Differentiation
"If you were to fold your hands together naturally, you would have a comfortable, close fit. The goals of curriculum differentiation are to find the closest, most comfortable fit between the learner and the curriculum ...varying the process or content or product to match the needs of the learner can help us reach that close fit." (Curry, 1999)
Defining what it takes to differentiate the curriculum for high-ability students requires an understanding about the skills, concepts, and curriculum the high-ability students are already proficient in and then adjusting what is taught in the classroom to meet the needs of these students. Essential to this, is an understanding regarding the basic tenets of curriculum, instruction and assessment. We can say that curriculum is “what” is being taught, instruction is “how” the curriculum is being delivered and assessment is “whether or not” the students have understood or mastered the concepts. Each of these can be adjusted to meet the variety of needs in the classroom. Experts have written extensively regarding differentiation and the benefits for all students in the classroom. Good teachers recognize differences in students and adjust what they are teaching to make sure all students have new learning opportunities. The art of teaching then, is to know how to make meaningful curricular adjustments so that appropriate learning is going on in the classroom for all students, including the students with the highest levels of ability.
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What is differentiation? |
Dr. Joyce VanTassel-Baska (2011, p.10), writes:
Defining differentiation for the gifted requires recognition of the inter-related importance of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. A differentiated curriculum for the gifted is one that is tailored to the needs of groups of gifted learners and/or individual students, that provides experiences sufficiently different from the norm to justify specialized intervention, and that is delivered by a trained educator of the gifted using appropriate instructional and assessment processes to optimize learning.
The idea of differentiating instruction implies we understand enough about the students to make choices regarding the instruction that would be appropriate for them. It means that we have noted the specific skills and content they already know and that we also understand the things they may be interested in.
“If a student learns faster than a prescribed pace or is ready for greater depth or breadth of knowledge than is planned for a learning sequence, those things matter and there should be plans for adapting the pace and scope of learning for that student”(Tomlinson, 2003, p.1). Attending to the individual differences in the classroom is responsible instruction. There are four student traits teachers need to address in order to be responsive to students or to provide differentiation for them. These traits include, readiness, interest, learning profile and affect (Tomlinson, 2003).
Readiness refers to a student’s “knowledge, understanding and skill related to a particular sequence of learning” (Tomlinson, 2003 p. 3). Many factors affect a student’s readiness to learn. Students may have already been exposed to the content we are teaching. They may have an interest in the subject and may have explored the topic on their own. In addition, a student’s readiness may be affected by their “life experiences, attitudes about school and their habits of mind” (Tomlinson, 2003 p.3). Indeed, if we agree that students have different readiness levels in the classroom, we must also agree that they need different learning experiences.
Interest refers to those topics that students have a desire to learn more about. Finding out what students are interested in helps teachers design appropriate curricular extensions for them. “Students who are able to pursue interests in their classes are more likely to see connections between their current work and future goals and to engage in the kind of “flow” experiences, or absorption in one’s work, that are strong predictors of success in the school curriculum and successful pursuit of talent developing opportunities” (Csikszentmihayi , Rathunde, Whalen, 1993).
Learning profile means that we need to take into consideration all of the other things we know about the student. Learning style, intelligence preference, culture, gender are all aspects of the student’s learning profile (Tomlinson, 2003). Knowing how students learn best, whether they work well in groups or individually, for example; knowing if they like activities that allow them to think globally or to make comparisons between and among concepts; knowing the influences, both positive and negative of their culture as well as any gender related information all help the teacher know and understand the learner. Finding out about the student’s learning profile is often as simple as observing the things the student shows an interest in, which types of activities he/she seems to show a preference for or it may also involve talking to and involving the student in developing his/her learning profile.
Affect concerns how students feel about themselves as learners, their personal perceptions and predispositions towards the learning tasks they are given. In order for high-ability students to be challenged, we must adjust their learning task so that they are working in a zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978). Simply stated, students’ self-esteem, motivation and positive feelings of accomplishment are enhanced when the learning activities they are given in the classroom are carefully designed to provide an appropriate level of challenge for them (Anderson & Pavin, 1993).
As we learn more about the high-ability students in the classroom, what they already know, what their interests are and also what additional information (learning profile) we know about them, we are ready to design differentiation activities that meet their needs.
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What are the basic principles of differentiation? |
The following seven guiding principles for curriculum differentiation respond to the question, “What do I need to consider when differentiating for my high-ability (gifted/talented) students?”
- The content of curricula for gifted students should focus on and be organized to include more elaborate, complex, and in-depth study of major ideas, problems, and themes that integrate knowledge within and across systems of thought.
- Curricula for gifted students should allow for the development and application of productive thinking skills to enable students to reconceptualize existing knowledge and/or generate new knowledge.
- Curricula for gifted students should enable them to explore constantly changing knowledge and information, and develop the attitude that knowledge is worth pursuing in an open world.
- Curricula for gifted students should encourage exposure to, selection, and use of appropriate and specialized resources.
- Curricula for gifted students should promote self-initiated and self-directed learning and growth.
- Curricula for gifted students should provide for the development of self- understanding and the understanding of one's relationship to persons, societal institutions, nature, and culture.
- Evaluations of curricula for gifted students should be conducted in accordance with the previously stated principles, stressing higher-level thinking skills, creativity, and excellence in performance and products (Passow, 1982).
Dr. VanTassel-Baska indicates that “Curriculum for the gifted should be differentiated at all levels of design, including the goals of the lessons, the outcomes required of students, the activities and projects in which students engage, the strategies educators employ, the materials used, and the assessments to measure progress (VanTassel-Baska, 2011, p. 80).
References:
Anderson & Pavin. (1993). Nongradedness: Helping it to happen. In Plucker J.A. Callahan, Carolyn M. (2008). Critical issues and practices in gifted education: What the Research Says, (p. 169). Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.
Csikszentmihalyi, M., Rathunde, K., & Whlen, S. (1993). Talented teenagers: The roots of success and failure. In Critical issues and practices in gifted education: What the research says. (p. 169). Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.
Curry, J. (1999). Retrieved from http://www.wilmette39.org/DI39/quotes.html.
Kaplan, S.N. Layering differentiated curricula for the gifted and talented. In Karnes, F.A., and Bean, S.M., (2005). Methods and Materials for Teaching the Gifted, 2nd Ed. (p.113). Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.
Passow, A.H. (1982). Differential curricula for the gifted/talented: Committee report to the National/State Leadership Training Institute on the Gifted and Talented. Ventura Co, CA: Office of the Superintendent of Schools.
Samara, J. Pedraza, C. & Curry, Eds. (1993). Developing instructional units: Grades K-2. Salt Lake City, UT: Utah Association for Gifted Children.
Riley, Tracy L., Teaching Gifted and Talented Students in Regular Classrooms. In
Karnes, F. A., and Bean S. M., Methods and Materials for Teaching the Gifted, 2nd Ed. (p. 580). Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.
Seney, R.W., Process skills and the gifted learner. In Karnes, F. A., and Bean S. M. (2005). Methods and Materials for Teaching the Gifted, 2nd Ed. (p. 134). Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.
Tomlinson, C.A. (2003). Fulfilling the promise of the differentiated classroom. (pp. 1,2,10). Alexandria, Virginia: ASCD.
Tomlinson, C.A. Differentiated instruction. In Critical issues and practices in gifted education: What the research says. (p. 170). Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.
VanTassel-Baska, J. and Little, C.A. (2011). Content Based Curriculum for high-ability learners. (pp. 3, 80,103,119, 394-395). Waco, Texas: Prufrock Press Inc.
Vgotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.