DI+Initiative

=Practical DI Videos=

Yeshiva University's Institute for University-School Partnership has posted some practical videos on DI that are worth looking at: []. They hope to continue posting new material there, so it's worth adding to your favorites and checking back every once in while.

=Death to the Words...=

In a wonderful example of the fact that differentiation need not be synonymous with small group instruction or pre-tests and curriculum compacting, the 5th and 6th grade got together for the culminating event of what was clearly a differentiated lesson. They held a "funeral" for all of the boring words who had "died" and were therefore no longer going to be used in their classroom writing. Each child had to prepare a eulogy in which they described what the "occupation" of the dead word had been, what it's origins were, and which non-boring words were surviving it (e.g., enourmous was one survivors of big, and glamarous was a survivor of pretty). Where was the differentiation, you say?

First of all, the very assignment was clearly chosen due to the way in which it spoke to the interests of these particular children. Furthermore, it included a compositional element, a critical thinking element, a public speaking element, and an artistic element (each child created a tombstone for their word). Moreoever, while some aspects were required of everyone, others - like the public speaking - were not. Those who wanted to act it out, were given the chance. Those who prefered not to, did not have to. Thus, the learning experience was educational and enjoyable for all, without being anxiety ridden and tramautizing for any. At the end of the funeral, one more element of differentiation was "revealed." Cindy had asked certain "secret agents" to fulfill a "special assignment." They were asked to take any paragraph from a work of well-known literature and to replace all of the interesting words with "dead" words. They then read their "deadened" paragraphs to the two classes, followed by the original so that they could hear the effect that using interesting words has on good writting. These students, then, were asked to go above and beyond the rest of the class, but in a way that was meaningful and enjoyable for them. They were challenged without engendering any resentment. This too, is differentiation at its best.

I'm including some video clips from the funeral so that you can see it for youselves. Well done, Cindy. Well done, Becky. Keep up the great work! media type="custom" key="3098812"media type="custom" key="3098824"media type="custom" key="3098828"media type="custom" key="3098832"

I would like to share a current events project that I used in my seventh grade class that worked exceptionally well. Groups were arranged according to ability and the level of difficulty of the question, but each group was given one strong student to anchor the group. Although this is a difficult topic, my seventh graders did a magnificent job researching this and came up with creative ways to present what they learned to the class. Two groups chose to give oral reports but brought in newspaper articles that they had highlighted for the class to see. The other groups all chose to create a PPT which we showed in class. Each groups’ work prompted discussion as the other students were able to relate personal stories or things they had heard on the news. After every group had given their reports, we were able to have a class discussion on the economic crisis with all of the evidence we had gathered. We then wrote individual journals in which students were asked to write about what they had learned and what they thought the best solution for the current problems were. This allowed some students to simply reorganize what they had learned and others to really shine by showing more critical thought. Current Events Research Your group should research the ECONOMIC CRISIS. You each have a question to try to answer for the class. You will present your question to the class on Monday and then give a 4-5 minute presentation about what you found out about it and what you think about it. You may look on the internet, in the newspaper, or even ask your family members and friends. You may choose to do some type of visual display to help us understand what you are sharing with us. Then we will have a class discussion on the issue and what we have learned. Group 1: Question: What kinds of problems are families facing? What steps do they have to take to deal with the current economic situation? What might happen if the economic crisis continues? Group 2: Question: What is the current job market like? Can you find any statistics? How does it compare to past years? Are there any particular jobs that are safer than others? What is predicted for the future? Group 3: Question: How are charities and non-profit organizations being affected? Is it worse for them? Can you give us some examples? For example, how might this affect the Jewish Federation or another non-profit group we might be familiar with? Group 4: Question: What has caused the economic crisis? Can you give us some examples of what has led to this? Group 5: Question: What does President Obama propose to do to fix the economic crisis? Can you tell us a little about what his plan for the country is?
 * SEVENTH GRADE HISTORY PROJECT--W. Kennon**

