Differentiating For and Anticipating Student Needs

By Zalino Bona

It’s Monday morning, and as I open my Grade 4 classroom door, I pause for a moment to take in the scene in front of me: bulletin boards on the walls, bookshelves filled with colorful books of different topics and levels, a rug for students to sit on when we have whole class meeting, tables with chairs around them for group work, and a couple of quiet areas for students who like to work alone. Is this a room where each student can find a place to work in at his/her comfort level?

I think of Jane, my ELL student. She has just moved to this country, and although she understands basic English, she is reading below grade level and struggles with vocabulary and comprehension when we read grade level books.

Loki, an ADHD student, needs help to stay focused, and works best alone and in a quiet place. He has a lot of energy and needs an outlet for them every now and then.
At the other end of the spectrum is David. David is a gifted child and is reading above grade level, and able to complete most assignments efficiently and speedily.

And of course, I have twelve other students with different talents, interests, weaknesses and strengths and ability levels, and who are more or less able to face and overcome challenges faced by all fourth graders daily.

How do I ensure that I am meeting the needs of all these learners? As I teach a lesson on a reading strategy today, how can I ensure that all my students are learning? In Carol Tomlinson’s words, a differentiated classroom is one that “provides different avenues to acquiring content, to processing or making sense of ideas, and to developing products so that each student can learn effectively.” How can I differentiate instructions so that every student is appropriately challenged and engaged and learning effectively?

I can begin by addressing content, process and product.

Content: I begin by thinking about what I want my students to be able to do at the end of the class. With what specific skills will they walk away? This is where my objective comes in: By the end of the lesson, the student will be able to use question words like who, what, when, where, when, how, or I wonder to gain information while reading an informational text

Everyone needs to participate in the Do Now and Mini lesson where I introduce new concepts. But I can differentiate content by letting students choose topics of their choice and providing books at their reading level. As John McCarthy points out, “The first step to differentiate for interests is to find out what students care about and like to do. When a topic connects to what students like to do, engagement deepens as they willingly spend time thinking, dialoging, and creating ideas in meaningful ways. Making learning contextual to real-world experiences is a key learning technique with differentiating for student interests.”

Students for whom I would need to differentiate content:

Jane ELL	-          Books at her reading level aligned with her interests and readiness level -          Visual aids -          She will watch the videos and join in whole class instructions, would need more individual help -          Access to audio versions of books to enable her to read and listen at the same time, and to help her with fluency
David	-          Books at his interest and readiness level -          Content rich, challenging and engaging activities

Process: How will my students learn the content? Students have different learning styles, and knowing them well will help me to know how they learn best. I would have to use different methods and strategies to reach all the students. Discussions, stations, purposeful groupings, think-pair-share, peer tutoring, graphic organizers and checklists are some methods I would consider using. Some students would need more help to reach their goals.

Students for whom I would need to differentiate the Process:

Jane	-          Peer help with assigned work -          Pair her with a partner who can explain assignments and tasks to her when the teacher is not immediately available. -          When needed, she will be given more time to complete assignments.
Loki	-          Would need short breaks every now and then to refocus his attention -          Assignments broken up into smaller chunks to enable him to complete them in a short period of time. -          Use graphic organizers for organizing ideas -          Use checklist to self-monitor performance

Product:
Students can demonstrate mastery of learning in a variety of ways:
Discussion
Written response
Oral presentation
Poster

The Learning Environment:

For effective learning to take place, an environment that is conducive to learning is imperative. A community of learners is built by setting specific goals and teaching rules and procedures. Creating a collaborative classroom where it becomes second nature for students to work together to solve problems and to find answers would be my goal. This would ensure that everyone in the class is working on being a responsible member of the class.

A good learning environment is important for all students, but more so for some than others. The learning environment would also include the physical layout of the classroom, and should be planned with the needs of the students in mind. A student for whom the physical layout would make a big difference is Loki. He is one person I would have in mind as I plan my classroom layout.

