Curriculum Differentiation Lynda Peters TAS Head Teacher Manly Selective Campus Session 1: The needs of gifted students in TAS GAT Unit Curriculum K-12 © State of New South Wales through the NSW Department of Education and Training, 2007 What does gifted mean ? A gifted child is a child who has the ability (potential) to perform in any domain of human activity, at a level we would more usually expect of students some years older. What does talented mean? A talented child is a child who is actually achieving or performing at a level we would more usually expect of students some years older. In other words, giftedness is high potential while talent is that high potential translated into high performance. Characteristics of gifted children Learn basic skills easily, readily and with fewer repetitions Possess unusual imagination Demonstrate a longer attention span enabling concentration on and perseverance in solving problems Create, invent, investigate and conceptualise enjoying the challenge Additional characteristics that may be displayed by gifted TAS students Advanced management of problem solving/ design processes Advanced ICT skills Reporting skills Analysis of concepts Pre-testing Not all gifted learners develop to the same level in all skill areas. Pre-testing to identify levels of student achievement (and avoid unnecessary repetition) and recognition of prior learning are important strategies to employ. In order to set up a program to meet the needs of gifted learners we must first establish as best we can what those needs are. The pre-test The pre-test is not designed to come up with a mark or grade. It is not seeking to rank students across a range of abilities. Its sole function is to find out what gifted students already know about a topic so they do not have repetition of what they already know, can do and understand. The “learn to” statements may be used as a guide to setting the pre-test. The test does not need to be designed for students of average ability. This makes it easier to set as questions don’t need to be provided for students of lower ability. The result of pre-testing will typically be to allow compacting in order to increase time for more complex tasks or self directed learning. How can you pre-test? Verbal questions, but it is important to record student comments. Also you must ensure all students participate. Teacher can use a laptop and create a spread sheet of student abilities. Short answer questions using “learn to” statements. When creating questions ensure the answers will contain useful information. Explain to students the purpose of pretesting – no marks but a way for you to gain information for planning the direction for the unit of work. Using the results The test may not cover all the “learn to” statements perfectly but you select the key ones. It is simply designed to indicate what students know and to assess their readiness to move to another program. In the other program students are still covering the same material but at a different level so if they cannot demonstrate total knowledge it does not exclude them. The results of the pre-test will guide the degree of change to the curriculum undertaken by students. Activity 1 In pairs: create a pre-test for a unit of work or share pre-test ideas. Curriculum Differentiation Session 2 Differentiation strategies in TAS What is Curriculum Differentiation? Curriculum differentiation is a broad term referring to the need to tailor teaching environments and practices to create appropriately different learning experiences for different students. Keirouz (1993) suggests typical procedures in the case of gifted and talented students include: deleting already mastered material from existing curriculum, adding new content, process, or product expectations to existing curriculum, extending existing curriculum to provide enrichment activities, providing course work for able students at an earlier age than usual, and writing new units or courses that meet the needs of gifted students. http://www.giftedchildren.com.au/link/resources/curriculum_differentiation Activity 2 1. Speak to the person next to you and share specific strategies that you use for differentiating the curriculum. 2. Feedback good strategies to the group. Acceleration Acceleration enables GAT students to participate in learning based on their performance. Acceleration can be provided through: ability groupings within the class compacting the curriculum individual or whole class acceleration. Advantages and disadvantages ???????? Extension Extension allows students to study an area in more depth. The most common form of differentiation can be useful tool for making students more analytical and reflective. The rule of thumb here is no mots (more of the same). The extension activity should be more difficult in terms of skills and levels of thinking or application and should not need to add to their workload. Extension activities include: learning centre contracts mentors peer teaching using information technology parallel programming. Parallel programming Involves individual or group of students working on a theme or topic, but at a range of ability levels. Parallel programming should: relate to normal classroom work employ higher-order thinking skills enable students to work on activities at the same time as the rest of the class be evaluated and recorded by student and teacher. Students who are to have individualised learning may need to be trained in: assuming some responsibility for their learning becoming independent learners working at their own pace making choices evaluating their work exercising judgement over a range of resources available. Enrichment Enrichment broadens the range of experiences for all GAT students. Enrichment activities may include: excursions, e.g. Houses of the Future Competitions, e.g. Sustainable Challenge or MYDA using technology – online learning, web board. Enrichment assists students to improve skills such as: creative thinking problem solving questioning independent research. Fostering HOT in the classroom Set up a classroom environment which is conducive to high-level thinking: multi-level materials flexible groupings accept and celebrate diversity high expectations teacher as co-learner nurture risk-taking. Fostering HOT in the classroom