= = = Differentiating History in High School = I have found in my United States history classes that my students respond well to role play. This method has been very effective in enabling the students to understand parts of history that seem remote for them. In addition to writing notes on the board for those who need notes in an organized manner some students respond very well to taking on the roles of historical figures themselves and actually acting out events to determine what will happen. Every person in the class is assigned a role during the lecture and as we progress through the material, they are called upon to take actions and respond to what is happening. This method allows them to participate “first-hand” in events. As I do this, I “patrol” the classroom, checking notes and asking questions to make sure that the information is not just being discussed but is being retained and stored for tests. Using this method, I saw a marked increase in test scores from the first test to the second test. I was very pleased to be able to find a way to reach my class more effectively. Each student in this class needs a different style of learning. One needs to participate and ask questions. One needs ordered notes. Two need to be checked constantly to make sure they are taking notes and staying focused. One needs to challenged with higher level questions and critical thinking skills. One needs reassurance and positive reinforcement. One needs important facts repeated in the same exact language so that he can commit them to memory. This class requires me to be constantly on the move and interacting with the students.

Another example of something I have done in the classroom is an assessment technique to determine at which level my students are actually working. In my World History class, I had my students take independent notes on a section in the textbook. This allows me to see several things: basic organizational skills, what they see as important, how they order historical information and what kind of language they use. All of these things allow me to see what type of assignment each student needs. When we start the next chapter, we will start with an independent assignment. Some students really need help with taking notes. They really lack direction and need guidance with this. Their next assignment will be a note-taking assignment with an outline. Some students will take notes without an outline. Some students are more advanced and will receive a basic question about what they have read. Some students are quite advanced and need to be challenged and will receive a critical thought question that challenges them to take what they have read and then to apply it to something new. I used this technique last year to great success. Students greatly improved their note-taking abilities and moved up to the critical thinking questions. Students with the critical thinking question greatly improved their writing abilities and their ability to reason. Students also saw this assignment as a bit of a challenge. They wanted to move up and were excited when they were “promoted” to the next level. I hope to see continued success with this assignment this year.

I am also spending quite a lot of my free periods and lunchtimes helping AP US students learn to write DBQs. After a few periods of practice in class, some students still feel they need more help. The DBQ is the most difficult essay on the exam, and the only way to become better is through practice, so we write many over the course of the year. Different students have varying degrees of success with their first DBQ and often have a tremendous amount of anxiety and insecurity. After passing back the first fully checked and commented upon but not graded DBQ, we progess to graded DBQs. Some students then feel they finally “get it” and can write on their own, while others still feel lost. These lost students spend a lot of time with me learning how to analyze documents, group documents, and find point of view and bias. This individualized attention on whatever aspect they find troubling helps them build up the confidence they need to eventually write on their own. Sometimes they may need additional help or time for the first few DBQs before they fully understand exactly what they are doing. All of these examples are just a few of the things that go on in my classroom.  Whitney Kennon 

= = =Junior High English=

I have started a poetry unit in junior high. As always, my poetry unit corresponds with the school wide poetry contest; thus the month of November is filled with original poems, published poems and poems from our literature book. All poetry offers us the opportunity to differentiate teaching content and assessing a product.

I started this year’s unit with a pretest, an excellent to tool to gather data and record the “actual” progress my students have made by the end of the unit. Boy, do we have a way to go!

I divided the pretest into three sections: 1) an identification section, asking the students to remember poetic elements by matching a term with a definition (symbol- any noun that has meaning in itself, but is made to represent something else as well) 2) an application section, asking the students to apply the poetic element in a poem (can you find alliteration in a Lewis Carroll poem?) 3) and a reflective section, asking them to consider what they are interested in learning about poetry, sharing poems they like or poets they remember reading in the past.

Of the 14 poetic elements, most could identify atmosphere, personification and free verse. Most could find rhymes in poetry, although few could go beyond the simple rhyme. When asked to reflect and consider poetry, few were willing to respond openly. Most wondered why we have to learn poetry and why people write poetry, although a few were curious about learning how to write poetry like a poet and were eager to get started with writing original poems.

In reflecting on their responses, I realize I must go the extra mile to be sure to engage everyone in this unit. To that end, I have posted several poems on my bulletin board, poetry by T.S. Eliot and William Carlos Williams, long and short poems. In addition, I posted the lyrics to the number two song in the county (as of Billboard’s Top 100 on October 26). This song, for those of you who like me, do not listen to the top forty, is by an artist named T.I. and is called “Live Your Life”. The words are actually inspirational and much more appropriate than T.I.’s number one song. The students noticed the lyrics and are very curious about why lyrics to a rap song have taken a central spot on the poetry bulletin board.