Some things I would need to think about:

Loki	-          A desk in a quiet area -          A high table if he needs to stand while working

Resources to support these students:

Jane	-          Books at reading level -          Audio books -          Rewordify (an online tool that simplifies difficult English) -          Picture dictionaries
Loki	-          WordQ: a software that helps with typing and proofreading by providing features like word prediction, highlighting, and auditory feedback -          Audio books -          Portable word processors for note-taking

If, through formative assessment, I find that some of my students are not understanding content, while others are grasping the material quickly, I will let those who are learning work independently at stations, or reading contracts, while I reteach those who are not getting it. I would consider using some of these strategies:

One-on-one instruction
Peer tutoring
Flexible grouping for discussions

Here's a flowchart that shows how I will address the needs of some students who need differentiation:

          

References:

Cox, Janelle. (n.d.). Differentiated Instruction Strategies: Tiered Assignments. Retrieved from http://www.teachhub.com/differentiated-instruction-strategies-using-tiered-assignments

McCarthy, John. (July 23, 2014). 3 Ways to Plan for Diverse Learners: Wat Teachers Do. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/differentiated-instruction-ways-to-plan-john-mccarthy

McCarthy, John. (August 25, 2014). Learner Interest Matters: Strategies for Empowering Student Choice https://www.edutopia.org/blog/differentiated-instruction-learner-interest-matters-john-mccarthy

Stanberry, K. & Raskind, M. (n.d.). Assistive Technology for ADHD Challenges at School. Retrieved from
https://www.additudemag.com/change-the-program/

Articulating Outcomes: Thinking Like an Assessor

By Zalino Bona




Standard: The student will ask and answer questions before, during, and after reading in order to gain new information and give purpose and focus.

Source: Reading Literacy, Grade 4 (Quality Schools International)

Formative Assessment:

Formative assessment is ongoing, informal assessment that happens in class after the lesson is taught.

The big idea in this unit: Good readers ask questions.

When readers ask questions, they engage with the text in a deeper way, and it helps them to better understand what they are reading.

To ensure that students learn to ask questions before, during and after reading a text, I will begin by explaining how good readers ask questions to get new information, and modelling it as I read an informational text aloud. I will think aloud as I read, asking questions and writing them down on sticky notes. After a couple of pages, I will ask students to join in with their questions. Then students will practice it independently as they read a text and write their questions on sticky-notes. The questions will then be transferred to a graphic organizer. Formative assessment takes place as I read their written work and give feed-back.

“One of the strongest positive influence on achievement occurs when students get formative feedback that they immediately can apply.” (Linda Darling-Hammond))

1	The student will demonstrate their ability to ask purposeful questions by using right vocabulary:
What I will Look for…		How I will know the student is meeting the standard
Right vocabulary using question words		The student uses who, what, when, where, why, how and I wonder to ask questions about the text during class discussions and his/her written work. For example, the student uses ‘Who?’ What? Where? When? etc. to ask questions about characters, events, setting and time.
2	The student will demonstrate their ability to effectively use a graphic organizer to collect information: ten to fifteen questions before, during and after reading a text, and answers to some questions.
What I will look for…		How I will know the student is meeting the standard
·         Questions generated before, during and after reading the text ·         The graphic organizer filled out with questions and answers.		·         Evidence of ten to fifteen questions in the graphic organizer ·         Evidence of answers to some of the questions.

Some strategies I would use for formative Assessment:

-          Observation: walking around and observing to check for learning

-          Think-Write-Pair-Share (Students will discuss and refine their questions by working collaboratively with their peers)

As I work on giving feedback, I’ll need to ensure that I understand my students’ thought processes, and not just check their answers. What have they understood and what are they having trouble with?

Summative Assessment:
Summative assessment is assessment that takes place at the end of an instructional unit. Student learning is evaluated by comparing it against specific standards or benchmarks.

At the end of the unit, the student will demonstrate their understanding of the unit by:

1.      Explaining verbally, or by writing a paragraph, how asking questions help them to better understand what they read.

