CDI, EDB Dec 2018
Learner diversity is mainly reflected in students’ target language proficiency.
All students should be expected to aim for the same level of achievement.
Catering for learner diversity requires more lesson planning and more materials design.
When catering for learner diversity, attention is often
paid to the less-able students.
To enhance teachers’ understanding of learner diversity in the development of language skills in the secondary English classroom;
To introduce the use of effective strategies to cater for learner diversity;
To discuss how to leverage technology to cater for learner diversity; and
To share school-based experience and provide ideas on
developing relevant learning, teaching and assessment
activities/materials to cater for learner diversity
Catering for Learner Diversity
Catering for Learner Diversity Series: Effective Strategies for Accommodating the Diverse Needs of Students in the
Secondary English Classroom
Catering for Learner Diversity Series: Adopting e-Learning to Cater for Students with Special Educational Needs in the Junior Secondary English Classroom
Catering for Learner Diversity Series: Stretching the Potentials of Advanced Learners in the Secondary English Language
Classroom
Parental support
Learning style
Interest Motivation
Learning pace
Ability
World knowledge
Teaching a roomful of learners
in
over the with the
and expecting good results…
This scenario
…
and it never will…
Students:
learn at different rates;
need different degrees of difficulty;
have different interests;
learn in different ways; and
need different support
systems.
Part 1: Overview of differentiated instruction (DI)
Part 2: Application
Part 3: School experience sharing
Teachers can differentiate
according to students’
• Current
knowledge,
understanding, and skill level a student has related to a particular sequence of learning
Readiness
• What a
student enjoys learning about, thinking
about and doing
Interest
• A student’s preferred mode of learning
Learning Profile
To appropriately challenge all learners
Consideration:
Experience with the topic
Knowledge, understanding and skills of the topic
Overgeneralisation about the topic
Misunderstanding of the topic
General communication, thinking and reasoning skills
To enhance learning effectiveness
Consideration:
Learning styles
Visual
Kinesthetic
Auditory
Group orientation
Intra-personal
Inter-personal
To motivate students to learn
Consideration:
Passions
Hobbies
ECA or sports
Favourite TV shows
Favourite music
Friends
Electives they take
Teachers can differentiate
according to students’
Content refers to what students need to learn.
All students should be given access to the same core content.
Teachers can adapt the content’s complexity to cater for students’ needs.
Content Interest
Readiness
Learning Profile
How are the two sets of text different from each other?
Organisation
Abstractness
Density of information
In what ways can I ?
What options do I have when I share ideas/create tasks for students?
In what ways can I
?
How can I encourage a wide range of complex thinking?
What modes of expression can I offer/teach students?
best serve the goals of this lesson/unit?
How do I ensure the approaches I select serve the students well?
How can I point the way to increase the quality of the student work?
Activities in which the student engages to make sense of or master the content.
Providing varied options at different levels of difficulty or based on differing student interests
Varying pacing and teacher’s support according to readiness
Allowing for working alone, in partners, triads, and small groups (flexible grouping)
Allowing choices in strategies for processing
information, expressing results of processing and
monitoring and reflecting on the process
Respectful tasks are:
Purposeful and relevant
Aligned with the learning outcomes
Equally engaging
Fair in terms of expectations
Challenging
Always Teaches up
Never
Waters
Down
-
Instructional tasks are designed to challenge students at different levels of readiness: low, middle, and high levels.
-
Although the students should master the same
content or core skills, the means by which they do so vary.
-
The activities assigned to the low, middle, and high
groups often differ in complexity, depth of information,
or level of abstraction.
Answer the
question in the pyramid.
If you cannot answer the
question, write
another question
to replace it.
Create Evaluate
Analyse Apply
Understand Remember
Do you think that continued investment in spaceflight development is positive?
How would you describe the
author’s attitude to the topic of the article?
How different is our approach to the development of spaceflight in the past compared to how we will approach it in the future?
How supportive is NASA of space tourism?
When was the first manned spaceflight?
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 This group will work
at the knowledge/
comprehension level.
1. Where…?
2. What…?
3. Which…?
4. When…?
This group will work at the analysis level.
1. Make two lists…
2. Create a Venn diagram to compare and contrast…
3. Explain to your group members why…
This group will work on the synthesis/
evaluation levels.
1. Tell the story from the point of view of…
2. Which text is more successful in
creating…? Why?
3. Work out a better way to solve the problem…
Things in Common Differences - Same topic/skill - Complexity
- Whole class activities - Pace - Some activities in the lesson
may be the same
- Level of Support
All Tiers
- Build understanding - Challenge students
- Be interesting and engaging
- Be respectful
b) What do these four industry experts agree on as the future direction of Hong Kong design work?
3a) Complete the following table by indicating what the four experts from the design industry say about the direction that Hong Kong design work should take. One has been done for you as an example.