Throughout the coming weeks, as we write and read poetry, those words of poetry will stare at us. Eventually, we will find rhythm and rhyme, alliteration and allusion, meter and metaphor in those poems. We will look for imagery and find pictures to match the words of the poems. Finally, we will find meaning and depth in those poems and our own, hopefully concluding that poetry is a way to express our feelings using unique combinations of words, an art form that is limiting (it cannot be an essay), yet limitless in form, feeling and fun!

I wrote the above page a few weeks ago at the start of our poetry unit. Please stop by the junior high wing and see the various ways the students interpreted the narrative poem 'The Highwayman' by Alfred Noyes.

=Grammar Differentiation Update= Just wanted to share some of my enrichment contracts that I have created to go along with my grammar differentiation. I am now on my third unit and find that the whole process is becoming more natural and comfortable to implement. With each pretest I have had at least one skill for each student that they have mastered so everyone gets to participate! Lisa Luiken =__Novel Studies__= The following link provides a list of books for which we have novel study and/or literature guide materials. These materials are in the Horizons room and are available for teachers' use.

=__2-5-8 Book Report__= This is a book report project that allows for differentiation from both the standpoint of ability level and learning style. Students are allowed to choose from the list the activities they would like to complete as long as the value of those assignments adds up to 10 points. (They might choose two level 5 activities or an 8 and a 2, etc.) Obviously, this is a sample which can easily be converted to suit the needs of the students in your particular class. The general idea is that the level 2 activities are knowledge and/or comprehension based, the level 5 activities are application and/or analysis based, and the 8 activities are synthesis and/or evaluation based. I also identified which learning style I was targeting in choosing activities to be sure that I had a reasonable variety of choices within each level and then decided on a general project rubric that could be used to grade them all consisently. I used this for the first book report for my students. I gave them a deadline for finishing their books, and then we completed this project in class over the course of several days. B. Walker

=Differentiating Social Studies= Grammar compacting has worked well so far for students and teachers in the elementary school. However, when approaching a content area, such as social studies, we found that differentiation must be approached in a different manner. We have students who have the capacity to //learn// the given content much more quickly, but we cannot assume that they already //know// that content so pre-testing did not seem to be applicable as it was with a skill-based subject such as grammar. (Obviously, there are critical skills associated with social studies, but we were concerned about content.)

Lisa Luiken and I set about trying to find a way to differentiate social studies for the elementary students and put to use all of the great resources that came with our new Scott Foresman SS series. After comparing notes and some discussion, we have both decided to try a new approach that will hopefully help students master the content, provide extensions for those who need it, and incorporate a variety of activities to meet various learning styles. We are going to use the __Quick Study__, __Workbook__, and __Hands-On Approach__ resources that came with the new series to create learning packets. Students will work in groups or independently (depending on need) to complete the packet. Upon completing said packet, students will then have the opportunity to choose a long-term or short-term drama, writing, art, research, etc. project on which to work. This will allow those who need additional help comprehending the content to have teacher guidance and assistance at a slower pace while those who more easily read and grasp the concepts to do so and then move on to meaningful extension and/or enrichment opportunity.

Before I even had a chance, Lisa had gone to share this idea with Cindy Massey, and Cindy is on board as well. She is going to take this plan and tweak it to include some whole group acitivites/projects as well. It is so gratifying to collaborate in this way and then see the enthusiasm spread.

