Differentiation and the

PYP classroomDr Michelle Cafini

Rivercrest Christian College

Victoria, Australia

March 2016

“Our task is to provide an education

for the kinds of kids we have; not the

kinds for kids we used to have, or want

to have, or the kinds of kids that exist

in our dreams.”K.P Gerlach

Research tells us this about learning…

Learners must make meaning of what is being

taught. Making meaning is influenced by

students’ prior knowledge, understandings,

beliefs, how they learn best, how they feel

about self and school.

Learning is most effective in classrooms

where knowledge is clearly organized,

students are highly engaged in the learning

process, assessments are rich and varied and

students feel safe and have a sense that

they belong.

Learning happens best when the learning

experience pushes the students a bit beyond

their level of independence – zone of

proximal development – where teachers

provide scaffolding.

Motivation increases when students are

engaged in activities they are interested

in/passionate about

Students learn in a variety of ways,

influenced by how their brain is wired, their

culture, their gender

IB Standards and Practices

Standard C – Curriculum

C.1 Collaborative Planning

6 - Collaborative planning and reflection incorporates differentiation for students’ learning needs and styles.

C.3 Teaching and Learning

3 - Teaching and learning builds on what students know and can do.

3a – PYP requirement - Teaching and learning addresses the competencies, experiences, learning needs and styles of students.

10 - Teaching and learning differentiates instruction to meet students’ learning needs and styles.

10a – PYP requirement - The school provides for grouping and regrouping of students for a variety of learning purposes.

It is not a one size fits all approach!

What is differentiation?

Differentiation is

Proactive

More qualitative than quantitative

Grounded in assessment

Provides multiple approaches to content, process and

product

Student-centered

Whole-class, group and individual

Organic

Teachers begin where the students are, not where the curriculum guide starts. Teachers accept and build upon the notion that learners differ in important ways. Teachers cannot assume that one student’s road map for learning is identical to anyone else’s (Tomlinson)

5 Essential Elements of Differentiation

Safe and supportive learning environment

High quality curriculum

Respectful activities

Assessing to inform learning and teaching

Flexible classroom routinesNo recipe for differentiation – no two rooms would be set up/function in the

same way

1. Safe and Supportive Learning

Environment

Classrooms should be:

Welcoming

Respectful of differences

Safe

Growth-mindset

Success-orientated

Fair

Collaborative

All learners need your energy, your

heart and your mind. They have that

in common because they are young

humans. How they need you, however,

differs. Unless we understand and

respond to those differences we fail

many learners – Tomlinson

2. High Quality Curriculum

Quality differentiation is embedded in meaningful

curriculum:

Know – facts, dates, definitions, rules, people, places,

vocabulary

Understand – essential understandings, concepts, principles,

theories, ‘big ideas’

Do – skills, processes, action

2. High Quality Curriculum

PYP curriculum must be engaging, relevant, challenging, significant

Learning takes place best when it is connected to what is genuinely a component of the world around the student, not merely what is all too often contrived and then imposed upon the student in school; that the acquisition of knowledge and skills and the search for meaning and understanding are best done in the context of the exploration of relevant content

The PYP is a place in which the easy option is seldom sought and where expectations are high. It is an environment in which learning knows no limits

Making the PYP Happen

2. High Quality Curriculum

The curriculum is key to differentiation. It needs to be vigorous. It should pose big questions and seek answers to problems that truly matter. Trivial and fluffy curriculum is still trivial and fluffy after differentiation (Tomlinson)

2. High Quality Curriculum

Content – what the students are to learn: knowledge, facts, skills, ideas, concepts, real problems, ethical issues and dilemmas, interest based resource materials

Process – the way in which the content is presented and the activities through which the learner comes to make sense of the content and draws own understandings: pace, amount of practice, open-ended questions, inquiry learning, higher order thinking tasks

Product – the way students demonstrate what they’ve learnt: choice of presentation, originality, competition, communication to a real audience

A good product is not just something students do for enjoyment; it must

cause students to think about, apply and expand on the key concepts,

knowledge and skills and can even provoke action

3. Respectful TasksDon’t Do

Give some students more work and

others less

Give students different work that

matches their readiness, interests and

learning profile

Dictate what some students do and

allow others choice

Provide a choice to all students

wherever possible

Make some versions of a task fun and

engaging while others are dull and

boring

Put yourself in the shoes of the

students to whom you assign varied

work and try to design tasks so that

they are significant, engaging,

relevant, challenging

‘Dumb down’ some versions of a task

for struggling leaners

Be mindful that all tasks require all

students to work with the ‘big ideas’ of

the unit. All students should be

expected to work at their highest

possible level

Expect advanced learners to work and

learn on their own

Provide appropriate scaffolding for all

students. If you are stretching

advanced learners they will also need

support

3.Respectful Tasks

Don’t Do

Differentiate by asking advanced

students to be tutors to those who

struggle

Provide all students with opportunities

to help and support others

Assume you know everything about a

student’s interests, learning profile and

readiness

Engage in ongoing dialogue with students

about their perceived needs. Draw on

information from students and parents

Automatically put the English as an

additional language students or students

with learning needs in the ‘struggling’

group or the identified gifted students

always in the ‘advanced’ group

Remember that strong interest in a unit

or a high degree of match between

teaching and learning style can propel a

student who normally struggles to a

higher level of readiness. Conversely,

lack of interest, match with learning

style or prior experience can mean an

advanced student belongs in a lower

readiness group for a specific learning

experience

4. Assessment

Assessment OF Learning – summative Assessment FOR Learning – formative

Assessment AS Learning – students

If we think or our children as plants...summative assessment of the plants is simply measuring them. The measurements might be interesting to compare and analyse, but in themselves they do not affect the growth of the plants. Formative assessments, on the other hand, is the garden equivalent of feeding and watering the plants which directly affects their growth (Clarke, 2001)

“When the cook tastes the soup - that’s formative.When the guests taste the soup - that’s summative.”

