Of the many buzzwords with which we are inundated as teachers by far the best one -to me- is differentiation. Many of us do it daily as we try to meet the needs of the couple two, three handfuls of individuals who are counting on us, but just like everything else, getting started is the hardest part. Want to know how I do it…or try to? See below!
Teachers of young children knows the importance of the foundation we lay and how it affects students’ future school performance. Our efforts to improve outcomes for students must be aligned as early as possible, so we must consider the range of student ability and prepare to differentiate when planning instruction. As such, we must create continua that span the entire grade range included under the umbrella of “early childhood”; preschool-3rd grade. Students exist on a continuum of development, so how do teachers ensure lessons we teach reach every student? By planning activities and assessments that also exist on a continuum! You can create a continuum for anything you teach; all you need are a set of standards, a graphic organizer and a concept…
Get started!
1. Print this graphic organizer, or make your own based on your needs.
2. Dig in to the standards for your concept. Find the standard at each grade level.
3. Use the graphic organizer to arrange elements of the standard in order of complexity from high to low.
4. Plan tasks and assessments that address varying levels of understanding within the same standard or concept.
Continuum resources with grade level alignments:
Math: http://achievethecore.net/coherence-map/
ELA: The Continuum of Literacy Learning, Grades PreK-2, Second Edition: A Guide to Teaching, Second Edition (Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System)
Science: http://www.nextgenscience.org/sites/default/files/NGSS%20DCI%20Combined%2011.6.13.pdf
Download a PDF resource of this information here!
