Educators in New York and Philadelphia Share Breakfast, DI and UbD Resources

Over breakfast in both New York and Philadelphia, educators joined in a discussion on Differentiated Instruction (DI) and Understanding by Design (UbD) at the Making Regional Connections Networking Breakfast.

Many of the resources that they shared, including a video example of classroom implementation that reflects instructional strategies taught using UbD and DI through technology, are available on the event Web site:

• Differentiated Instruction Through Webquest Samples
  Process: Toys in Space (K-12)
  Content: Lake Charles Zoo (K-2)
  Product: Simple Machines (3-5)
  

• Differentiated Instruction with Technology Video Clip
  This video is a an example of classroom implementation that reflects instructional strategies taught using UbD and DI through technology: Life Cycle of a Frog Differentiated with Technology

• Training Initiatives
  These technology-based initiatives presented at the district level demonstrate the connection between preservice teacher training and current classroom practices.
  Classroom-based Technology Project (CBT)
  Ensuring Educational Excellence (E3)

How will these resources help you in your classroom? Which ones will you use? What additional resources would you find useful? Post your response.

While the live event took place at the ASCD summer conference on DI and UbD in New York, participants from the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) joined the session virtually, from Philadelphia.

The session was facilitated by Diane Mason, Technology Coordinator, from Lake Charles, Louisiana, who gave a special focus to the role of technology in capitalizing on opportunities and addressing challenges.

ASCD is collaborating with ISTE on a number of ventures over the next few years. This event, which took place on June 29, is one such activity.

Learn more about next year's ASCD summer conference, visit our 2006 summer conference page, where you can register today.

Explore Differentiated Instruction resources and Understanding by Design resources.

Differentiating Secondary Math Instruction

Educators Challenged by Tiered Math Games

Attendees in the Differentiating Instruction in the Secondary Math Classroom session had the opportunity to try out several of the strategies recommended by the presenter Nanci Smith. Participants commented on the higher level thinking (i.e., justify, defend, analyze) demanded in the tiered math games and Nanci shared tips for developing them.

In this session, Nanci noted that critical to successful differentiation in any classroom is ongoing assessment to know how ready students are for what they are learning, as well as what their preferred ways of learning and interests are.

Nanci, educational consultant and member of the ASCD DI Cadre, offered examples of how to assess student readiness and preferences and then provided examples of how several instructional strategies can be used in the math class, including cubing, think dots, RAFTs, tiered lessons, and tiered games-- some differentiated for student readiness and others differentiated for varied learning styles such as Sternberg's Intelligences and Gardner's Multiple Intelligences.


Related Resources

• Instructional Strategies for the Differentiated Classroom (video series)
  
  
• Differentiation in Practice: A Resource Guide for Differentiating Curriculum Grades 5-9
  
  
• Differentiation in Practice: A Resource Guide for Differentiating Curriculum, Grades 9-12

Learn more about next year's conference, visit our 2006 summer conference page, where you can register today.

Explore Differentiated Instruction resources and Understanding by Design resources.

You Can't Rush Differentiated Instruction

Even though you're excited about differentiated instruction (DI) and in a hurry to get it implemented, when you're implementing DI in your district, state, or region, it doesn't pay to rush, according to Carol Ann Tomlinson.

Drawing on her experiences with several national research studies and consulting on a long-term basis with a number of districts, Tomlinson offered district- and state-level educators valuable guidelines for implementing DI:

• Don't be in such a hurry to get the concrete part of the job done--equipping teachers with the instructional strategies--so that teachers don't understand the philosophy.
  Administrators often have one definition of DI and teachers another. Everyone needs to have the same definition, vision, and understanding of what DI is. Teachers can't succeed in differentiating if they don't understand the philosophy and can't articulate it.
  
  Understanding the philosophy opens the teachers' eyes to the possibilities and flexibility inherent in an effectively differentiated classroom. For example, this understanding allows teachers to see how truly knowing the students is critical to designing instruction and selecting strategies that are appropriate for students' current needs, rather than just picking instruction and strategies because they sound good.



• Differentiation challenges many of the traditional structures of schooling.
  You can change action by demanding it, but unless you change teachers' belief systems, there's no longevity or real implementation of the change.
  
  For example, having all students work on the same task at the same time is a traditional structure of schooling. If you ask teachers to use contracts, where students work on different tasks and select the sequence and time to work on them, that request would be counter to the belief systems of many of those teachers.
  
  Teachers' belief systems need to change before teachers will understand and really implement new practices such as contracts.



• Implementing differentiated instruction is a complex change and requires many years for a teacher to achieve (anywhere from 7 to 15 years).
  At the district or state level, there needs to be a continuous program to support implementation, due to the ever-changing population of teachers.



