Differentiated Literacy Instruction

Assessing, Grouping, Teaching

Sharon Wapole, Michael C. McKenna, Zoi A. Philippakos, John Z. Strong

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781138719064
• eBook ISBN: 9781351764339
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The goal of this book is to answer the question What is differentiated instruction? It offers pre-service and in-service teachers the background and foundational skills they will need to understand, plan for, and achieve effective differentiated literacy instruction in their classrooms, based on individual student needs. Chapters provide essential information about how to analyze and synthesize data from assessments, use the information for grouping students, and then plan and implement differentiated instruction. Many specific, hands-on descriptions and exhibits are provided. Case studies of real classrooms demonstrate effective differentiated instructional techniques. End-of-chapter Practical Application questions allow readers to apply chapter concepts as they learn to motivate and teach diverse learners.

1
Differentiated Instruction

BUILDING BACKGROUND

It’s mid-September and Mrs. Jones has recently finished collecting her baseline assessments. She has compiled a literacy assessment folder for each of her 22 students, which includes a formal spelling inventory, several writing samples, benchmark running records, and comprehension measures. After analyzing the results, Mrs. Jones noted that two of her second-graders are just beginning to read at the emergent level (see Exhibit 1.2); one of these students is an English learner. Five students are reading just below the beginning second-grade level with strong comprehension, and six students are reading fluently at the beginning second-grade level with weak comprehension. Another six of Mrs. Jones’s students are reading fluently and accurately at a mid-second-grade level with strong comprehension, while three of her students are reading and comprehending text at the fourth-grade level or beyond. This is not unusual; in her nine years of teaching second grade, Mrs. Jones has noticed a similar range in her students as each school year begins. Mrs. Jones recognizes that the instruction in her classroom will have to be differentiated to support the strengths and meet the needs of her learners. But what exactly does differentiate mean? What components of reading can, and should, Mrs. Jones differentiate? Where does she start with such a complex task?

Mrs. Jones’s questions are important. They will be addressed throughout this book, since its specific focus is small-group differentiated reading instruction, an essential component of effective literacy instruction. To differentiate reading instruction in small groups, teachers must possess a deep understanding of differentiated instruction, the reading process, and how to teach it. This book opens with an overview of differentiated instruction (Chapter 1), and then provides examples of effective literacy instruction (Chapters 2 and 3). The remainder of the book is organized in the sequence that a classroom teacher would use to prepare for differentiated instruction. This preparation begins by planning for classroom management and organization, conducting and analyzing student assessments, and grouping of students, and it culminates with daily small-group lessons.

WHAT IS DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION?

Differentiated instruction is what happens when teachers respond to individual differences in students’ background knowledge, developmental level, and/or modes of learning. It is student centered, responsive, and informed by assessment. Rather than delivering a one-size-fits-all style of instruction, differentiated instruction is just what the root word different implies: teachers provide different types of instruction to meet the varied needs of individual students. Thus, the teaching is student centered. Differentiated instruction is often described as responsive teaching; that is, before introducing new skills or strategies, the teacher considers what the learner already knows (MacGillivray, Rueda, & Martinez, 2004). To teach responsively, the teacher must assess the students individually to determine how deeply each component of the curriculum must be addressed for each student. In other words, differentiated instruction is informed by classroom-based assessments. Differentiated instruction encompasses “ensuring that what a student learns, how he/she learns it, and how the student demonstrates what he/she has learned is a match for that student’s readiness level, interests, and preferred mode of learning” (Tomlinson, 2004, p. 188).

Tomlinson (2000) describes four elements of instruction that may be differentiated to meet the needs of all learners: content, process, product, and learning environment. Exhibit 1.1 provides brief descriptions of these elements, along with a concrete example of each.

WHY DIFFERENTIATE?

