Rick Wormeli’s Flexible Grouping & Approaches to Differentiation

How do you go beyond a Differentiation Instruction to build a Differentiated Classroom?

       1.     Start with Good Curriculum

§  Rick first takes into consideration his more advanced students when planning his lesson; he then modifies for other students and then tiers his lessons to fit all his students’ needs and levels.

§  Make sure high quality instruction is in place; make sure all students have a sense of readiness based on their individual needs.

§  Rick mentioned differentiating his lessons is a lot of work; a lot of up-front work! What does that mean? Rick spends all his time working with his students.

       2.     Continuously Assess Where Students Are

§  It’s important for a teacher to pre-assess to see where the students are before even begin teaching. Pre-assessments give great clues as to how you might adjust your teaching.

§  Push students beyond their comfort level; challenge them!

§  Daily assessments (informal assessments) are as equally important as pre-assessments. Daily assessments should be your compass to your daily planning.

§  One way to assess daily can occur during lesson-closure, like an exit card to end the day. Rick used the 3-2-1 Summary Method. The students write 3 things they learned about the topic, 2 comments about their personal connections or reflections and 1 question they might have regarding the topic.

       3.     Create a Sense of Community

§  Rick said one of the greatest things you can give the kids is creating a welcoming sense of community; it’s a community where you learn so much everyday.

§  You have to learn to trust yourself, your peers, and your teacher.

§  Attitude!

§  It’s important to have the student feel welcomed.

§  No matter what grade you’re in, every individual has room to grow. Growth is what needs to be celebrated.

§  Building community in a differentiated classroom is key for the teacher. It’s the teacher’s responsibility to find every student fascinating and worthwhile; to find their interests and individualism in them all.

§  The teacher will no longer be a self-controlled agent in the classroom. Students have to learn to seek each other’s advice and know when to help each other.

       4.     Use Flexible Grouping

§  At times, give students freedom of choice to choose groups on their own

§  When grouping students, be purposeful

§  Experience a variety of modes & configurations when grouping

§  Make sure it’s clear to students that working arrangements & conditions change often. They may be grouped with a specific student one day, then the next day it may be someone else.

§  Configure the students so you can accomplish the things you want them to accomplish.

       5.     Use Multiple Instructional Strategies

§  It’s critical the instructional strategies matches where it is the teacher wants the students to go.

§  Coaching and observing students = effective way to assess students in their learning.

§  Plan high quality instruction while working & encouraging students on an individual level.

§  Know the child! Get to know the students by personal observations.

 I believe when all five components are used together in the classroom, you will have created a differentiated classroom where every single student is being taken into consideration. I feel it’s crucial to create a community where the students feel welcome and safe, and to also produce curriculum where you’re assessing continuously.

What do Students Need?

As a teacher, it's important to have your students feel safe, welcomed, accepted, loved, and cared for while at school. How do we assure students are receiving all of that and more? Students and their needs in our classrooms are crucial. We all want to be that teacher to assist every child's needs while going above and beyond. Below are five key needs of students. Although this list isn't graved in stone, the needs can be modified based on your own perspectives. 

1. Affirmation- Students need to know that they'll be okay while at school. They need to feel accepted, safe, have individual acknowledgement in regards to school, interests, hobbies, etc., have people believe them them and have those willing to listen. Students having affirmation addresses that we as teachers are aware of their self-esteem and working with them to have higher self-esteem while at school.

2. Contribution- One of the biggest things we can encourage in our classrooms is having students contribute to the level they're comfortable with. When students contribute they have an overall feeling that they can accomplish anything and feel they've made a difference in the classroom. Each individual student plays an important part in the classroom, without one of the students, the classroom isn't a whole. 

3. Power- All students want to have control of power in the classroom. When students feel powerful, they'll come back wanting more power. Students will quickly understand how the classroom routines operate and know what is expected of them. They'll want to make choices they contribute to their own success-- it's very satisfying to them to find themselves becoming more powerful in the classroom. 

4. Purpose- All of our future students will realize there's a purpose to all they do, in and out of the classroom. Students will understand what they do makes a difference and that they play an important part in the classroom.  

5. Challenge- For each individual student, challenges will be different. Challenge in the classroom gives students the opportunity to plant roots while making their big dreams. When students have a challenge, they'll move toward their dreams. At times students will feel fear and not take a risk to reach their dreams, but challenging themselves will allow them to grow as an individual. 

I feel the above student needs are crucial to the classroom and the way students learn. I want to be the teacher to give teachers all they need in order to feel successful and to reach their dreams. I want to be the teacher who gives all students the opportunities to have daily affirmations, make contributions to the classroom, feel the strength of power, feel they have a purpose in all they do, and make learning a personal challenge to strive above and beyond.  

