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