2.      Producing evidence of effective use of graphic organizers by writing ten to fifteen questions they asked before, during and after reading of at least three informational texts. (They can pick one as their best work for the final assessment).

3.     Categorizing their questions, identifying important questions and explaining how and why these questions help them to better understand the text.

	At the end of the unit, students will categorize the questions on their graphic organizer, identify important questions and explain (verbally or in a written paragraph), by giving an example, how those questions help them to better understand the text.
What I will look for…		How I will know the student is meeting the standard
·         Graphic Organizer filled out with questions and answers ·         Questions categorized into important and interesting. ·         Oral or written explanation of how important questions help them to better understand the text. ·         An example of how a question helped them to better understand the text.		·         The student has a graphic organizer filled out with questions and answers ·         The student categorized the questions and identified important questions. ·         The student explained how important questions help them to better understand what they read. ·         The student gave an example of how a question helped him/her to better understand the text.

How Will students reflect upon and self-assess their learning?

The student will self-assess his/her performance by using the following rubric:

Objective	“B”	“A”
The student will explain how asking questions help him/her to better understand what they read.	I can explain how asking questions help me to better understand what I read.	I can explain, in a written  paragraph, how asking questions help me to better understand what I read.
The student will use a graphic organizer to write ten to fifteen questions.	I have at least ten questions on my graphic organizer.	I have fifteen questions on my graphic organizer.
The student will categorize questions into important and interesting questions.	I can categorize my questions into interesting and important questions.	I can categorize my questions and explain how the important questions help me to engage with the text.
The student will identify important questions and explain how these questions help them to better understand the text.	I can identify important questions and explain how they help me to better understand the text.	I can identify important questions and explain how these questions help me to better understand a text by citing an example from the text.

The real test of learning comes when students are able to transfer their learning. As Dana Huff notes, “What is hard is making sure our students actually create true understandings and transfer their understandings.” The next step for students who finish early will be to create an ‘Asking Questions’ game or to generate purposeful questions which they will use to interview  a person and create a profile of that person using a digital tool.

References:

Darling-Hammond, Linda. (March 25, 2015). How Should We Measure Student Learning? 5 Keys to Comprehensive Assessment. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/comprehensive-assessment-introduction

Hilliard, Patricia. (December 7, 2015). Performance-Based Assessment: Reviewing the Basics. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/performance-based-assessment-reviewing-basics-patricia-hilliard

Huff, Dana. (June 18, 2007). Understanding by Design: Thinking like an assessor. Retrieved from http://www.huffenglish.com/understanding-by-design-thinking-like-an-assessor/

What Is performance based assessment? Retrieved from

https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/events/materials/2011-06-linked-learning-performance-based-assessment.pdf

What is the difference between formative and summative assessment? Retrieved from https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/basics/formative-summative.html

Understanding and Applying the Standards

By Zalino Bona

One of the most important activities of a teacher is translating a standard into learning experiences. Unpacking a standard and backwards mapping help a teacher to do this.

Unpacking a standard is the process of translating a standard into lessons. Unpacking a standard helps me, the teacher, to be clear about what the standard means.

First, I need to identify:

-         What students need to know

-         What they need to do to demonstrate that they are meeting the standards.

I need to pay attention to:

Nouns: They help me to identify the concepts (character, plot, setting)

Verbs: They help me to identify the tasks (explain, compare, analyze)

Identifying the concepts and tasks help me to know what and how I need to teach the standards.

Big Ideas and Essential Questions: The big ideas are core concepts or principles. Identifying the big ideas helps me to know what is important and what I should focus on. Essential questions help me to think about those ideas. For example, a big idea in a fourth-grade reading class could be: Writers use diagrams to help readers understand important ideas. The essential questions could be: How do readers figure out what the diagrams mean? How do readers know what is important?

Backwards Mapping is basically a three-step process of creating a lesson plan by starting with the end/goals in mind. First, I need to identify what the desired goals are: what I want my students to know and be able to do. Next, I will decide how I will know when students meet those goals, and plan relevant instructional activities which will help students to reach the desired goals. 