Daily Affirmations- 

The Cogs of Differentiation

Differentiation is often referred to as the "clockwork" of three cogs that are interrelated and interdependent. These three cogs are essential elements which help make up the classroom and the positive effects it brings.

Although the Cogs of Differentiation is set up in a way to ensure success in the classroom, they can be modified depending on the teacher. The cogs can also be referred to as a compass and the way in which they direct us in our decisions on how we'll accommodate for our students' needs and differentiate our instruction. 

I believe the three cogs all work together to create the most effective and successful classroom environment. I believe if you leave out one, the other two won't work properly. It's important to implement all three cogs and their  individual elements together at the same time to help balance each other out and to promote students' success. I strongly believe if I focus on their three cogs in my future classroom, I will have an easier and more positive result when it comes to differentiating instruction.

Differentiating Instruction: What & Why?

I remember being in Intro to Education many semesters ago and hearing "differentiating your instruction". What the crap did this mean?! I had no idea. We didn't talk in depth about it, just a few quick sentences and then moved on. When the Elementary Education program started, I began to learn more about being a differentiated teacher and what exactly it meant to do so. 

As Carol Ann Tomlinson described in her book, differentiated instruction is basically responsive instruction. Differentiated instruction happens when we as teachers look at our students as individuals and focus on what their individual interests and needs are. It's when we take our lessons and adjust them to accommodate for everyone's needs. It's when we're willing to go above and beyond to help all our students succeed. 

There are four traits that teachers must take into consideration to ensure their students are receiving the best and most effective instruction. I believe it's important to constantly think about these four traits and the effect they have on your students as well as your classroom.

1. Readiness- refers to a student's knowledge, understanding, and skill related to sequence of learning.

2. Interest- refers to the topics that evoke curiosity and passion within our learners.

3. Learning Profile- refers to how our students learn from the best.

4. Affect- refers to how students feel about themselves, their work, and the classroom as a whole. 

When I began to feel comfortable with the idea of differentiating instruction, I realized it's not about where the students are; advanced, on grade-level, or struggling. It's about where you take each student. It's about helping each student get to the next level. It's about working with each student as an individual and believing in them with your whole heart. 

Interviews with Sylvia & Students

Let me tell you this... if you were able to stay to Sylvia's entire presentation in class, I highly recommend you take the opportunity to still watch the interviews with Q & A's from her as well as some students. They're brilliant to say the least.

Student Question & Answer: 

I loved when one of the girls said her personal favorite thing about Morning Meetings was she likes being able to tell about things happening in her life. Instead of keeping the things that happen at home inside, she can share them with everyone and feels comfortable doing so. I think that's great. I love that kids are able to share and self-reflect. 

Teacher Question & Answer: 

I loved when Sylvia talked about the biggest reward that comes from Morning Meetings- it's building a classroom community and the students becoming individuals. She said Morning Meetings are far reaching beyond the classroom- from hearing her speak on Monday and from this interview, I can how it does. Morning Meetings involve students in every aspect, even when it's not during Morning Meeting time. My other favorite thing she mentioned was at the end of the year how she has her students write how they've become a better person from being in this class, and how most of them will reflect on Morning Meetings. I think that's absolutely incredible.

Each time I learn something new about Morning Meetings I start to realize more and more how important they are in your classroom and the effect they have on your students. I can't wait to use Morning Meetings in my classroom and see the benefits they bring to my classroom. 

Different Learners, Different Lessons

In differentiated classrooms, teachers...

• Begin where students are, not at the front of a curriculum guide
• Accept and build upon the premise that learners differ in important ways
• Accept and act on the premise that teachers must be ready to engage students through different learning modalities, by appealing to differing interests, and by using varied rates of instruction
• Ensure that a student competes against himself as he grows and develops, more than he competes against other students
• Provide specific ways for each individual to learn as deeply and quickly as possible
• Use time flexibly, call upon a range of instructional strategies and become partners with their students to see that both what is learned and the learning environment are shaped to the learner 
• Begin with a clear and solid sense of what constitutes powerful curriculum and engaging instruction 
• Accept, embrace, and plan for the fact that learners bring many commonalities to school, BUT that they also bring the essential differences that make them an individual. 

As I was reading the article Different Learners, Different Lessons the points above really stood out to me. I feel it's important to always keep in mind these points and to bring them into our future classrooms. We all want to be an effective differentiated teacher for our students. As we've heard many times over and over again that having great classroom management can help you a tremendous amount as a teacher, I also believe the same goes for differentiation. As I was thinking about it, at times the days may seem completely unbearable when trying to differentiate to all students' needs, but I know in the end, in will all be worth it. As a future teacher, I want to make sure I'm differentiating my instruction every day to my students. It's important to me that I help my students succeed in all they do in my classroom. I want to be that effective teacher that plays an impact on so many lives- because of the way I taught. 

