveys are another good way to learn about your students and their interests and likes. A student interest survey is basically just a sheet with questions that the students fill out.

Questions on student interest survey-- according to Fulfilling the promise of the differentiated classroom

1. What are your favorite things to do outside of school (please tell why you like them
2. When have you felt really proud of yourself? Please explain why you felt that way
3. What are you good at in school? How do you know?
4. What's hard for you in school? What makes it hard?
5. What are some ways of learning that work for you?
6. What are some ways of learning that don't work well for you? Why?
7. What's your favorite:

• Book ______________________________________
• TV Show _________________________________________
• Movie ___________________________________________
• Kind of music ____________________________________
• Sport _________________________________________

8. What are some things you'd really like to learn about?

9. What are some things you really care about getting better in? Why?

10. What else should I know about you as a person and a student that could help me teach you better?

11. Describe how you see yourself as an adult. What will you be doing? Enjoying? Working toward?

Student Profile Survey

Student profile survey's are a good way to learn about your students. Student profile survey's get your students to think about their learning preferences and interests. This is a great way to begin differentiating your classroom based on your students learning preferences and interests.

In Fulfilling the promise of the differentiated classroom by Carol Ann Tomlinson, there is an explanation of Student profile Survey's.

Explanation: This is an example of a student profile survey developed by her teacher to help her and her students begin to think about their learning preferences and interests

Directions: Below are some words that describe how people learn and what people like

• look at the list and decide which ones REALLY sound like you. Put those in the column on the left.
• Look at the list again. Pick out the words that really DON'T sound like you. Put those in the column on the right
• There will be some words you don't put in either column because they are a little like you, a little different from you, or you just aren't sure. 
• Also put in the "like me" column other important things to know about you, your interests, and ways of learning that aren't on the list you were given to pick from

List to pick from:

• Very logical
• Very creative
• Sit still when I learn
• Wiggle when I learn
• Like to plan things
• Like to be told how to do things
• Like choices about how to do things
• Great at planning
• Like to do one thing at a time
• Like to do several things at a time
• Like to work with words
• Like to work with numbers
• Like to work with objects
• Like music
• Like art
• Not great at planning
• Need quiet when I work
• Need noise when I work
• Like collecting things
• Like making things
• Like to work alone
• Like to work with people
• Like to know the big picture
• Like details

Getting Started on Differentiated Instruction

Differentiation Quotes

Throughout the semester, I've seen so many quotes that Inspire me and make me want to be the best teacher I can be. A lot of these quotes have to do with differentiation, as well. 

Differentiated Instruction: A Primer

I recently read an Article by Sarah D. Sparks about Differentiated Instruction and I really like what it had to say. The first paragraph of the article says, "How can a teacher keep a reading class of 25 on the same page when four students have dyslexia, three students are learning English as a second language, two others read three grade levels ahead, and the rest have widely disparate interests and degrees of enthusiasm about reading?"

We need to differentiate for these students!

"Differentiated Instruction is the process of identifying students' individual strengths, needs, and interests and adapting lessons to match them." 

"Differentiation has much more in common with many other instructional models: It has been compared to response-to-intervention models, as teachers vary their approach to the same material with different students in the classroom; data-driven instruction, as individual students are frequently assessed or otherwise monitored, with instruction tweaked in response; and scaffolding, as assignments are intended to be structured to help students of different ability and interest levels meet the same goals."

Farther down in the article, it says "Carol Ann Tomlinson, a co-director of the institutes on Academic Diversity at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, and the author of The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners, 2nd Edition (ASCD, 2014) and Assessment and Student Success in a Differentiated Classroom (ASCD, 2013) argues that differentiation is, at its base, not an approach but a basic tenant of good instruction, in which a teacher develops relationships with his or her students and presents materials and assignments in ways that respond to the student's interests and needs."

There are many different strategies to differentiate instruction in the classroom and if does not involve creating a whole bunch of separate lesson plans for individual students.

According to Tomlinson: "Differentiation requires more than creating options for assignments or presenting content both graphically and with hands on projects. Rather, to differentiate a unit on Rome, a teacher might consider both specific terms and overarching themes and concepts she wants students to learn, and offer a series of individual and group assignments of various levels of complexity to build those concepts and allow students to demonstrate their understanding in multiple ways, such as journal entries, oral presentations, creating costumes, and so on. In different parts of a unit students may be working with students who share their interests or have different ones, and with students who are at the same or different ability levels."

