Five TIPS for Differentiating Instruction

5 Tips For Differentiating Instruction

Choice!  We all enjoy having a choice in our work!

Consider giving students options for how they practice their math – worksheet, whiteboard, computerized math, partners, alone.  Also look for options for students to show you that they have mastered content.  Can they do the five most difficult problems?  Can they create their own examples to fit specific parameters?  Could they write a letter or blog post or make a video explaining a topic?

Make the work brain-friendly!

Our brains respond well to music, movement, and color!  In any given lesson consider using 2 or 3 different elements to appeal to students’ various learning differences.  Sing the quadratic formula, watch a video explaining quadratics, create a chart illustrating three forms of the quadratic equation, color code notes! Very popular right now are sketch notes and doodling!

Vary how students are grouped in class!  

Most often teachers are encouraged to create mixed ability groups.  While mixed ability groups have their place, grouping students with the same challenge needs on occasion allows the teacher to specifically design appropriately leveled tasks and/or mini-teaching sessions.

Use rich problems with multiple entry points!

Rich problems are non-routine in that they are not typical practice of a skill or algorithm; they have little scaffolding; and students of varying skill levels can benefit from them. Rich Problems have natural extensions - one question leads to another. They are difficult and interesting at the same time. Rich Problems are revealing! They give insight to teachers about students' understanding. They help students experience the essence of mathematics. A few places to find rich problems besides the Twitter math community include:

InsideMathematics Problems of the Month

Riverpoint Advanced MathematicsPartnership-Algebra Project 

Underground Mathematics

Open Middle Problems

NRich Enriching Mathematics

Mathematics Assessment Project

Attend to the learning environment!

Students may need opportunities for both quiet work time and collaboration!  Students with sensory issues might need less light, or headphones during independent work time.  Alternative seating or vertical work surfaces can provide differentiation.  And last, create routines so that you can work with small groups while other students work independently.

Differentiating with Google Forms

So, I have been reading about how you might differentiate with Google Forms but I had not tried it.  And I still haven't tried it with students.

BUT I created a "choose your own adventure" type activity for teachers participating in our summer professional development.  And now, I am excited to differentiate with Google Forms.

In the PD Form, there were no "correct" answers.  Instead, participants will read or view something and select an answer.  Based on their selection, they are directed to another site and so on.  Here is a sample ... depending on which of the reasons for participating in the MTBoS resonate with them, teachers will be directed to a blog post that illustrates the reason they chose.

In math class, I can envision redirecting students to a simpler problem if they choose a wrong answer, or to a short review video before getting to respond to a question again.  I could also direct students to a more challenging question to understand the depth of understanding.

Over the next few days I hope to get my first differentiated math quiz using Google Forms ... and share it with you!  If you have used this process, please comment, share how it worked!

Blogosphere ... Good Ideas Round 4

I haven't had as much time as I'd like for reading around the blogosphere in the past week.  But even short visits reveal such awesome ideas!

Mary Doom shares ideas for the first days of school.  I had created a few stations that I want to use early on, but Mary's ideas are so very creative.  She has 5 days of seating ideas in order to watch students interact with one another.  She also has nonroutine problems that she has adapted from her travels around the blogosphere!  I look forward to reading more about the various plans for the first days of school!

Rationalizing Denominators isn't the most engaging of topics. Pam's intro to this lesson caught my eye, "It gives students opportunities to notice patterns on their own, a chance to share and discuss those ideas as well as consider ideas from their classmates."  I love the idea of an open sort, inviting students to justify their groupings, and building from there.  And she finishes with a super idea for routine practice ... she requires a few specific problems and then asks students to choose a few more on their own.  Both the open sort and choices for routine practice are great strategies for differentiating instruction.  I'm thinking about our first two units ... characteristics of functions and systems of equations ... I'm sure there are applications to those units!

Last, I've been reading Teach Like a Pirate ... a very popular book right now.  I decided to read it when I read Finding Joy in 6th Grade's post.  Then I discovered that quite a few elementary teachers have been reading the book and linking their posts at this site.  Even though I teach high school, I find reading the elementary posts very inspiring.  (By the way, as I read the book, one of the concepts jumped out at me ... immersion!  When the students are in the room, be engaged with them 100%.  I know that I am most of the time ... but I can think back to days last year when I had other tasks to do, and I just wanted the students to work on their own.  It would be much better to stay engaged with them and save the "other stuff" for later!)