How these two processes helped me understand the standards:

Learning about ‘unpacking a standard’ helped me to understand the process of translating a standard into a lesson. Identifying the nouns and verbs helps me to break down the standard into manageable pieces: what students need to know and do to meet the standard. Knowing how to translate a standard into a lesson helps me to be clear about what I need to teach and to design activities that will help students to accomplish the learning goals.

‘Backwards Design’ helped me to see the importance of having clear and specific goals. It helps me to think about what I should look at first; what I want to see at the end of the unit. For example, if a fourth-grade writing literacy standard is: ‘The student will use grade level, descriptive vocabulary words,’ at the end of the unit, I will look for evidence of descriptive words in the student’s writing. To help the student get to that level, I need to plan lessons and activities which will help the student to learn descriptive words at grade level and to use those words in his/her writing.

Backwards mapping makes a lot of sense to me because it helps me to focus on what’s important. It pushes me to think more deeply about my lessons. While developing lesson plans, I need to be asking questions like: What is the goal of this unit? What should I do to help my students reach the goal? What should happen in the classroom? What skills would I need to teach? What would be the evidence that the desired goals have been achieved?

Learning about unpacking a standard has helped me to understand that it is important for me to be clear about concepts and tasks that are encapsulated in a standard. Backwards mapping helps me to think about how I would apply them in my classroom.

How is backwards mapping helpful? "We cannot say how to teach for understanding or which material and activities to use until we are quite clear about which specific understandings we are after and what such understandings look like in practice."(Wiggins and Mctighe) I think one of the main strengths of backward mapping is that it is goal-focused. Keeping the goal or a picture of the end design in my mind as I develop the lesson would help me to know what I would need to focus on to help students to accomplish that goal. I would also have a reasonably good idea about how I would assess their performance as well as align instruction to help my students to reach that goal.

I do have questions about how it will be implemented in my classroom. A question that comes to my mind is: Does this mean we may not cover all material? If we pick and choose only what is needed to reach the desired goals, will there be gaps in our students’ learning? When will they ever get to cover those sections that were skipped? Will this in any way influence the outcomes of tests they are required to take?

References:

Backward Design. (Updated: December, 2013). Retrieved from http://edglossary.org/backward-design/

Mctighe, Jay. (December, 2012). Common Core Big Idea 4: Map Backward From Intended Results. Retrieved from:

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/common-core-map-backwards-jay-mctighe-grant-wiggins

McTighe, Jay. (January, 2014). Greatest Lessons Learned. Retrieved from:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUtzbJtS1aY

Wiggins, Grant and McTighe, Jay. (n.d.). Understanding by Design: Backward Design. Retrieved from

https://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/resources/wiggins-mctighe-backward-design-why-backward-is-best.pdf

.

Standards and Backwards Mapping

By Zalino Bona

Subject and Grade: Reading Literacy Grade 4

Standard: The student will ask and answer questions before, during, and after reading in order to gain new information and give purpose and focus. 

Source of the Standard: Reading Literacy Grade 4, Quality Schools International
The Reading Literacy course is built on “best practice” research and is aligned with the Common Core Curriculum Standards.

Why I chose this standard:

Asking questions helps students to dig deeper and to be more engaged with the text. “Right questions foster powerful learning.” (Mathis, 2015) If we want our students to engage with whatever they read, we need to teach them to ask questions.

This reading strategy will enable students to engage in active inquiry, which is an essential element of college and career readiness. Good questioning skills go hand-in-hand with thinking, problem solving, decision making and judgment skills.

“Questioning is the strategy that propels readers on.” Stephanie Harvey (Scholastic)

Goals:                                         

Students will ask questions before, during, and after reading in order to gain new information and give purpose and focus.

Students will answer questions before, during, and after reading in order to gain new information and give purpose and focus.