Engage students in activities which foster high-level thinking: collaborative group activities problem-solving activities open-ended questions. What is an open-ended task? Typically an open-ended question has more than one answer and usually there are different ways of recording answers. (Sullivan & Clarke, 1992) Differentiating product Gifted students require high expectations and deep knowledge: – real-world problems and products – variety of production requirements and alternatives – open-ended product alternatives that encourage creative responses – a reason for sharing their findings – realistic corrective feedback. Activity 3 What could you do tomorrow to help differentiate the curriculum? What could you do next week? What could you set up next year? Curriculum differentiation Session 3 Assessment of a differentiated program Why do we assess? Assessment for learning Assessment of learning Assessment for learning is an essential and integrated part of teaching reflects a belief that all students can improve involves setting learning goals with students helps students know and recognise the standards they are aiming for. Assessment for learning involves students in self-assessment and peer assessment provides feedback that helps students understand the next steps in learning and plan how to achieve them. Board of Studies - Technology (Mandatory) Syllabus page 60 Assessment of learning Teachers can use evidence gathered from assessment to extend the process of assessment for learning into their assessment of learning. In a standards-referenced framework this involves teachers in making professional judgements about student achievement at key points in the learning cycle. Board of Studies - Technology (Mandatory) Syllabus page 62 Creating assessment tasks Assessment tasks that provide feedback help students to learn better. Questions need to be designed so that they do not provide obvious answers and encourage rote learning. Tasks must require students to extend and/or apply their knowledge. BLOOM’S REVISED TAXONOMY Creating Generating new ideas, products, or ways of viewing things Designing, constructing, planning, producing, inventing. Evaluating Justifying a decision or course of action Checking, hypothesising, critiquing, experimenting, judging Analysing Breaking information into parts to explore understandings and relationships Comparing, organising, deconstructing, interrogating, finding Applying Using information in another familiar situation Implementing, carrying out, using, executing Understanding Explaining ideas or concepts Interpreting, summarising, paraphrasing, classifying, explaining Remembering Recalling information Recognising, listing, describing, retrieving, naming, finding Technology (Mandatory) – Textiles Technologies Complete 3 activities from the following chart: Learning Style Verbal/ Linguistic Logical/ Mathematical Activity Using narrative text, describe a day in the life of a cotton boll, going from fibre to fabric. Find out the total cotton production in Australia for the last ten years. Present your findings in graphical or table form. Visual/ Spatial Design a poster showing the end uses of polyester fibre, yarn and fabric in a variety of textile domains. Bodily/ Kinaesthetic Create a textural chart showing cotton and polyester in fibre, yarn and fabric form. Musical Compose a jingle for any textile item to be advertised on the radio. Play your jingle to the class. Interpersonal With a partner research and write whether natural or synthetic fibres are better for the environment. Intrapersonal Do a personal PMI of the Fabric Mosaics unit of work. Naturalist What effect does the growing of cotton have on the environment and how can this be overcome? Technology (Mandatory) Unit 1 Design Related Content – Common Assessment Task 1 Using ICT skills create your own graphical representation of the design process. You must identify a specific problem and use the design process to solve the problem. The diagram will be displayed in the classroom, so make it creative and interesting. Marking guidelines Very High Displays all stages of the design process Uses highly developed ICT skills including the use of graphics, layout, text, colour Using a specific design problem shows detailed understanding of design process showing the links between all stages High Displays all stages of the design process Uses ICT skills including the use of graphics, layout, text, colour Using a specific design problem shows clear understanding of design process showing some links between stages Marking guidelines Satisfactory Displays all stages of the design process Uses ICT skills including the use of graphics, layout, text, colour Shows basic understanding of design process Working Towards Displays design process Work is either not computer generated or lacks organisation and/or presentation Shows little understanding of design process Unsatisfactory No work attempted Standards for Design Solutions Interior design Very High Clear vision of interior design in 2030 Highly functional room with quality finish Shows accurate scale and proportion Model contains a minimum of 3 model making materials Majority of furnishings created from recycled materials Evidence of advanced model making techniques Very High High Clear vision of interior design in 2030 Functional room with quality finish Shows scale and proportion Model contains a minimum of 3 model making materials Majority of furnishings created from recycled materials Some evidence of advanced model making techniques Satisfactory Limited vision of interior design in 2030 Function of room not clearly evident Satisfactory finish of room Shows limited scale and proportion Model contains less than 3 model making materials Some furnishings created from recycled materials Little evidence of advanced model making techniques Working Towards No clear vision of interior design in 2030 Function of room not clearly evident Poor quality finish of room Little evidence of scale and proportion Model contains less than 3 model making materials Some furnishings created from recycled materials Minimal evidence of advanced model making techniques Activity 4 1. Review an existing assessment task does the task meet the needs of GAT students? 2. What changes could you make to improve the task?