Much thanks to all the teachers who share their journeys online!

What treasures have you discovered online in the past week or two?

MentorMob ... Awesome Tool!

One of my summer professional development activities is writing more regularly in my blog about my own learning.  In our school, embedding technology effectively is an ongoing initiative.

I decided to explore MentorMob ... a tool for creating a playlist of websites, documents, videos, and more so that everything you need for a topic is in one list.

I created a simple MentorMob on using the Hundred Board in the classroom.  There are six websites that offer a number of ideas, strategies, games, and math center activities.  My MentorMob looks like this:

Create your own Playlist on MentorMob!

I can envision using MentorMob to differentiate instruction - especially for able, independent learners.  I could set up a MentorMob on a curriculum topic ... embed challenges along the way, and allow those students to work on more challenging material.  This tool is an awesome classroom management tool because students need only one link to the playlist.  Every other website, activity, video, sets of questions are linked in the one playlist!

Have you used MentorMob?  How would you use it in your classroom?

Differentiation ... I can do better!

Differentiation is a hot topic, a challenging teacher skill, and necessary for a thriving classroom.  I wish I could say I did a good job of differentiating instruction this year but I did not.  I tried a few strategies with some success.  I can do more, do better ... and hope to learn from my online colleagues as we blog about this topic.

One strategy that worked for me for routine practice was differentiated circuits (or loops).  I post problems around the room.  The answer to a problem is on another poster.  Students work any problem first ... then find the answer that matches ... work the problem on that poster ... and repeat until the loop closes.  It is easy to differentiate by creating 2 or 3 different loops and making sure that identified students start with a card in the appropriate leveled loop. This worked with solving systems, factoring quadratics, solving equations and so on.  One such loop is on my TpT site.

Another strategy or resource that worked well for differentiating has been Manga High.  I can't say enough about this free source for math practice.  I can assign different challenges or expect different levels of success at the same challenges.  The program keeps up with student work, provides tutorials, and awards points/medals.

Last, I used working in groups to manage differentiation.  I know many teachers insist on grouping low, middle, and high students together.  I found, though, that pulling out my highest students to form groups provided the challenge they needed.  Then I mixed my lower and on grade level students together to meet their needs in group work.  I assigned a different strand of problems for each leveled group.  I wrote about one such lesson here.

I have found a few resources I want to explore more fully next year.

I like the book More Good Questions: Great Ways to Differentiate Secondary Math Instruction.  The book highlights 2 strategies.  The first is open ended questioning.  The second strategy in the book is parallel tasks.  Now that I am familiar with the curriculum in my new assignment, I believe I can apply the ideas presented by Small and Lin.

A second resource on my "to-do" list is a list of "problems" that are already developed in 5 levels.  I found these "Problems of the Month" at Inside Mathematics.  The problems are connected to the Common Core Standards and range from primary to high school expectations.  I don't know if I can use them as they are but they may be the perfect inspiration for creating parallel tasks of my own.

Last, a website that I refer to when I want to explore differentiation is "dare to differentiate."  Just tonight I was reviewing the Think Dots strategy ... I could use that next year to provide more choice in routine practice.

I look forward to reading what you have to say about differentiation.  I'm finding it's much easier to talk about it, write about it, even create plans for it ... than to actually implement it!

Homework: Bane or Bliss!?!

Clearly "Bane" at my house!  I look forward to reading this week's posts on homework.  Homework has been a challenge this year and I don't know yet how best to handle it.  I just know ... I don't want to grade it!


So current status:

We give a very small amount of homework with each lesson.  Students have class every other day.  So 2 to 12 problems in 48 hours seems very small.

1. The homework we give is generally practice over that day's lesson.
2. We don't grade homework at all.  I provide solutions; students check their own work; and I typically answer any questions they might have which is most often very few.
3. I do record if homework was completed - but there are no points or percentage assigned to it.
4. The catch ... if we give a Knowledge Check at the beginning of class, completed homework counts 30% of the quiz.  Yes, that means if students get all correct solutions on the Knowledge Check but do not complete the homework, I record a 70 for their quiz.

When we started this requirement it sounded like a good idea.  The 30% was meant to spur students to complete the homework.  It has worked with some students - but not enough.  And of course the A student who really doesn't need the extra practice is penalized if they don't do the work; and the struggling students are the ones who resist doing homework the most - and they miss out on the "free" 30%.

