EDU
673 Entire Course Strategies for Differentiated Teaching and Learning
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Description:
Key Principles of Effective
Differentiation.
Analyze the five key principles of
effective differentiation and discuss which of the five will be the most
difficult for you to embrace with a ―fluid or ―growth mindset.‖ What are the
obstacles you see that will inhibit implementing the principles in your current
or future educational setting? Which of the five is the easiest to accept? Why?
Guided Response: Review at least two of your classmates’ postings and
suggest ways that may help them change their fixed mindset about the principle
that is difficult for them to embrace. Share examples from your own educational
experience that address any of the five principles.
Educational Neuroscience. Educational neuroscience is an exciting new discipline
that brings together research from psychology, neuroscience and pedagogy to
help educators make the best curriculum, instructional and assessment choices
for effective learning. Locate an article in the Ashford Online Library that
investigates findings from cognitive and neuroscientific research. Provide a
brief summary of the article and explain how the findings could be translated
into what educators do in schools and classrooms. Do the findings support
differentiated teaching and learning? Why or why not?
Brain Research Supports
Differentiation. In a three- to five-page paper
(not including title and reference pages):
a. Analyze how neuroscientific research
findings and recent discoveries regarding how the brain learns support
differentiation in the classroom.
b. Discuss how insights into the
learning process affirm the importance of differentiation.
c. Explain how the research findings
can be translated into specific teaching strategies used in the classroom.
Your paper must include title and
reference pages, include at least two scholarly resources (in addition to the
course text), and be formatted according to APA style guidelines as outlined in
your approved APA style guide or the Ashford Writing Center.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric
located in the online course for the criteria that will be used to evaluate
your assignment.
Fluid and Fixed Mindsets. Souza and Tomlinson (2011) explain, “Mindsets are the
assumptions, expectations, and beliefs that guide our behavior and our
interaction with others”(p. 19). A teacher’s mindset is of utmost importance in
the differentiated classroom. Think about your least favorite teacher and
consider what their mindset must have been. Share how you felt in the class and
how the teacher’s mindset affected your own well-being and academic success as
a student. How did this teacher’s mindset affect his or her teaching? What
advice would you give this teacher to help change his or her mindset? Or,
think of your own mindset and how it affects the students in your classroom. Do
you have a fixed or fluid mindset? Are there areas where you need to improve or
change your mindset? What specific strategies can you implement to make your
teaching more effective?
Effective Differentiated Curriculum. Visit the Discovery Education: Lesson Plan Library website
and locate a lesson plan that represents the grade level and subject area you
are teaching or are interested in teaching. In your discussion, post a
link to the lesson plan that you have selected. Next, answer the
following:
a. Is the lesson constructed so
students will be consistently aware of what they should know, understand, and
be able to do? Provide examples from the lesson to support your answer. If the
lesson plan is not constructed in that manner, how will you change it to make
students consistently aware of what they should know, understand and be able to
do? Provide examples of the changes you would make.
b. Does a substantial portion of the
work assigned help students make meaning of what they are trying to learn?
Provide examples from the lesson to support your answer. If the work assigned
does not help students make meaning, how would you change the assignments?
Provide examples of the assignments you would modify.
c. How does the work that the
students are asked to do support them in becoming thinkers and problem solvers?
Provide examples from the lesson to support your answer. If the work does not
support students in becoming thinkers and problem solvers, how would you modify
the assignments? Provide examples of your modifications.
Welcome Activity. Imagine it is the first day of school and you are
welcoming a whole new set of students to class. Create your own welcoming
activity for the first day of school that demonstrates how you will incorporate
differentiation through a growth mindset. You are not limited to any particular
format, but you must address the following:
a. How you will provide a safe and
secure classroom climate
b. How you will provide a positive
learning environment
c. How you will meet the social and
emotional needs of your students
d. How you will foster a sense of
student ownership
e. How you will create empathy with
your students
f. How you will provide students
opportunities to succeed
g. How you will eliminate student
fear of failure and humiliation
Be creative! You can produce a
document, you can create a video, a PowerPoint, a lesson, or you can come up
with your own way to meet the requirements. Whatever you choose to create,
provide access to your instructor by uploading all the necessary links or text
in a document. There is not a page or length requirement for this assignment,
as that will limit your creativity. In whatever you create make sure you have
addressed all the required topics listed above. Provide the proper APA citation
for any sources that you use and include a title page and reference page(s).