Experts agree that differentiating instruction is essential to ensure that all students learn to their potential. According to Vygotsky (1978), learning is enhanced when a student is provided assistance in his or her zone of proximal development (ZPD). Vygotsky defined the ZPD as “the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86, author’s italics). Today’s classrooms are filled with students who possess a wide range of competencies and experiences; as a result, there are many different optimal learning zones, as well. The variance in student populations continues to increase as schools strive to provide equitable learning opportunities to students with disabilities, students from non-English-speaking backgrounds, and students with diverse cultural experiences (Subban, 2006). The inevitable diversity in classrooms, coupled with our current knowledge of brain development, learning styles, and literacy development, all point to the need to differentiate instruction.

Elements of instruction and examples of differentiation. EXHIBIT 1.1

ELEMENT OF INSTRUCTION	DEFINITION	EXAMPLE
Content	Content is what the students need to learn; it may include the method(s) by which students will access the information.	When students demonstrate a need to learn to decode unfamiliar words, the teacher conducts small-group lessons on different developmentally appropriate strategies, such as using the pictures on the page as a clue to decode unknown words for one group and chunking multisyllabic words to decode for another group of students.
Process	Process is how the content will be presented and what the students are expected to do in the lesson.	The teacher provides tiered activities; all students work on the same content (such as summarizing a text), but with different levels of support, challenge, or complexity.
Product	Product refers to the assignment that students will complete to practice a skill/strategy or demonstrate their understanding.	A teacher may require all students to research an animal and report on the animal’s physical adaptations and habitat. Students are given the option to present their findings in a traditional research paper, a Prezi presentation, a blog, or a mural.
Learning Environment	The learning environment consists of physical spaces in the classroom created to meet students’ different modes of learning. In addition, providing spaces that encourage collaborative activities (e.g., designed for language development) based on students’ interests and backgrounds creates a sociocultural context for literacy development.	The teacher may create a quiet classroom library where students go to read silently, a listening center where students go to listen to audio books in English or their native language, and a book club area where students gather to read aloud and/or discuss books they are reading.

Support from Brain Research

Tomlinson and Kalbfleisch (1998) point to three principles from brain research that dictate the need for differentiated instruction: emotional safety, appropriate challenge, and self-constructed meaning (p. 52). If learners feel emotionally unsafe, for example, as a result of frustration over difficult concepts or pressure to learn at an inappropriate pace, they may shut down altogether, making learning difficult or impossible. Learners who are not appropriately challenged are not able to work within their ZPD (Vygotsky, 1978), making their learning less effective and efficient. Finally, if students are not able to construct their own meaning through associations, the learning cannot reach deep levels. Differentiated instruction aligns with these research principles.

Differences in Student Learning Styles

Even before these brain research findings, effective educators recognized another reason for differentiating instruction when planning lessons: differences in students’ learning styles. Dunn and Dunn (1979) explained that individuals respond differently to instruction based on the way in which they focus on, absorb, and retain information. Further, Dunn and Dunn identified 18 dimensions (e.g., emotional, sociological, physiological) that may be used to describe a student’s learning style. Considering the number of possible combinations, each classroom is bound to be filled with a variety of preferences for learning new information. One mode of instructional delivery simply cannot meet the needs of all learners.

Students’ Stages of Literacy Development

Individuals also differ in their knowledge about literacy, which develops at different rates. Although the rate at which literacy is acquired can vary, many experts agree that children follow a similar sequence of developmental milestones. There seem to be distinct phases of development, each associated with specific reading and writing behaviors. For example, Chall (1983) described six stages of reading development, starting with oral language development and ending with the construction of meaning through ana...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• 1 Differentiated Instruction Building Background
• 2 Classroom Context I Literacy Instruction in a Primary-Level Exemplary Classroom
• 3 Classroom Context II Literacy Instruction in a Middle-Level Exemplary Classroom
• 4 Managing Small-Group Reading Instruction Keeping all Students Engaged in Literacy Learning
• 5 Starting with Assessment Beginning with the End in Mind
• 6 Analyzing the Assessments Using Data to Design Differentiated Instruction
• 7 Planning the Lesson Focus
• 8 Selecting Texts
• 9 Providing Differentiated Support for Students
• Appendices
• Author Index
• Subject Index