Students will be able to independently use their learning to…                                         

• Engage with the text by asking questions
• Ask questions before, during, and after reading.
• Get answers by asking specific and relevant questions
• Get information by reading different genres of fiction and informational text

Understandings:                           

Students will understand that… questions can lead us to great discoveries.

• Asking the right question is essential if you want to arrive at the right answer.  
• Right questions lead to right answers.
• We can learn to ask the right kind of questions

Proficiencies that indicate what students will be able to do when they finish this unit:

Students will demonstrate their ability to:

• List the different words which can be used to ask questions and explain when each will be used (For example: Who? What? When? Where? Why, How, and I wonder.)
• Ask questions before, during and after reading a text
• Know how to ask questions using right vocabulary. Questions will vary depending on the genre and context.
• Ask pertinent questions that will lead them to the right answers
• Find answers to their questions in the text (and know that not all answers will be found in the text)

Assessments that will help me know students are meeting the standard (Performance tasks):

1.      Generating Questions: 

-          Students read a nonfiction text.

-          Use graphic organizer to write down questions before, during and after reading the text or
create a chart with questions asked before, during, and after reading the text

2.      Finding answers to Questions:

-          Were answers found in the text? Write down the answers. If answers were not found in the text, what would you do to find the answers?

3.      Using right vocabulary (Key words for asking questions)

-          Did the student use the right vocabulary? For example: who, what, where, when, why, how, and I wonder.  

4.      Transfer learning to real world experiences:

-     Generate questions for an interview to get information about a person or a profession or   

      life in the past

-     Conduct the interview

-     Create a presentation (poster or PowerPoint) about the person to share with the class

Learning experiences or activities I will use to help students meet the standard

Activity #1: Watch a video on Asking and Answering Questions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2fWZHaNugc

Activity #2: Read a nonfiction text -  Who was Amelia Earheart

Students will use a chart to write their questions and answers.

1.      Explain that good readers ask questions before, during, and after reading to help them understand a story better.

2.      Read the book “Who was Amelia Earheart?” to the students.

3.      Questions Before Reading: Read the title, and the back cover and look at the illustrations and ask students to think of as many questions as they can. Ask them to write their questions on the chart.

4.      Questions while reading: Read the story to the children. Have them write down questions that pop into their minds during reading of the story.

5.      When you have finished reading the story, ask them to write down questions they have about the story.

6.      Students can then be assigned into groups and asked to share their questions and answers.

7.      Ask students to narrow down their question to three or four questions.

8.      Gather all students and have them share their questions.

9.      With help from the class, have students categorize their questions.

10.  Discuss the questions that are important vs. interesting, and have students focus on the important questions: those that help them to better understand the text.

11.  Student can also be asked to categorize questions into those answered in the text and those that would require more research.

 Activity #3 - Game: Who Am I?

“To get right answers, we must ask specific questions that will lead us to those answers.”

 A sticky-note with the name of an animal is placed on the forehead of a student. The student will ask ‘Yes/No’ questions to find out the name of the animal.

 (Sample Questions: Do I live in the desert? Do I have fur? Can I fly? Do I have four legs? etc.)

This activity will help students to learn to ask specific and relevant questions to find the answer.

Variations: Where am I? The name of a place can be used instead of an animal. The student will ask questions to find out where he/she is (city, country, etc.)

References:

Backward Design. (Updated: December, 2013). Retrieved from http://edglossary.org/backward-design/

Georgia, K.M. (August, 2015) Inquiry-Based Learning: The Power of Asking the Right Questions. Retrieved from:
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/inquiry-based-learning-asking-right-questions-georgia-mathis

Mctighe, Jay. (December 2012)Common Core Big Idea 4: Map Backward From Intended Results. Retrieved from:

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/common-core-map-backwards-jay-mctighe-grant-wiggins

McTighe, Jay. Greatest Lessons Learned. Retrieved from:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUtzbJtS1aY

Wiggins, Grant. (September, 2005). Understanding by Design: Overview of UbD and the design Template. ASCD.