Differentiation with cluster groups of gifted students Primary

Differentiation with cluster groups of gifted students: Primary: K-2 Dr. Elissa F. Brown Hunter College eb 177@hunter. cuny. edu York County School Division January 2019

Overview C & I Agree/Disagree discussion starter Characteristics of Gifted Defining Differentiation Research-based strategy: Questioning (Costa) Research-based strategy: Tiering through Choice Boards • Differentiation Features Framework • • •

Intellectual and Personality Characteristics of Gifted Learners • Exceptional reasoning ability • Intellectual curiosity • Rapid learning rate • Complex thinking • Passion for learning • Divergent thinking • Keen sense of justice • Capacity for reflection • • Insightfulness Need to understand Need for stimulation Need for precision/logic Intensity Nonconformity Questioning of authority Tendency toward introversion Elissa F Brown, Ph. D Hunter College-CUNY Van. Tassel-Baska, 2007; Silverman, 1993

Bright Child vs. Gifted Learner • • • Knows the answers Answers the questions Top group Listens with ease 6 -8 repetitions for mastery Enjoys peers Enjoys school Thinks thoroughly within discipline Absorbs information • • • Asks the questions Discusses in detail Beyond the group Already knows 1 -2 repetitions for mastery Prefers adults Enjoys learning Sees global connections Manipulates information Elissa F Brown, Ph. D Hunter College-CUNY

What is Differentiation? The process of differentiation is the deliberate adaptation and modification of the curriculum, instructional processes, and assessments to respond to the needs of gifted learners -Van. Tassel-Baska, 2012 Elissa F Brown, Ph. D Hunter College-CUNY

Gifted Learner Needs What is taught Curriculum What is learned Assessment Instruction Elissa F Brown, Ph. D Hunter College-CUNY How it is delivered

• Would, Should, Could – Would every student want to do it? – Should every student do it? – Could every student do it?

Defensible Differentiation • Teach up Always • Waters down Never

Strategy: Questioning Questions are the most frequently used teaching technique in the classroom.

• Improving Your Questioning may be the Single Most Powerful Change You can Make in Your Classroom – It costs very little – It requires no new books, consumables or computers – You won’t sacrifice achievement – You can start …Tomorrow – When you get observed, they will be looking for your questioning techniques.

STATUS OF QUESTIONING IN THE CLASSROOM • Teachers ask questions that require students to respond with facts. 90% of all questions asked by instructors are low level questions. • Students ask questions about clarifying the homework assignment. Classroom Questioning by Kathleen Cotton http: //www. learner. org/workshops/socialstudies/pdf/session 6/6. Classroom. Questioning. pdf

REASONS WE ASK QUESTIONS? • To determine what students know and don’t know • To develop critical and creative thinking skills • To provide a review of material and content • To prepare students for what is to be learned • To check for comprehension or level of understanding • To attract student attention • To practice life-long learning skills • To have fun learning • To engage students in discussion • To teach students to ask questions

A MODEL FOR QUESTIONING: COSTA’S THREE LEVELS OF INQUIRY Level 1: The answer can be found in the text (either directly or indirectly). This type of question is very concrete and pertains only to the text. Level 1 questions ask for facts about what has been heard or read. Information is recalled in the exact manner/form it was heard or read. These types of questions help determine if you have read the material and understand what you have read. Level 2: The answer can be inferred from the text. This type of question, although more abstract than a Level 1 questions, deals only with the text. Information can be broken down in parts. Involves examination, analysis, causes of details. Level 3: Answer goes beyond text. This type of question is abstract, and may not pertain to text. These questions ask that judgments be made from information. They also give opinions about issues, judge the validity of the ideas or other products and justify opinions and ideas.

The Three Story Intellect Complete Identify Observe Count List Recite Define Match Select Describe Name Scan Input

The Three Story Intellect Compare Distinguish Analyze Contrast Explain Synthesize Classify Infer Make analogies Sort Sequence Reason Complete Identify Observe Count List Recite Define Match Select Describe Name Scan Process Input

The Three Story Intellect Evaluate Predict Hypothesize Generate Speculate Forecast Imagine If/then Idealize Judge Apply a principle Compare Distinguish Analyze Contrast Explain Synthesize Classify Infer Make analogies Sort Sequence Reason Complete Identify Observe Count List Recite Define Match Select Describe Name Scan Output Process Input

Costa’s Questioning Examples Level 1 2 3 Example (Grades 1 -2) List all the things Goldilocks did in the 3 Bear’s house? (Rdg/LA) Compare & contrast counting by 5’s and counting by 10’s (Math) Predict all the things that could happen if a relative moved in your house with your family (SS)

The Three Story Intellect There are one-story intellects, two story intellects, and three-story intellects with skylights. All fact collectors, who have no aim beyond their facts, are one-story men. Two-story men compare, reason, generalize, using the labors of the fact collectors as well as their own. Three-story men idealize, imagine, predict--their best illumination comes from above, through the skylight. Oliver Wendell Holmes

‘I Mustache You a Question’ Game Questioning game to use for guided reading, book clubs, balanced literacy (Grades 2 -5)