Although there are so many different strategies that can be used to differentiate instruction in the classroom and all differentiated classrooms may not look exactly the same, one of the most important things a teacher can do is begin by learning about their students and trying to tailor their teaching as much as they find feasible.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/01/28/differentiated-instruction-a-primer.html

Teaching is hard, but rewarding.

Chapter 7 starts by saying, (The teacher) is able to take each student on his or her own merits, to convey, not a generic hope, not a one-size-fits-all confidence, but the specific version which can only come from the student's own facts and from knowing each child well (Sizer & sizer, 1999, p. 114).

According to James Stronge, research says the following:

• Students consistently want teachers who respect them, listen to them, show empathy toward them, help them work out their problems, and become human by sharing their own lives and ideas with their students
• Caring teachers who create relationships with their students enhance student learning
• Effective teachers consistently emphasize that their love for their students is a key element in their success
• Teachers who create a warm and supportive classroom environment tend to be more effective with all students
• Caring teacher intentionally develop awareness of their students' cultures outside of school
• Effective teachers spend a great deal of time working and interacting directly with students
• High levels of teacher motivation relate to high levels of student achievement
• Teachers' enthusiasm for learning and for their subject matter is an important factor in student motivation that, in turn, is closely linked with student achievement
• Teachers whose students have hight achievement rates consistently talk about the importance of reflection on their teaching
• Effective teachers have a solid belief in their own efficacy and in holding high standards for students. This is common among reflective teachers
• Effective teachers carefully establish classroom routines that enable them and their students to work flexibly and efficiently.
• Effective classroom managers increase student engagement and maximize use of each instructional moment
• Effective teachers clearly identify learning goals and link them with activities designed to ensure student mastery of the goals
• Effective teachers use a variety of support systems to ensure student success
• Effective teachers emphasize hands-on learning, conceptual understanding, and links with the world beyond the classroom
• Effective teachers develop and call on a wide variety of instructional strategies proven successful with students of varying abilities, backgrounds, and interests
• Effective teachers set high expectations for themselves and their students with an orientation toward growth and improvement evident in the classroom
• Effective teachers are more concerned with student understanding of meaning than memorization of facts
• Students achieve at higher rates when instruction focuses on meaningful conceptualization and builds on their knowledge of the world
• Student engagement is higher when they take part in authentic activities linked to the content under study.
• Teachers in schools with high achievement rates pre-assess in order to do targeted teaching
• Effective teachers know and understand their students in terms of abilities, achievement, learning preferences, and needs
• Effective teachers reteach material to students who need additional help
• Effective teachers use a variety of flexible grouping strategies to support student learning
• Effective teachers demonstrate effectiveness with the full range of students in their classes
• Effective teachers match instruction to learners' achievement needs
• Effective teachers accept responsibility for student outcomes.

I've heard over and over that teaching is one of the hardest and demanding jobs but it is also one of the most rewarding jobs there is. A teacher has so many roles to take on while in the classroom. They are responsible for the learning of a class full of students. One of the greatest aspects of being a teacher is being able to be there to experience the moment when the students finally "understand" what has been taught.

Practice, practice, practice!

This chapter (chapter 6) starts out by saying that, "All children can learn" does not mean "all children are the same." Furthermore, diversity is not merely about external characteristics. If we're really going to take this seriously, that means we start looking at diversity on the inside as well as diversity on the outside. Making this principle both a moral and intellectual part of the curriculum will require... a diversity of approaches, diversity of techniques, and diversity of teaching strategies (Reeves, 2002).

Throughout this semester, I feel like some of the main things I've heard over and over are:
1. Not all children learn in the same way
2. Learning is not a one size fits all
3. We need to learn about our students interests, backgrounds, and cultures
Although I feel like a lot of this stuff can be repetitive at times, all of these things that i've heard over and over are KEY to differentiation in the classroom. We need to practice all of these strategies plus more and then practice again and again!

Because students matter, the teacher says to the student, and because learning matters to you, I will do my best to:

• Make sure I teach and you learn what is genuinely of value in a subject;
• Pique your curiosity about what we explore, capture your interest, and help you see daily that learning is inherently satisfying;
• Call on you consistently to help you become more than you thought you could become through dedicated work; and
• Be your partner, coach, mentor, and taskmaster all along your learning journey in this class.

This chapter was very helpful to me while reading because I found the information very useful. Throughout this chapter, there are concrete ways in which teachers can make sure curriculum and instruction are important, focused, engaging, demanding, and scaffolded. All of these things are very important not only in order to differentiate but also to help improve the learning of each and every student within the classroom.

