Technology Team
CommonSense Digital Media
Common Sense is dedicated to helping kids thrive in a world of media and technology. Click here to find out more.
Essential Knowledge
CODE
Try These Coding Sites!
Kindergarten Grade 1 and 2
The Foos
Snoopy Snow Brawl
Advanced Scratch
Create Google Logo
Differentiation
So, what is differentiated instruction anyway?
According to Carol Tomlinson:
Differentiation is making sure each student learns what he or she should learn by establishing clear goals, assessing persistently to see where each student is relative to the goals, and adjusting instruction based on assessment information—so that each student can learn as much as possible as efficiently as possible. Did you notice that Formative Assessment is a huge part of Differentiation? Click here for tons of resources for Formative Assessment.
Planning
Anything worthwhile in education takes planning. A teacher's time is at a premium, so use these planning guides to help you through the process.
Activities: here are over 80 activities you can use to get started
The following documents have specific activities to get you started. Choose and modify the activities listed here as you use the strategies on the rest of this page.
Writing to learn using RAFT - Role, Audience, Format, Topic
The RAFT strategy (Santa, 1988) employs writing-to-learn activities to enhance understanding of informational text. Instead of writing a traditional essay explaining a concept, students demonstrate their understanding in a nontraditional format. This technique encourages creative thinking and motivates students to reflect in unusual ways about concepts they have read.
Graphic Organizers
Graphic Organizers let children with low literacy skills, limited English fluency, and diverse learning styles process information more easily. The following graphic organizers are from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Scaffolding
Scaffolding and Differentiation are two different things. Scaffolding is what you do first with kids, then for those students who are still struggling, you may need to differentiate by modifying an assignment and/or making accommodations for a student (for example, choose more accessible text and/or assign an alternative project).
Tic-Tac-Toe
Tic-Tac-Toe is an easy way to give students different ways to demonstrate key ideas and use key skills. Basically, the Tic-Tac-Toe template has 9 boxes in it, just like the game. You can adjust this as needed however.
Variations:
Place an X in one cell and have all students complete that activity, then let them choose from there.
Shade in a column or row and have all students choose one activity from that area and choose the other two on their own.
Both of the first two bullet points let you control at least one type of assignment students choose.
Assign student tasks based on readiness.
Create different Tic-Tac-Toe boards based on readiness.
Create Tic-Tac-Toe boards based on learning styles or learning preferences.
Create Tic-Tac-Toe boards based on Multiple Intelligences.
Allow students to complete any 3 tasks--even if the completed tasks don't make a Tic-Tac-Toe.
Cubing
Cubing is a strategy, similar to Tic-Tac-Toe, which allows you to plan different activities for different students or groups of students based on student readiness, learning style, and/or interests. You create a cube, and on each of its six faces, you describe a different task related to the subject and/or concept being learned. Students roll the cube like dice and do whatever activity "comes up". Where the Tic-Tac-Toe strategy has nine activities to choose from, the Cube has six.
Think Dots
Think dots is another strategy similar to Tic-Tac-Toe and Cubing which allows you to plan different activities for different students or groups of students based on student readiness, learning style, and/or interests. For Think Dots, decide on six activities. You can put them all on one card, or you can put each activity on an index card sized piece of paper, punch a hole in the corner of each card and hook six activity cards together with a key ring, or string etc…. Put one dot on the first activity, 2 dots on the second activity and so on. To use the Think Dots, students roll a die and whatever number comes up on the die that is the activity they complete. So if a student rolls a four, they do the activity that has 4 dots.
Independent Projects
Independent learning projects can be intimidating for teachers and students. Even at the elementary level they can be a valuable tool to have in your teacher’s toolbox. Start out small and have your student(s) complete a simple project that takes 15 – 30 min. Once you get comfortabel you can assign more involved projects to students who need a special challenge. Any of the above activities can be used for independent learning. What follows is over 200 more project ideas.