OK ... so differentiation ... I've tried assigning "extra" problems and asking students to choose a subset of the assignment.  The element of choice is welcomed by my students.  But since we create all of our own materials, creating extra problems is not always profitable for me.  Occasionally I assign practice from the textbooks.  We very rarely use the books in class.  The plain problems match our curriculum, but much of the work in context does not.

So, bottom line, I have not done an adequate job of differentiating homework.  Hence ... I'm eager to hear what my online colleagues are doing!

may we work together?

Differentiating is a challenge!

The method of differentiation that I use most often is peer tutoring.  Students who finish their practice quicker than others, and whose work is correct, become "my helpers."  I pair them up with students I know are struggling in order to provide help.  I encourage them to talk with their partner to explain how to solve the problems.  I have several students who love to be helpers!  They find this process rewarding.  (I think it might be appropriate to note that I'm working with ninth graders in a rigorous algebra course.  Students who were ahead of the game completed algebra in grade 8.  So the span of ability in my classroom doesn't include the advanced or gifted student but it does include some strong math students.)

Sometimes when I know the practice is going to be challenging and having helpers would be beneficial, I challenge my stronger students to do the five "hardest" problems first.  If they can do those successfully, then they don't need the whole practice.  They will get the added practice on the simpler problems when they are helping others.

My students often ask, "May we work together?"  They know they need support and they are comfortable with their classmates being helpers.  I find that blending whole group, small group, and individual instruction works well for the group of students I have.

Another method I have used some is tiered  assignments.  So when I can (and that is not often enough) I try to create more than one practice assignment.  If I create a partner activity, stations, or the like, then creating different practice sets works well.  One practice set meets the required standard, and the second may have just a bit more challenging practice.  Then for students who may still struggle to do the required standard practice, I move about the room to provide support.

My favorite goto website on differentiation is daretodifferentiate.  The wiki has background information, professional development materials, and strategies.

Loose ends ... classroom setup and goals!

As I've mentioned previously, this is my first year back in the classroom after having been an administrator for 12 years.  The transition is my choice ... moved to a new state ... wanted to reconnect with students.  I am excited about it ... and a bit apprehensive as well!  I know the conversations that I had with teachers in those years as an administrator ... and now those words of expectation haunt me!  Relationships, Rigor, Differentiated Instruction, Engagement, Formative Assessment, and MORE ... it can be overwhelming.

I went with a simple black/white theme for the classroom.  I used Hobby Lobby's ribbon with dots and checks for borders around bulletin boards, their "cow" bandanas for curtains,  and various other black/white objects as well.  The room pops and I'm hoping kids will find it comfortable.

Sometime during our 90 minute block on the first day I plan to do some sort of "Read the Room" activity.  I plan to ask my ninth graders to "read the room" to find 5 things that either interest them or might help them in their work.  I don't have the details completely ... but then I think I'll ask students to work in pairs or triads to compare notes, and to categorize the items they noted.  In the room are posters about how math is used in the "real" world which I hope will help us establish relevance.  There are also posters with our standards and essential questions for the first unit.  Posters highlighting Bloom's Taxonomy are on the back bulletin board.  There is a calendar, a few motivational posters, a stack of textbooks, and some reference materials more.  I'm hoping the "read the room" activity will replace my pointing out important stuff in the room.

Of course we'll introduce each other.  I've prepared a prezi to introduce myself ... a "by the numbers" spin.  I'll give students an opportunity to guess some facts about me from the numbers and then I'll share a bit about myself using a simple prezi with pictures.  I am still deciding about asking students to share a few significant numbers in their lives.  I have a "Get to Know You" questionnaire I like, I'm not sure if we can do both.

In the getting to know each other conversations we will discuss classroom expectations.  I want to use these questions ...

• How do you want me to treat you?


• How do you want to treat on another?


• How do you think I want to be treated?


• How should we treat one another when there's a conflict?

Last but not least on that first day I want to do some math.  Because students sometimes find my height interesting (I happen to be quite short), I plan to challenge them to find my height using Styrofoam cups ... thanks to Dan Meyers' blog.  I'm hoping that first activity will give me some insight in their mathematical thinking.

My primary goal is to have fun ... to keep the work in perspective, my life in balance ... and to enjoy relating math to young teens!  It's a tall goal for a short girl!  I think before I expand on my goals, I'll stop with my Utopian dream and read some of my blogging colleagues ideas!  I have one week before students step across the threshold ... time to tie up loose ends!