I think one of the most important things a teacher can do is engage the students. When students are engaged and excited about learning, they are much more willing and likely to open up to the learning process and learn the things that are important. When what students are learning engages the students, many times, students don't even realize they are learning. Along with engaging students, we need to teach students using real life scenarios. By using real life scenarios, students realize why the information they are learning is useful because they are learning about things that happen in their every day worldly experience.

Students also need work that is demanding and somewhat challenging. We as teachers, don't want the work to be so challenging that our students can't do their work but we also don't want the work to be too easy for our students. When work is too easy, our students will become bored. We need to meet in the middle and give our students challenging work, which can still be completed and give our students a sense of success.

Curriculum & Instruction: Addressing Student Needs

I really like how this chapter starts out. At the beginning of the chapter, there is a quote, which says: "As adults responsible for the growth of the next generation, we should know that we are not doing our jobs unless we provide youth with the opportunities to live right- that is, with chances to do their best. A just society is one in which men and women, rich and poor, the gifted and the handicapped, have an equal opportunity to use and to increase all their abilities, each according to his or her talents" (Csikszentmihalyi, Rathunde & Whalen, 1993, p. 260).

The chapter then goes on to tell a story about a student who was taking an algebra class. The algebra teacher did not make her students feel affirmed in class or feel like they were contributors to class. It was basically just a class where the students went and listened to the teacher because that was the teachers job and they needed to know algebra. They didn't feel like they had any worth, which in return made the students not want to go to class and have no motivation to do the work while in class.   This algebra teacher knew her curriculum. She instructed with intensity. She taught Algebra, but she did NOT teach this particular student.

A year later, this same student took a german class. In this particular german class, the teacher made the students feel like they could be successful, she affirmed her students with eye contact and smiles. This teacher still taught her curriculum, but she also took the time to TEACH her students as well rather than just getting through the curriculum she was required to get through. This german teacher was constantly checking their understanding and proficiency and dealing with each student as the individuals that they were.

We as teachers need to have our curriculum and instruction be focused, engaging, demanding, scaffolded, and it needs to be in the face of student diversity. 
Although we do have a curriculum and things we need to teach our students throughout the school year, we NEED to teach our students as the individuals that they are. We need to understand that they all come with different needs. We need to be the teacher who makes a child feel like they are more important than the stuff that we are trying to teach them and we need to make them feel like they can be the successful people that we know they can be.

At the end of the chapter, it says, "We are reminded that we must teach children in the way that is best for him or her. Care for the child, they tell us. But you can care only when you understand- what it is like to be a part of that child's culture, what it is like to be unable to speak the language of the classroom, what it is like to go "home" to a shelter every night, what it is like to wonder about things no one else in the classroom seems to ponder, what it is like to think steady thoughts only to have them sabotaged by print that scrambles on the page. Make links with learners' interests, talents, and dreams. You can only do that when you know what they care about, what gives them joy, what they would wish for if they dared." 

We as teachers, need to be the support system that students need in order to learn, grow, understand, and become the people that we know they can be!

Teacher Response to Student Needs: Rationale to Practice

I really enjoyed what I read in Chapter 4. This chapter starts out by saying that, By accepting every student's need for affirmation, contribution, power, purpose, and challenge, the teacher intends to provide invitation and opportunity for each student through investment, persistence, and reflection. There is now a line of logic to govern the teacher's thought and action. Both covertly and overtly, the teacher lets the learners know the following:

• You are unique and valuable as individuals, and we are important as a class
• We are here to help you find and develop abilities as individuals and as a class
• Our goal is to help each person and our class become as capable as possible
• That is an important goal, and the work we do to achieve it must be both important and challenging
• The time we have to achieve our goal is valuable
• Therefore, we have to figure out together how to work in the most effective and efficient ways we can
• We'll need to learn about one another and ourselves, so we know where we need to go and how we're doing in getting there
• We'll need to determine guidelines for working, so we can reach our goal, both individually and as a class
• We'll need to figure out working routines that enable us to succeed in reaching our goals, both individually and as a class
• We'll need to develop support systems to ensure that we continually grow, both individually and as a class
• Like all important goals, our goal will require investment and persistence.

I liked this chapter a lot because it focused on the first step in meeting the child's request for personal investment. Throughout this book so far, I've noticed a common theme in creating a class with differentiation and that is: Meeting children where they are and investing in them and their needs. 