4 Base Elements of Formative Assessment

Clarke (2005)

Shared learning goals and success criteria

Effective questioning

Effective feedback

Self and peer assessment/evaluation

Learning Intentions (Goals)

Learning intentions describe what students should

know, understand and be able to do. They

specifically identify new learning in a language

students can understand. They focus on

transferrable skills.

Success Criteria – linked to learning

intention

Success criteria summarise the key steps or

ingredients the student needs in order to fulfill

the learning intention - the main things to do,

include or focus on (Clarke, 2005)

Effective Questioning

Deep questioning helps students stay curious, grow

increasingly resourceful at figuring things out and

become active meaning makers (Kohn, 2015)

Effective Feedback

To serve learning, feedback must be:

- timely

- specific

- understandable to the receiver

- formed to allow self-adjustment on the student’s part

Students need time to act on the feedback - to refine, revise, practice, retry

Student Self-Assessment

Sample reflective questions for student self-assessment:

What have you learned?

What did you find easy about learning to …?

How would you do things differently next time?

What did you find difficult while you were learning to …?

What helped you when something got tricky ?

How would you change this activity for another group/class who were learning to …?

www.assessmentforlearning.edu.au

4. What can we assess?

Readiness Interest Learning Profile

Skills

Knowledge

Conceptual understanding

Attitude

Learner Profile

Current interests

Potential interests

Talents/passion

Areas of strength and

weakness

Learning preferences

Self-awareness

Growth Motivation Efficiency

4. Assessment – the importance of

pretesting

Pre-testing produces a great deal of valuable information for the teacher

Provides a guide for where all students are

Eliminates teaching what they already know

Indicates where to pitch the level of work

Allows for appropriate groups to be formed that cater for different ability/knowledge levels

Can be as simple as “What do you know about…”

Can be the test at the end of the chapter

May be just a general brainstorm or discussion

Allows teachers to find “resident experts” on the topic

May uncover specific areas of passion that have gone unnoticed

Helps students tune into a topic

Promotes inquiry learning – set up provocations

5. Flexible Groupings and Learning

Spaces The PYP classroom is a dynamic learning

environment. Students move from

individual to group work in response to

their needs and the needs of their

inquiries. Students change roles as they

move from one group to another or within

the same group over time. Grouping

strategies allow for mixed ability and

ability groups and for groups to change

continually. The teacher’s role is to

orchestrate the changing working dynamic

so that each student’s learning is observed,

monitored and effectively supported when

working both individually and within groups

– The PYP as a Model of Transdisciplinary

Leaning

5. Flexible Groupings – collaboration and

independence

In what ways do you group your students?

How do you ensure your groups are on task?

What transdisciplinary skills do you need to teach the students?

Do you have a balance of grouping styles?

Do you have students give you feedback on their group work -

not just on the task but on group skills? Do you give them

feedback?

Do you tend to group more for ability than interest/learning

profile?

Starting Off…

Begin differentiating at a pace comfortable for you

Create and deliver instructions carefully

Assign students to groups smoothly

Be sure students have a plan for getting help when you are busy with another

student or group

Have a plan for students to hand in work

Teach students to rearrange furniture

Promote on-task behavior

Have a plan for “quick finishers”

Give students as much responsibility for their learning as possible – empower them

Link product to the real world where possible

Talk about the need for both critical and creative thinking to build a passion for

ideas

Check in with students to ensure they are working well

Actively support students to learn skills not just the content

Communicate with parents where appropriate

Avoid poster reports or PowerPoint as the only form of recording/presenting

Use formative and summative assessment as well as peer and self evaluation

methods throughout and at the conclusion of the product

When sharing products, think about other modes of sharing rather than whole

class presentations which can be time consuming and arduous

Impact of not differentiatingStudents

Become discouraged, disengaged and lose motivation

Float through school without putting in much effort or learning how to extend themselves or persevere

Decide that there’s not much use to being clever at school

Tune out, become daydreamers, withdraw into their own world as a release from boredom

Be too polite to tell the teacher the work’s too easy and may even be identified as ‘backward’ Resist the teacher’s attempts to make them do the ‘easy’ work and enter a power-struggle with the teacher

Respond to their frustration by becoming disruptive and uncooperative, eventually being labelled as ‘behaviour problems’

Sabotage their learning (consciously or unconsciously)

Dumb down, try to be like everyone else

Cry every morning when it’s time to leave for school

Never reach their potential

Reflection

If we care about whether learning is working for each of our students we must continue to monitor their growth in terms of what we deem to be critical learning goals. Inevitably we’ll find students are in different places with the mastery of those goals. Because we want to make sure that each child succeeds we have no choice but to differentiate-there is simply no alternative - Earl

When the school bell rings on day one and all our

students are in their seats, we will hold the future

of this world in our hands. Whatever we do will

have lasting implications, not only on the lives of

those students, but also on the lives of all those

who they come into contact with. So then, the

question that we should ask of ourselves should not

be, “How can I make this work?” The question must

be, “How can I afford

not to make this work” Wendy Kopp, One day, All Children