helping teachers make sense of it all - blridge version handouts

8/11/2019 Helping Teachers Make Sense of It All - Blridge Version Handouts

1/21

Helping Teachers Make Senseof It All: Putting Differentiated

Instruction and Response to

Intervention Together

Susan Demirsky Allan

[email protected]

Developed with Yvonne

Goddard, Texas A & M
http://www.differentiatedinstruction.net/http://www.differentiatedinstruction.net/


2/21

The Tendency Toward New

Initiatives

The flavor of the month frustration

Many initiatives may be connected but the

connections need to be made explicit by

those who put them forward.


3/21

A Simple Concept

Education is most effective whenchildren are regarded and

treated as individuals with

different levels of readiness,

learning profiles and interests,

and that teachers have aprofessional obligation to help

all students be successful.


4/21

Response to Intervention

Defined

The National Association of State Directors

of Special Education (NASDSE, 2006)

defines RtI as the practice of

(1) providing high-quality

instruction/intervention matched to student

needs and

(2) using learning rate over time and level ofperformance to

(3) make important educational decisions .


5/21

Differentiated Instruction

Defined

Teachers proactively plan varied

approaches to what students need to

learn, how they will learn it, and/orhow they will show what they have

learned in order to increase the

likelihood that each student will learn

as much as he or she can, as

efficiently as possible (Tomlinson,

2003)


6/21

Response to Intervention

Response to intervention was originally

conceived as a means to identify students

with learning disabilities more accuratelyand much sooner than the traditional

discrepancy formula.

Educators saw its possibilities with all

struggling learners and it was broadened

beyond special education.


7/21

Differentiated Instruction is a

Grass-Roots Movement

Differentiated instruction began with teachers

and bui ld ing/d is t r ic t adm inist ratorswho were

frustrated by the lack of strategies and tools to

meet the needs of all their learners.

Its roots are in gifted education and special

education but the strategies are applied to all

learners.. Universities are following and beginning to

provide needed training but teachers and

administrators were and are the leaders!


8/21

Is there evidence that they

work?

Early research on differentiated instruction

focused on componentsstudent readiness,

learning profile etc. and showed

effectiveness in those areas. Recently (Goddard & Goddard, 2007)

demonstrated that teachers rating of major

components of the differentiated instruction

model as important in their classrooms was

a positive predictor of higher test scores in

math and reading on statewide

assessments.


9/21

They Are Two Aspects of a

Whole RtI and Differentiation are generally seen as

two separate initiatives.

I believe that they are complimentary and

substantially overlapping as aspects of goodquality teaching.

RtI can be seen as a subset of Differentiationone that focuses on the struggling learner

and on areas of weakness.

Both represent a cultural shift in how we runclassrooms.


10/21

The question that looms is,How might we make

teachers lives more

straightforward by seeing

these as two aspects of a

whole, quality classroom?


11/21


12/21

Where do they diverge?

There are three key areas of divergence:

Focus on student strengths vs. weakness

Tier 3 Students who have significant impairments and/or

low incidence conditions that require very

specialized treatments.

Students who are highly gifted and may not be able

to find learning partners within the regularclassroom.

Documentation/Record keeping

requirements and the role of Assessment


13/21


14/21

Building on Their Strengths:

The Blind Side

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2070414617/
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2070414617/http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2070414617/http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2070414617/http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2070414617/http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2070414617/


15/21

The Role of Assessment

Its long been understood thatformative assessment is a critical

part of good quality classroom

instruction.

In all aspects of differentiation,

knowing a students current level of

readiness is crucial in order to

appropriately target instruction.

This is a natural fit with Response to

Intervention.


16/21

Important Caveat

The increased level of documentationonly becomes a requirement if it is

likely that the student may end up

with a special educationidentification!

Although RtI is defined as being broaderthan special education, extensive

documentation requirements are not

required as part of general education.


17/21

What Will the Classroom Look

Like?

First and foremost, it will look like a

differentiated classroom.

Teachers are student-centered.They are able to discuss learning

readiness, styles and interests or

have developed a record system as

an aid.


18/21

Instructional plans provide regular

variations that are keyed to high

quality curriculum and address a

range of learners.

Assessmentboth formative and

summative -- is regular and used to

inform instruction.


Like?


19/21


Like?

Teachers are persistent if one

strategy doesnt work for a student,

they move to Plan B. (Warning: You will be tempted to say

Duh! on this one!) Teachers

demonstrate that they like students!

H P f i l D l


20/21

How Professional Development

Needs to Change

Professional development should befocused on the full scope of classroom

instruction and the range of strategies

available to teachers. It must be practical. If it is not, it wont

be used!

Both external and internal expertsmust be challenged to present a full

range of methodologies for all

students.


21/21

A Natural Fit

Teaching is challenging.While we cant make it easy, we dont

need to add to the difficulty.

It will be of great use to provide aunified vocabulary and a unified

mindset to support teachers.

Build bridges!

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