An important part of having a differentiated classroom is paying attention to the classroom environment. "The classroom environment includes both physical and affective attributes that individually and cumulatively establish the tone or atmosphere in which teaching and learning will take place." There are many strategies we as teachers can use to build positive environments in our classrooms. Some of these strategies include:

• Studying students cultures
• Conveying status
• Commending creativity 
• Making room for all kinds of learners
• Helping students know about one another
• Celebrating successes

Another important part of having a differentiated classroom is having communication within the classroom. It is important that teachers decide beforehand how classroom environment will address and affect communication. Some strategies to foster positive communication in our classrooms include:

• Holding goal setting conferences
• Using dialogue journals
• Incorporating teacher talk groups in lesson plans.

Along with classroom communication, we should have guidelines for classroom operation. It is important that we allow our students to be a part of setting up our classroom guidelines so that they feel like they are an important part of our classroom setting and making our classrooms run effectively.

Lastly, it is important that we have classroom routines, support systems, and shared responsibilities in our classrooms. When we have all of these things in our classrooms, our classrooms will run more smoothly and our class as a whole will be much more effective. 

Teacher Responses to student needs: A Starting Point

Chapter three starts out by saying: "The good teacher communicates a deep regard for students' lives, a regard infused with unblinking attention, respect, even awe. An engaged teacher begins with the belief that each student is unique, each the one and only who will ever trod the earth, each worthy of a certain reverence. Regard extends, importantly, to an insistence that students have access to the tools with which to negotiate and transform the world. Love for students just as they are- without any drive or advance toward a future- is false love, enervating and disabling." (Ayres, Klonsky, & Lyon, 2000, pp. 2-3).


I really like the quote above because I believe that in order for students to succeed, they need to know that people believe in them. Students need to know they have a crowd cheering for them and believing that they can make a difference in the world. Students need to be loved for how they are. If students are not learning, we need to adjust our teaching styles in order to help our students to become the people we know that they can be. 

Throughout this chapter, it talks about where teachers can start in differentiation. Another quote from the chapter says, "If students say, "I need affirmation, contribution, power, purpose, and challenge, " A teachers response should be, "I will respond to those needs. Otherwise, How would I assume I could truly teach you? Otherwise, how would I assume we could build together a place in which we can all become what we are meant to be?"

According to the chapter, there are five ways in which teachers can respond to the student's needs for affirmation, contribution, power, purpose, and challenge. "They are not ancillary to teaching but are at the core of effective teaching. They are not separate from the learner's needs but are outcroppings of those needs. They are not apart from curriculum and instruction, but they breathe life into it."

1. The Response of Invitation: In order to issue the invitation, the teacher's demeanor, words, and actions need to communicate the following:

• I respect who you are as well as who you can become
• I want to know you
• You are unique and valuable
• I believe in you
• I have time for you
• I learn when I listen to you
• This place is yours too
• We need you here

"The teachers invitation not only responds directly to the student's need for affirmation and contribution, but also begins to respond to the student's need for power, purpose, and challenge."

2. The Response of Opportunity: To communicate that opportunity to students, the teacher's demeanor, words, and actions must continually say the following:

• I have important things for you to do here today
• The things I ask you to do are worthy things
• The things I ask you to do are often daunting
• The things I ask you to do open new possibilities for you
• The things I give you to do here help you become all you can be
• You have specific roles here that make us all more efficient and effective.

3. The Response of Investment: The teacher who communicates investment to learners makes it clear:

• I work hard to make this place work for you
• I work to make this place reflect you
• I enjoy thinking about what we do here
• I love to find new paths to success
• It is my job to help you succeed
• I am your partner in growth
• I will do what it takes to ensure your growth

4. The Response to Persistence: Young people are as likely to resist challenge as to embrace it. The teacher needs to help students understand that this is a place where persistence is a hallmark. To do that, the teacher must communicate the following:

• You're growing, but you're not finished growing
• When one route doesn't work, there are others we can find
• Let's figure out what works best
• There are no excuses here, but there is support
• There is no finish line in learning

5. The Response of Reflection: Not only do teachers benefit from reflective practice, but students derive important messages from reflective teachers as well. To the student, a reflective teacher communicates the following:

• I watch you and listen to you carefully and systematically
• I make sure to use what I learn to help you learn better
• I try to see things through your eyes
• I continually ask, "How is this partnership working?"
• I continually ask, "How can I make this better?"