• The principal of a school is the gatekeeper of change.
  It is critical that you attend to developing and supporting the principal's needs and understanding of differentiation as much as the teachers' needs and understanding in order for change to happen.

Related Resources
Leadership for Differentiating Schools & Classrooms
by Carol Ann Tomlinson and Susan Demirsky Allan
Learn how to encourage and support teachers who are striving to match their instructional approaches to the needs and interests of every student.

Differentiated Instruction Professional Development Planner and Resource Package (Stage 1)
Here's a practical, comprehensive resource package plus a differentiated instruction planner.

Differentiated Instruction Professional Development Planner and Resource Package (Stage 2)
If your staff members are already familiar with differentiated instruction, this is the ideal resource for following through with your improvement plan.

Learn more about next year's conference, visit our 2006 summer conference page, where you can register today.

Explore Differentiated Instruction resources and Understanding by Design resources.

Differentiated Instruction in Elementary Reading

Carole Erlandson, Debbie Montgomery, and Bridget Smith from the Wayne Township Schools in Indianapolis are leading the implementation of differentiation in their district.

In a session designed around the theme, “Portrait of a Reader,” they shared a variety of checklists, surveys, and rubrics they use to assess students’ reading readiness; offered insights on students’ attitudes and interests in reading; and examined how to design differentiated tasks for flexible groups, use literature circles, and provide appropriate scaffolding during guided reading.

One of their tips is to involve students in goal setting and self-analysis--this helps the students be invested in and motivated by their learning. It supports their development as self-empowered learners.

Related Resources
Reading Strategies for the Content Areas, Volume 1: An ASCD Action Tool and Reading Strategies for the Content Areas, Volume 2: An ASCD Action Tool
These ASCD Action Tools quickly get teachers up to speed on effective reading strategies and provide all the materials needed to teach strategic reading practices. Whenever teachers observe students having trouble with connecting prior knowledge to new reading assignments, making predictions about their reading, or deciphering text they do not understand, they can quickly select a Reading Tool that will address the problem effectively in a time-efficient way.

Learn more about next year's conference, visit our 2006 summer conference page, where you can register today.

Explore Differentiated Instruction resources and Understanding by Design resources.

Understanding by Design in the Secondary Science Classroom

This session was packed with science teachers who taught all different high school subjects. There were

• biology teachers
• earth science teachers
• physics teachers
• geology teachers
• and many others

With all of these folks from different subject areas in science, how could this session possibly excite and benefit everyone?

Well, the presenter, Elvia Solis, a high school biology teacher from Indianapolis, pulled it off! She facilitated table groups as the educators developed enduring understandings and essential questions.

And how did they do? If you know UbD, you be the judge. The following are examples of what they came up with:

• All organisms change over time
• Patterns exist in the world around us
• Measures are essential to the continuation of scientific advancement
• Mass and energy is not created or destroyed

Tell Us What You Think--Join the DI and UbD Community
If you've developed some enduring understandings and essential questions that pertain to the secondary science classroom, share them with other educators by posting a comment.

Learn more about next year's conference, visit our 2006 summer conference page, where you can register today.

Explore Differentiated Instruction resources and Understanding by Design resources.

Rockets, Ice Cream, and Student Understandings

This tidbit came from the session on Supervising Teachers Using DI and UbD with Everett Kline and Deb Burns . . .

A kindergarten teacher was very excited about a unit she created and delivered to her students on the universe. She told her supervisor about how she started the unit by bringing her students out to the playground to watch the janitor shoot off a rocket. "The kids loved it!" she beamed.

Her principal asked her, "Why did you begin the unit with that activity?"

"Because the kids loved it!"

The principal replied, "Yes, you told me that. But why did you do that activity?"

She said, again, "Because the kids loved it!"

The principal replied, "Well, I suggest you use ice cream then, because all your kids love it, even the ones who don't like rockets!"

The kindergarten teacher was angry, of course, but she did come back to her principal to learn about how to design units with all activities aligned to the desired results.

The activity with the rocket was engaging, but it wasn't effective if it didn't support the student understandings the teacher intended for her unit.

Related Resources
Understanding by Design, Expanded 2nd Edition
How do you know when students understand something? Can you design learning experiences that make it much more likely that students understand content and apply it in meaningful ways? This book will help you answer these questions and create more rigorous and engaging curriculums.

Professional Development Online
Understanding by Design: An Introduction
This seven-lesson course introduces teachers in all grades and subjects to the Understanding by Design program for curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

Have More Questions About UbD?
Have an Understanding by Design expert come to you. The ASCD Faculty are a group of expert trainers and consultants from the field of education ready to design workshops, keynote speeches, consultations, or conferences for your district.

Learn more about next year's conference, visit our 2006 summer conference page, where you can register today.

Explore Differentiated Instruction resources and Understanding by Design resources.