Differentiation and Diversity

What makes classroom diverse?

• children from different cultures
• different linguistic backgrounds
• different socioeconomic levels
• different cognitive variables

We call this a heterogeneous classroom. We use different ways and teaching methods to help reach all of our children in any given classroom. There is Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Response to Intervention (RTI), and Interactive Strategies Approach (ISA) to name a few.

Three uses in UDL to help reach a heterogeneous classroom:

1. Support recognition learning, provide multiple means of representation
2. Support strategic learning and provide multiple means of action and expression
3. Support affective learning by providing multiple means of engagement.

With words use verbal explanations, pictures, gestures videos, present your ideas, lessons, and vocabulary words through different mediums. Try generalizing words against different contexts. Let the children process, visualize and manipulate lesson plans in more than one way.

The purpose of UDL is not to modify the content you are teaching but to provide more than one way to learn it!

Multiple means of representation:

• connect prior knowledge
• offer linguistic support
• use multiple representation to present words and concepts
• use graphs, highlighting texts and relations among words

Memory

• paraphrase, role play, using visualizations and mnemonics

Communicate what you mean in alternate ways

• generalize over different mediums

Teach self support

• student goal setting
• student step by step instructions
• think aloud
• self monitoring

Let the student choose what to learn:

• use peer collaboration
• self assessment
• reflection
• graph charts

Purpose and uses of RTI. There are three tiers in RTI. The basis of this intervention is to find those students who are having trouble and to give them extra support to bring them up to grade level. Each level is using an alternate curriculum than what is happening in a general education classroom. This could be to reach ELL students, Specific Learning Disability (SLD), Specific Learning Intervention (SLI), Intellectual Disabled (ID) and others. These are often used before placing a child on an individualized education placement (IEP).

Tier1: Using professional development
Tier 2: daily one to one express support
Tier 3: Using both 1 and 2 interventions

Interactive Strategies Approach (ISA) is an early literacy intervention that is not an actual program. ISA is used to construct meaning and high knowledge of syntactic and semantic knowledge in new words and how they relate to one another. This is not evidence based but it does have some success by teaching the basics of language and reading and giving children a good foundation.