Experts from the design industry
Hong Kong design work…
George Sowden (Paragraphs 5-9)
Should reflect merging local value
John Au
(Paragraphs 11-13)
Should reflect changes in the identity that is a result of the coming of 1997
Jennings Ku
(Paragraphs 14-16)
Should reflect an individual character (that is the result of
synergy between countries and culture) David Hillman
(Paragraphs 33-34)
Should reflect Hong Kong’s own style
(Accept any answer that is similar in meaning) They agree that Hong Kong design should reflect its unique identity.
Text: The Jury’s Still out on the Work of Local Designers
You are a reporter for your school magazine.
You were at your class Christmas party last week.
Write an article describing the Christmas party.
-
What are the learning objectives?
* making elaborations
* organisation
-
How to differentiate the lessons?
* picture dictation
* organisational pattern
Planning a differentiated
writing lesson
Task:
Study the instructional strategies and discuss:
-
the purposes they serve
-
whether they can be applied in your class(es).
Multiple Intelligences Tasks
Jigsaw Activities
Design tasks that appeal to multiple intelligences
- musical-rhythmic - visual-spatial - verbal-linguistics - logical-mathematical - bodily-kinesthetic - interpersonal
- intrapersonal
Allow students to choose one or more to work on.
Jigsaw is a cooperative learning strategy in which the class is divided into small groups
consisting of five to six students.
This strategy allows everyone in the class to learn all the content relevant to the subject, as
opposed to just the piece they are responsible for.
KWL Charts Varied Organisers
Columns: "What I Know," "What I Want to Know," and "What I
Learned"
Can be used at the beginning of a unit to assess students'
background knowledge and
interest in the topic, or it can be used at various points throughout the unit to assess student
progress
Provide 2-3 organisers of differing complexity.
For example, students needing more guidance may be given an organiser with blanks for them to fill in. Students ready for more independence may be given an incomplete organiser that requires them to fill in blanks as well as
adding detail. More advanced
students may be given only a basic framework for the organiser which they complete on their own.
Reading Buddies
GRASP (Guided Reading and Summarising Procedure) Pair each student with another of a different reading level (low with medium, medium with high) for partner reading and discussion
Students read the text and try to remember as many important facts as possible
Students categorise, or organise the list
Students write a summary using their personal notes
Scaffolding & Modelling Think-Tac-Toe
Identify specific levels of complexity within the
development of a particular skill. Match students, by ability, with the appropriate level of skill. The goal is to have each
student move up at least one level.
Demonstrate how to improve students’ writing through
thinking-aloud and/or questioning
Nine commands or questions, arranged like a tic-tac-toe
board. Students choose three to complete, creating a row vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.
Student choice allows for
differentiation by interest and/or learning style. Think-tac-toe
boards for different levels of
readiness can also be created and given to different groups of
students.
Tiered Activities 3-2-1
3-4 different activities of
different levels of complexity and difficulty, but with a
common goal or end
result. For example, different groups of students may be learning how to use different language items and structures of different levels of difficulty, but all with the intention of learning about giving advice.
Can be used after reading, at the end of class, or toward the end
3 facts the students learned from a reading
2 questions they had as they read
1 thing that they found
interesting
Make a video documentary Write a song Give a presentation Write books Develop web pages Develop games Conduct a debate Write a photo essay Present a radio drama
Product
Draw a picture of a problem in the story. Then briefly
describe what the problem is and how the characters solve
the problem.
Write a letter to one of the characters in your book and give
him/her advice on how to his/her problem.
Think about a
new problem for one of the characters and tell how it
is solved.
RAFT is a way to encourage students to ..
assume a ROLE
consider their AUDIENCE, while
examining a TOPIC from their chosen perspective, and
writing in a particular FORMAT
All of the above can serve as motivators by giving students choice, appealing to their interests and learning profiles, and adapting to their readiness levels.
The ROLE of writer, speaker, artist, historian, reporter, eyewitness, etc
An AUDIENCE of fellow writers, students, citizens, characters, etc
Through a FORMAT that is
written, spoken, drawn, acted, etc.
A TOPIC related to curriculum content in greater depth
R A F T
Role of a writer:
You can decide who (or what) you will be. Will you be writing as an old tree or a plastic bag? How about a person or a turtle continually exposed to pollution?
Audience:
To whom are you writing? Are you writing to a specific person? To your friend? To the government? To the general public?
Format:
What form will your writing take? Will you write a letter, a speech, a dialogue, an article, a diary?
Topic:
What is your topic? What is the purpose of the writing? To plead, request, argue or convince?
Role Audience Format Topic
A plastic bag Public Story An adventure of a plastic bag
A Sea Turtle Self Blog entry An lucky day
Journalist Public Feature article How environmental pollution affects Hong Kong
Legislative Councillor
Other
Councillors
Speech/
Debate
That plastic bags should be completely banned in Hong Kong
Environmental Problem
Benefits:
Multimodal
Interactive
Providing varied support
Customisable
Study the textbook unit and plan a lesson / lessons for a secondary class. You may like to consider the following:
the needs, interest, learning styles of your students
the learning targets and objectives