If your spouse teaches in public school,

[mom31257]

especially a school that requires a lot of DI (differentiated instruction), could you ask them for suggestions of where to find good ideas and resources to vary the DI? Dh just had an evaluation and was told he needed more DI in his lessons. He really tries to include it, so he's not sure how much more they want. This evaluation came during a week he was out 2 of the 5 days.

 

He teaches high school world and US history. Thanks for any suggestions!

[NotSoObvious]

We had to include differentiated instruction in our lesson plans for at least one lesson every week (first grade). The biggest thing to remember is that you don't need to plan a bunch of separate activities/lessons for one class period. You just need to plan one lesson that allows kids of all abilities to access and demonstrate knowledge in a meaningful way. Bloom's Taxonomy is helpful for planning.

 

Here are some helpful sites I found for high school:

 

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/8-lessons-learned-differentiating-instruction

 

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/links_grades_kindergarten_12/sample_units_lessons_differentiated_instruction.htm

 

http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/researchskills/dalton.htm

 

http://www.learnerslink.com/curriculum.htm

 

http://www.duvalschools.org/newteachers/DI%20Tool%20Box.htm

 

http://its.leesummit.k12.mo.us/different.htm

[NotSoObvious]

Also, if they haven't provided a DI training, they need to, and he can ask to be sent to one.

[suppleasthewind]

I'll have to ask my husband when he comes home later. I have not heard him mention it before but I will ask anyway.

 

Here in western New York public teachers have been skewered by the media a great deal for a few years now, and poor hubby's nerves are raw. My husband and I always talk about how to motivate students to learn. He told me about "explicit instruction", where the teacher is required to say, "today we will learn about blah blah," and write it on the board.

[mom31257]

I'll have to ask my husband when he comes home later. I have not heard him mention it before but I will ask anyway.

 

Here in western New York public teachers have been skewered by the media a great deal for a few years now, and poor hubby's nerves are raw. My husband and I always talk about how to motivate students to learn. He told me about "explicit instruction", where the teacher is required to say, "today we will learn about blah blah," and write it on the board.

 

Yes, he is supposed to write the standard on the board and actually mention the standard in his lesson. He can't just teach the material of the standard, he actually has to use the wording of the standard and tell the students it is the standard.

 

What's odd about this last evaluation is that the people loved a video clip he showed at the beginning and wondered why he didn't deal more with it, and they disliked a worksheet that he had the class do. The lesson was on the scientific revolution. The video clip was about current advances in science, and the worksheet was about the cause and effects of scientific revolution inventions. The worksheet actually had the standard in it and the video did not. They had to work together as a class to figure out the causes and effects, which he thinks is a good thinking skill activity, but they don't like worksheets at all!

[mom31257]

We had to include differentiated instruction in our lesson plans for at least one lesson every week (first grade). The biggest thing to remember is that you don't need to plan a bunch of separate activities/lessons for one class period. You just need to plan one lesson that allows kids of all abilities to access and demonstrate knowledge in a meaningful way. Bloom's Taxonomy is helpful for planning.

 

Here are some helpful sites I found for high school:

 

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/8-lessons-learned-differentiating-instruction

 

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/links_grades_kindergarten_12/sample_units_lessons_differentiated_instruction.htm

 

http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/researchskills/dalton.htm

 

http://www.learnerslink.com/curriculum.htm

 

http://www.duvalschools.org/newteachers/DI%20Tool%20Box.htm

 

http://its.leesummit.k12.mo.us/different.htm

 

THANK YOU!

[mom31257]

Any one else have resources or suggested sites? Thanks in advance!

[readinmom]

Differentiated instruction is another way of saying scaffold what you teach in order to make it accessible to all learners. If you have special ed, English learners, etc. in your class, the lesson should have several points in it where the material is reinforced at that learning level.

 

Almost all major textbook publishers have the differentiated instructor books that go with the main textbook.

 

Check out Marzano's books. (google them on Amazon) He is the hottest thing in making learning accessible to all. Marzano's Instructional Strategies and Differentiated Instruction is a good place to start. He also has a website.

 

If dh is writing lesson plans for evaluations, just mentioning that he is using Marzano strategies is enough to satisfy the requirements.

 

*Another thought is to use graphic organizers during the lesson. I teach a collaborative class and use these to help keep students organized and focused during direct instruction.

 

Your dh is welcome to pm me if need be.