Effective Assessment. Provide an example from your own classroom or from your
past educational experience of effective assessment. What elements made
it effective? Did it lead to improved teaching and learning? Why or why not?
What was its overall purpose? Next provide an example of ineffective assessment.
What elements made it ineffective? What were the results of the assessment? Did
it hinder your learning? Lower you confidence as a learner? Change your
motivation?
Summative Assessment. There are two types of summative assessments, those that
assess rote-knowledge skills and those that assess higher-level executive
functions. Using the information in your text and from your own educational
experience, develop an argument that supports the use of both types of
summative assessments. Explain and defend the appropriate use of each type of
assessment. Finally, express your opinion on the use of high stakes testing
(tests attached to funding) to assess rote-knowledge skills on a national
scale. Is the assessment valid? Is it appropriate? Does it increase student
learning?
Assessment and Differentiation. For this assignment you will need a lesson plan or unit
that includes an assessment. You may use one of your own, create a new one, or
modify one that you find. Make sure the assessment contains all the elements of
effective assessment and then explain or provide measures to show:
a. How it aligns to the essential
knowledge, understanding, and skills of the targeted learning outcomes.
b. How students will be absolutely
clear of those targeted learning outcomes
c. Why it is the right kind of
assessment to measure what needs to be measured
d. Why it is a fair sample of the
content to be assessed
e. How it emphasizes what matters
most in the topic of study
f. How it works for the students who
will use it
g. How it will provide an opportunity
for students to demonstrate what they know, understand, and can do
h. How you will provide clear and
effective feedback
i. How it will lead to improved
instruction
j. How students will benefit from
the assessment
Make sure to identify the grade
level and content area as well as appropriate learning outcomes or objectives
that are being assessed. There is not a page or length requirement for this
assignment; however be sure to address all elements listed above, and provide
the proper APA citation for any sources that you use. Include a title page and
reference page(s).
Student Readiness. After reading Chapter Five of the course text, create a
checklist of the nineteen guidelines for differentiating curriculum in response
to student readiness as a separate document. You can group the guidelines in
whatever way makes the most sense for you. You are creating the checklist to
keep as a tool for use in your current or future classrooms. Once you have
created the checklist, upload the document in the Doc Sharing tool in the
online classroom (please see the Course Materials section of the online course
for a brief Doc Sharing video tutorial). In the discussion post, identify which
five guidelines will be the most difficult for you to follow and explain why.
Choose an additional five guidelines that will be the least difficult for you
to follow. Explain why. Include an example of how you will implement the
strategies suggested in those guidelines.
Student Interest. After watching the talks by Sir Ken Robinson (TED Talk –
Ken Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity, and TED Talk – Sir Ken Robinson:
Bring on the Learning Revolution!), answer the following questions:
a. Does differentiation make the
difference between a good teacher and a great teacher? Why or why not?
b. Describe a time when you were
working on something or learning about something and it felt like time flew by.
How will you create that same experience for students?
c. How will you identify potential
high-interest areas in your subject?
d. How will you build interest-based
options in your curriculum?
Differentiated Instruction for
Student Readiness. For this assignment you will need
a lesson plan or unit that includes measurable learning outcomes. You may
continue to use the lesson plan from Week Three, or you can create a new one or
modify one that you have found. Provide and explain differentiated teaching
strategies that are appropriate for a variety of students at different levels
of readiness. Your strategies must align to the learning outcomes. Make sure to
include the following:
a. Differentiated access
b. Differentiated process
c. Differentiated product
d. Differentiated content
Remember to identify the grade
level, lesson plan, and content area, as well as appropriate learning outcomes
and all possible levels of student readiness. There is not a page or length
requirement for this assignment, however be sure to address all elements listed
above, and provide the proper APA citation for any sources that you use.
Include a title page and reference page(s).
Learning Style Debate. The four aspects of learning profile are controversial.