It's been mentioned so many times throughout this book so far that teachers need to find what works best for each of their students. We will not find one practice that works for all students and that is okay. We need to continually be looking for ways to help all of our students reach their full potential and we can't do that unless they know we are there to help them through and we can work together.

What do students need?

In Chapter 2 of fulfilling the promise, it starts out by saying that "Many years ago, Abraham Maslow helped us understand that until a human has basic needs attended to, until that human feels safe, until that human feels a sense of belonging, energies cannot go to learning." It then goes on to say that: "If a child feels unsafe, threatened, or insecure, the brain blocks off the pathways to learning and attends to the more basic human needs instead. If a teacher connects learning to a child's emotions, she is more likely to learn than if what is being taught remains remote from her emotions." 

Our students need to know that we care about them. They need to know that our classroom is a safe place where their needs will be met. Once students are aware of this and feel that they are secure in our classrooms, learning will be much more likely. Have you ever been in a classroom where you didn't feel safe or cared for? This situation can be rough on children. Not only will they not enjoy coming to class, but they won't be motivated to learn.

According to chapter 2, there are five key needs of learners. These include:
1. Affirmation
2. Contribution
3. Power
4. Purpose
5. Challenge.

Each of these five key needs will greatly impact the learning process in one's classroom because not only do the students feel the love and affirmation that they need, they feel like they can contribute and make a difference in the classroom, they have power within the classroom and are being heard, there is purpose for each child in the classroom, and there is challenge!

Later in the chapter, it says" "Because students differ so greatly, the premise of differentiation is that while students have the same basic needs, those needs will manifest themselves in different ways, depending on the student's gender, culture, general life experiences, talents, interests, learning preferences, affective development, cognitive development, and support systems." 

"Effective differentiation begins with awareness and understanding of basic student needs."

I completely and totally agree with the last statement. We need to know our students and understand each of their individual needs before we can differentiate in a way which will help each of our students reach their fullest potential in our classrooms.

How can I differentiate my classroom?

There are many different ways teachers can differentiate in their classrooms. According to an article I found online, it states, "Just as everyone has a unique fingerprint, each student has an individual style of learning. Not all students in a classroom learn a subject in the same way or share the same level of ability. Differentiated instruction is a method of designing and delivering instruction to best reach each student.

According to Tomlinson, teachers can differentiate instruction through four ways:

1. content
2. process
3. product
4. learning environment

Differentiating instruction may mean teaching the same material to all students using a variety of instructional strategies, or it may require the teacher to deliver lessons at varying levels of difficulty based on the ability of the students needs. Teachers practicing differentiation may:

• design lessons based on students' learning styles
• group students by shared interest, topic, or ability for assignments
• assess students' learning using formative assessment
• manage the classroom to create a safe and supportive environment
• continually assess and adjust lesson content to meeting students' needs.

There are many ways to differentiate your classroom and many different positive reasons doing so is important. YOU as a teacher need to get to know YOUR students in order to best reach their needs and begin to differentiate from there.

http://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/teaching-strategies/examples-of-differentiated-instruction/

What is Differentiation?

Differentiated instruction is responsive instruction. It occurs as teachers become increasingly proficient in understanding their students as individuals, increasingly comfortable with the meaning and structure of disciplines they teach, and increasingly expert at teaching flexibly in order to match instruction to student need with the goal of maximizing the potential of each learner in a given area.

Differentiated classrooms are important to create because not all of the students in our classrooms are going to learn in the same way or at the same time. All students learn in different ways and at different paces/ times. When we as teachers keep this in mind, we are setting up a classroom which enables all students to learn and succeed.

Today, I read chapter 1 in Fulfilling the promise of the differentiated classroom by Carol Ann Tomlinson and I really liked a couple of things it mentioned at the end of the chapter. It said, "The concept of differentiating instruction for varied learners has its roots in the belief that we teach best when we accept the need to tame the fox. That is, we teach responsively when we understand the need to teach the human beings before us as well as to teach the content with which we are charged. In a time when teachers feel almost unbearable pressure to standardize what we do, it is important to begin with the conviction that we are no longer teaching if what we teach is more important than we we teach or how we teach." 

Another small statement I liked from this chapter was, "The premise of differentiation is that we cannot teach nearly so well when we overlook or under-attend to these student needs. Indeed, they are the gateway to learning."

My hope is that I can be the kind of teacher who looks into all of her students needs in order to help each of them learn to the best of their abilities.