Morning Meetings in Field

As I was reading through the Morning Meeting Packet, it was like I had a lightbulb click on in my head! I instantly thought of my last semester in field with my little first grade class. 

After morning bell-work, Mrs. N. would call her students to the back of the room to sit on the rug. She'd start out by saying, "Does anyone have something they'd like to share with the class?" After a handful of students shared, they moved onto the daily calendar routine. As one student lead the class with the calendar, they would add another day to how many days of school they had completed within their 'place value counter' chart. In unison, they discussed what day of the week yesterday was, what today was, and what day of the week tomorrow will be. Lastly, they looked at the weather outside and recorded it on the weather chart. Mrs. N. also did a daily morning message with words spelled wrong, grammatical errors, and a note of what was going on that day. The class would correct the errors and read the message aloud with Mrs. N. 

  

Although Mrs. N.'s Morning Meeting didn't follow Kriete's Morning Meeting Model, I feel she still formulated her own little Morning Meeting with the students each day. I didn't realize this is what Mrs. N. was doing and I didn't fully understand why she did what she did until I read more about Morning Meetings in the packet.

Morning Meetings:

• Builds Classroom Community
• Reinforces Social & Academic Skills
• Helps develop Cooperation, Assertiveness, Responsibility, Empathy & Self-Control

Oh, how wonderful Morning Meetings are! 

Morning Meetings!

Our first differentiation class meeting where we talked about morning meetings, I wasn't completely sure how I felt about using them in my classroom. What was all the hype about?! I told myself I wouldn't have a bad attitude about Morning Meetings so I decided to see for myself what they were all about. 

1. Greeting- Students and teachers greet one other by name and practice offering hospitality.
2. Sharing- Students share information about important events in their lives. Listeners often offer empathetic comments or ask clarifying questions.
3. Group Activity- Everyone participates in a brief, lively activity that fosters group cohesion and helps students practice social and academic skills.
4. News & Announcements- Students read and interact with a short message written by their teacher. The message is crafted to help students focus on the work they'll do in school that day.

Morning Meeting Stages from Responsive Classroom

Morning Meetings can literally change the lives of students every day. When you use the Kriete model in your classroom, it gives students opportunities to learn about each other and grow together as friends inside and outside of the classroom. As a future teacher I believe Morning Meetings establish a safe environment for students to learn as well as giving them opportunities to grow together. 

Greeting Idea - Picture Greeting

Group Activity - Sparkle Activity

Hallmarks of a Differentiated Classroom

1. A strong link between assessment and instruction: Assessment and instruction go hand in hand. Assessment should measure what was taught. We can use backwards design and plan our assessments around our instruction while being clear about our objectives.

2. Absolute clarity about what the teacher wants the students to know, understand, and be able to do - about what is truly important to learn in this unit: Focus is what we want the students to focus on.

Essential Learning- basic, indispensable and necessary.

Teacher Clarity- teacher is clear about what they are teaching.

3. Shared responsibility for the classroom is between teacher and students, in the goal of making it work for everyone: Let students be involved in their learning, “do you want to learn this first or this”? Shared responsibility is between teacher and students. Students contribute to the class community and learn their own strengths and weaknesses.

4. Individual growth is emphasized as central to classroom success: We plant the seeds- students grow at own pace. There are times we focus on individual and group successes, but we never point out and make it a competition. Individual growth = classroom success. We should recognize students’ growth without competition or comparison while we support and guide them. We should encourage students to achieve their personal best and set individualized personally challenging goals for them. 

5. A "way up", usually through multiple and varied pathways, and never a "way out": Scaffolding, simultaneously, strategically. You need to scaffold for the low kids as well as the high kids, always have the end goal in mind.

6. "Respectful" and engaging work for all students: Don’t make them feel stupid, get to know them so you can provide the right type of challenges. “Color outside of the lines!”

7. Proactive thinking and planning for different pathways: Differentiating is planning instruction ahead of time and planning for things that may arise and affect you while teaching. It’s planning for those things that will require accommodations/modifications for specific students.

8. Flexible grouping: Flexible grouping is a colorful classroom. It isn’t just about the grouping; it’s that you are flexible while doing so.

9. Flexible use of time, space, and materials : We need to create an environment that allows students to have the appropriate materials and space needed while working within the classroom. We will do whatever it is to assure students are earning the time, space, and materials that are needed to succeed. 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I love "The Golden Ticket" and the way it will help me as a future teacher make my classroom a differentiated classroom. I believe it's important for all teachers to utilize these hallmarks and use them in their teaching everyday. Learning to differentiate your classroom will make an effective classroom.