Stay tuned...we'll let you know how it works out! Becky = = = = =5th Grade Presses on in Grammar= The fifth graders surprised and impressed me once again. I pre-tested for the second half of unit one in grammar. Thirteen students took the pretest. ALL THIRTEEN STUDENTS SHOWED MASTERY ON AT LEAST ONE SKILL AND WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE IN AN EXTENSION AND/OR ENRICHMENT ACTIVITY DURING THE COURSE OF THIS UNIT. These are amazing results. B. Walker (Way to go, Becky! -Gil)

As a review of a certain topic in Chumash the class was divided into three groups based on levels. The lowest group needed to take words from the verses and come up with a creative way of reviewing them with the class. This group made up a word game and a matching game. The middle group needed to come up with a creative way of reviewing the basic story line with the class. They did a play. The third group made up of high end students had to take the commentary Rashi and incorporate his explanation into the story line. 
 * Fifth Grade Chumash (Bible) Lesson **

Today in the fifth grade we did a vocabulary review activity. I took about 30 words and wrote each word on an index card. Then on a separate index card I wrote the translation for those words. Each student was given the cards randomly and then they had 10 minutes to find the translation for the words. At the end I was able to see which words the class as a whole wasn’t able to translate even at the end of the chapter. This also served as a good formative assessment to know which words or concepts still need to be reviewed.
 * __Chumash (Bible) vocabulary review__ **

__**Chumash Round Robin- Fifth Grade**__ As a pre assessment before we started learning a new section in Chumash I asked the students to write down on a piece of paper words they already know and their translation as well as words they don’t know and the root of those words. Prior to that I had them in random groups and told them they could work as a group. I then gave each student a number. After about 10 min I said all number 1 and 2 should rotate to the left and see if anyone that they are now working with can help them with the words they don’t know. I did the same thing later and had numbers 3 and 4 rotate to the right. At the end we came back as a class to see how many words they still didn’t know. From 7 verses they only didn’t know 3 and they didn’t have to sit there listening to me translate all the words and we were able to learn those 7 verses in half the time it would have taken us in a more traditional way.

At the end of a Perek (Chapter) in Chumash I reviewed key vocabulary with the class. Each student got a list with the root words and they had to find how that word was used in the verse and its translation. However next to each word there was number. The number one represented basic words and 2 represented harder words. Some words had a 1/2 which meant I wanted everyone to do it. Then I divided the class into two groups based on levels. All the students in group one did the word s which had a number 1 or 1/2 and the students in group 2 did the words with the number 2 and 1/2. Everyone was working on the same worksheet. No one knew why I gave certain words certain numbers.
 * __Shorashim (Root words) Vocabulary Review__ **

Today my fifth grade lesson was differentiated. I divided the class into three levels based on ability. Each group had to read the same set of pesukim (verses) but each group had a different assignment. The weakest group worked with me and we filled out a translation sheet together. The other two groups did not get a translation sheet. I also had an anchor activity if the high end group finished first. Then at the end of the lesson we reviewed the material together through guided and direct questions.
 * Fifth Grade Chumash Differentiation **

 = = =__Reports from the Field...__=
 * Becky gave a pretest in grammar and students who tested out were given their choice of enrichment project
 * Lisa gave a pretest in grammar and based on the results decided to skip the entire first chapter of the grammar book
 * R' Greenblatt divided the class into independent learners, guided learners, and supported learners for the purposes of preparing new material in Chumash
 * Brittney created three tiered reading groups, two of which are using the class reader, one of which is not
 * R' Lennon asked his high school students to use a variety of media and modes of expression to summarize the story line in Navi
 * (add your report here!)

=DI Articles=





=DI Websites= [|9-12 Online Math Manipulatives] [|K-12 Experiential Math Lessons]

[] = = =__DI Powerpoints__= Here's one on [|preparing a DI lesson]. It begins with the KUD process (identifying what a student should Know, Understand, and be able to Do by lesson completion), which sets the stage for the "Big Questions" which will guide the lesson and helps lay out the areas in which differentiation would be appropriate.

=**__DI Videos__**=

media type="youtube" key="75kt4iDSP3w" height="344" width="425" media type="youtube" key="FJMkcL6Do0Q&hl=en&fs=1" height="344" width="425" media type="youtube" key="kBhQu_-_trE&hl=en&fs=1" height="344" width="425" =media type="youtube" key="MPl8OSCX_f8&hl=en&fs=1" height="344" width="425"media type="youtube" key="IN4TTWu0qp8&hl=en&fs=1" height="344" width="425"media type="youtube" key="iG9CE55wbtY&hl=en&fs=1" height="344" width="425"media type="custom" key="1760349"media type="custom" key="1760375"=