My son played serious baseball for over ten years. During that time there were many games that he sat on the bench while others played. He practiced hard and cheered on his team. Eventually, after a lot of coaching he started to catch and be the designated hitter. He was so ready. He was prepared to play every game. I think what created those conditions was the coaching and practice that Max and his teammates received. There was guided instruction and then they all went out to practice the skill. The coach monitored and guided the practice. They were all released to play. There were kids who would stay back and get further support from the coach or assistant. However, everyone was engaged and focused. When practice was about three quarters over the coach would run a game giving all players the opportunity to be assessed at their position. He'd used this data to determine who would be ready or proficient and give the team the best chance to win. The coached differentiated practice to maximize performance and growth.
We are going to shift to Katie's room. She also gave a very explicit mini lesson very similar to Sarah's but with different content. She also had excellent success criteria that she used to confer with kids as they worked on the activity.
Last week I was sitting in on the 2nd grade PLC and they asked about changing the process to meet the needs of small groups of kids. I asked them "who makes the decisions in your classroom?" They answered "I do." I then asked them "Is the decision you want to make student-centered?" They said, "Yes". Then I said, "make the decision."
Differentiation means tailoring instruction to meet individual needs. Whether teachers differentiate content process, products or the learning environment, the ue of ongoing assessment and flexible grouping makes this a successful approach to instruction.
Our workshops in reading and math as well as in other classes follow this model. Before we can release the team (students) it's imperative to start with a focus. This means that there is a clear learning intention. Last week I did several observations. I'm going to highlight two classrooms, Sarah Kuhlmann and Katie Naughton. Sarah started her lesson with the learning intention posted. As she introduce it she revealed the success criteria. Her introduction included a brief discussion of key words found in the intention. Please look at the pictures below.
Preparing for differentiation means that a teacher needs to deliver a mini or focus lesson that will catapult the majority of the class (80%) to work on the assignment independently. This is a critical step before you start to differentiate for the students who need additional support. Sarah's think aloud that is shown here sets the students up for success through her clarity and modeling of her thinking. Remember you are the expert and kids need to see and hear your thinking so it's visible. This is the move that prepares kids to work.
She used the language of the success criteria to prompt and cue students to complete the work. It was a classic example of differentiation. Katie made the decision to let students work with the material and she met them where they landed. Please watch the video to see her in action.
The decision is easy. Release kids from an efficiently planned and concise mini/focus lesson. They support the students with purposeful feedback to help them do the work of the learning intention.
Last week I was sitting in on the 2nd grade PLC and they asked about changing the process to meet the needs of small groups of kids. I asked them "who makes the decisions in your classroom?" They answered "I do." I then asked them "Is the decision you want to make student-centered?" They said, "Yes". Then I said, "make the decision."
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