Let’s practice One day, a donkey saw a lion’s skin in the long grass. “I have always wanted to be a lion, ” he said. The donkey got into the lion’s skin. “I look like a lion, now, ”he said, “and I am going to have some fun!” He went to hide in the long grass. Some zebras came along. The donkey jumped up, and ran after the zebras. ”Help!” they cried. “A lion is coming to get us!” And they ran and ran. Then some foxes came along. The donkey jumped up, and ran after the foxes. “Help” they cried. “ A lion is coming to get us!” And they ran and ran. Then some monkeys came along. The donkey jumped up, and ran after the monkeys. “Help!” they cried. “ A lion is coming to get us!” The monkeys ran up and down. They ran around. They ran this way and that way. The donkey laughed and laughed. “Hee-haw!” The monkeys stopped running. ”That is not a lion, ” they said. “Lion’s don’t say Hee-Haw! That is a donkey!” The monkeys ran after the donkey. The zebras and the foxes ran after him, too. The donkey ran and ran. “Hee-haw!” he cried, “I am a donkey. And I will always be a donkey. ”

LET’S PRACTICE From the Donkey’s story, create the following questions: Level 1 (Input) Level 2 (Process) Level 3 (Output) You may use your handout on Costa’s Levels of Inquiry to help you. Be ready to share your findings with your partner!

Costa’s questioning with nonfiction and fiction https: //quizlet. com/Michele_Joerg/folders/flash cards-for-parents-curriculum-product/sets http: //bit. ly/Flashcards. For. Parents

We find that some teachers ask surface questions that do not take students deeper into …issues; we think of those students as walking on a path that surrounds a beautiful forest without ever stepping into the forest to look at the trees. Other teachers ask questions that [probe] do not build carefully toward key concepts. We think of these students as stepping in and out of the forest, catching glimpses of trees and flowers but not learning where they are …or how they may navigate their way through the forest. Other teachers ask questions that target key concepts and build carefully to enable students to find their way around. Those students experience the forest fully –they walk through, looking at the trees and flowers, and they also climb some trees and look at the whole terrain, getting a sense of where they are…. the questions that teachers use to guide students become the pathways that students walk along and that shape their experience of the terrain. ~Boaler & Humphreys, 2005

Strategy: Tiering with Choice Boards What are high level choice boards? What does it look like in practice? • Choice boards are generally used to differentiate product and can be valuable tools for assessing student progress. They allow choice for the student, but are deliberately developed with curricular goals and complex challenges that require students to use a repertoire of knowledge and skills to complete complex tasks (Stephens & Karnes, 2015).

Time Assessment • Tell in pictures and numbers what you know about telling time.

A Framework for Differentiating Up • • • Differentiation Features: Research-based approaches to differentiating appropriately and effectively for the gifted Used to analyze current approaches Used to plan curricular experiences Used to communicate with parents and/or administration Used as a strategic foci for differentiating up standards -Van. Tassel-Baska & Brown, 2007 Elissa F Brown, Ph. D Hunter College-CUNY

Differentiation Features: A framework for creating & assessing differentiation for the gifted • Acceleration • Complexity • Depth • Challenge • Creativity -Van. Tassel-Baska & Brown (2007) Elissa F Brown, Ph. D Hunter College-CUNY

Differentiation Features Checklist 1. Acceleration Fewer tasks assigned to master standard Assessed earlier or prior to teaching Clustered by higher order thinking skills 2. Complexity Used multiple higher level skills Added more variables to study Required multiple resources 3. Depth Studied a concept in multiple applications Conducted original research Developed a product Elissa F Brown, Ph. D Hunter College-CUNY

Differentiation Features Checklist Continued 4. Challenge Advanced resources employed Sophisticated content used Cross-disciplinary applications made Reasoning made explicit 5. Creativity Designed/constructed a model based on principles or criteria Provided alternatives for tasks, products, & assessments Emphasized oral & written communication to real world audience Elissa F Brown, Ph. D Hunter College-CUNY

Differentiation Example (ELA) • Discuss plot, setting, and character in the short story “A Rose for Emily. ” • Compare and contrast the plot, setting, characters, motivation, theme, and climax of “A Rose for Emily” and “The Bear” Elissa F Brown, Ph. D Hunter College-CUNY

Differentiation Example (Math) • Which would you rather choose? – a) 80% profit in year 1 and 50% loss in year 2. – b) 5% profit in year 1 and 5% profit in year 2. • Explain your reasoning. • Joe invested $1, 000 in stock in January. When he sold it in December, the price was up 12% from his purchase price. What was his profit on this stock? Elissa F Brown, Ph. D Hunter College-CUNY

Differentiation Example (Science) • Conduct an experiment on plant growth by measuring weekly progress of two sets of seeds, one in artificial light indoors and one outside in shade. • Design an experiment on one of the following questions and share your results in an oral and written presentation: – Are bees attracted to diet cola? – Are earthworms attracted to light? – Are boys more interested in computers than girls? – Your own question Elissa F Brown, Ph. D Hunter College-CUNY

2 nd graders exploring the concept of change (Differentiation Feature: Depth)

Your turn: With a partner or in a small group, choose one of the following activities and using the differentiation framework, differentiate UP: • List 2 interesting places to visit in your neighborhood. • Draw and color your state flag. List all the geometric shapes that you see. • Select 3 passages in the story that you think are interesting and explain in your own words their meaning. Elissa F Brown, Ph. D Hunter College-CUNY

Rigor is… Rigor is not… t Scaffolding thinking t More or harder t Planning for thinking t Assessing thinking about content t Recognizing the level of thinking students demonstrate t Managing the teaching/ learning level for the desired thinking level t t t Elissa F Brown, Ph. D Hunter College-CUNY worksheets AP or honors courses The higher level book in reading More work More homework Assisting classroom peers with understanding material