Highly respected researchers argue vigorously for the existence of cognitive
styles or intelligence preferences. Other noted psychologists argue that the
construct of cognitive style or intelligence preference makes little sense in
terms of learning. In this discussion, we will briefly debate the validity of
both arguments. First, find your assigned ―Debate Group‖ below.
Debate Grouping (by first letter of
last name):
A-L: For cognitive
styles or intelligence preferences
M-Z: Against cognitive
styles or intelligence preferences
Debate Process:
Using the information in the course
text and from additional sources in the Ashford Online Library, develop an
argument that supports your assigned side and post it to the discussion. Then
respond to at least one peer from the opposite group with a critical
evaluation of his or her argument. Propose one or more counter-examples to
highlight weakness of the disputed argument, or ask for additional evidence to
support the viewpoint. Finally, post your own (personal) opinion based on the
arguments, research and your own experience(s). Explain what you believe is the
best way to differentiate for cognitive styles or intelligence preferences.
Culture and Gender. Share with your classmates how you believe your own
culture and gender influence your teaching and learning. Do you believe your
gender served as an advantage or a disadvantage in your own academic
experience? How about your culture? Explain how you will account for the ways
in which gender may affect your students’ learning. How will you adapt your
teaching so that your classroom will be a good fit for students from all
backgrounds?
Differentiating for Learning Profile. For this assignment you will need a lesson plan or unit
that includes measurable learning outcomes. You may continue to use the lesson
plan from previous weeks, create a new one, or modify one that you have found.
For this assignment, make sure to
address the following:
a. Explain and provide possible
differentiated teaching strategies (aligned to the learning outcomes) that are
appropriate for a variety of students with different learning profiles.
§ Differentiated process
§ Differentiated product
§ Differentiated content
b. Explain how you will create a
classroom that supports multiple ways to learn.
c. Discuss how you will add variety
to your teaching.
d. Describe how you will help
students develop a repertoire of approaches to learning.
e. Explain how you will help
students develop the self-awareness needed to distinguish when an approach is
working for them versus when they should change their approach.
Remember to identify the grade level
and content area, as well as the learning outcomes and all possible levels of
student readiness. There is not a page or length requirement for this
assignment, however be sure to address all elements listed above, and provide
the proper APA citation for any sources that you use. Include a title page and
reference page(s).
Orderly-Flexible Learning
Environments. Our text describes four kinds of
classroom environments that stem from teacher management beliefs and styles.
Orderly-flexible learning environments are most likely to support
differentiated instruction. Choose one of the following three kinds of
classroom environments:
a. Dysfunctional learning
environments
b. Adequate learning environments
c. Orderly-restrictive learning
environments
Provide an example for your
classmates. You can find a video that shows the environment and post the link,
create a case study scenario that describes the environment, or you can relate
an actual classroom from your own academic experience that employed the
environment. Next, describe the skills the teacher will need to learn to change
to an orderly-flexible learning environment. Lastly, reflect on the skills you
will need to develop in order to maintain an orderly-flexible learning
environment.
Personal and Professional Growth. As you reflect on this course, what assumptions about
differentiated instruction have been confirmed? Have others been challenged?
Which? What steps will you take to modify your teaching strategies now or in
the future? What specific goals will you set for becoming a more academically
responsive teacher? What do you believe is the best piece of advice you can
give yourself and others when it comes to differentiated instruction?
Focus of the Final Project
To create your Final Project you
will be designing your own Professional Development Plan. You will need to
create a step-by-step timeline that shows your commitment to personal and
professional growth in creating academically and culturally diverse classrooms.
Instructions for the Final Project
Using the exercises for personal and
professional growth from Chapters Two through Eight of the course text, create
an eight- to ten-page (not including title and reference pages) document that
includes at least two goals from each of the following areas:
1. Mindset, learning environment and
differentiation
2. Curriculum and differentiation
3. Assessment and differentiation
4. Student readiness and
differentiation
5. Student interest and
differentiation
6. Student learning profile and
differentiation
7. Managing a differentiated
classroom
Make sure to include the timetable
for meeting the goals and a thorough explanation of how the goals will be met.
Address any obstacles that may keep you from reaching your goals and what you
will do to overcome them.
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