MAT 590:

Differentiating for the

Learning Community
Class 8: 8/3

Todays Objective #4, 5, 7

Agenda

Reading/Video Check-In
Little bit more on differentiation
Microteach groups and work time
Teacher panel Q & A

Business
Course evaluations! Last day to complete them
is 8/12.
Please do them I appreciate honest
feedback. What worked? What didnt? etc
Thank you in advance. :)

Changing the paradigm

Guiding question:
Based on the
classrooms you have
been a part of, what
would need to change
now? What is your
vision, hope, dream for
schools?

Reading debrief
-Respond to the readings & videos. Write about
What do these readings and videos make you
think about education? About your future
classroom? What else?
-Turn and talk to a neighbor about what you
wrote.

Differentiation
A little bit more

Sarabeths strategies
Strategies for differentiation
Another example of project based learning.
project linking LA and Art

Differentiation

Strategies or some of what I think about as I

plan units
My approach (after setting up the environment and getting to know my students)
How can I introduce the unit? ex: One Grain of Rice for exponential equations
Are there different ways for students to see or process the information?
ex: human box & whisker plot, drawing their own, interpret one already made
How can I make it interesting, relevant, or meaningful?
ex: cell phone plan
Do all students have a way to access the information or at least start the assignment?
Will the assignment keep all students busy?
ex: group roles, problem based learning
How will students show what they are learning?
ex: group conversation, exit tickets, assessment

Micro-teach
Groups of 2-3 from your subject area.
When its your turn to teach, you will have 5 minutes to set up the class. 20 minutes to teach.
At 20 mins your time is up. The lesson should be at least 15 minutes.
You will turn in a written plan to me (by email).
You can assume it is the first month of school. You can decide what it is you want to teach as
long as it is related to your subject area. Im not going to specify ELL, SpEd, etc, although
you should keep in mind differentiation strategies as you plan. How are you going to engage
all of us? The learners will be cooperative and agreeable unless I have told them otherwise.
The idea is to create a plan and actually see what happens when you try to execute it.
We will begin micro-teaches officially on Wednesday. One group may go on Tuesday, if
prepared. Let me know! You will have 30 minutes in class on Wednesday to make sure your
group is ready to wow us with your lesson.

Micro-teach
What am I looking for?
- A well thought out plan
- Balanced participation from group
members
- Interactive, an attempt at engaging all

Micro-teach
Work time! Take a break when needed we will
not take an official class break today.
Send one person to me in about 20-30 mins to
update me on a tentative plan.
Whole group should be back by 9:30 am for our
teacher panel.

Teacher Panel - Vanessa, Scott, Keri

Background information - where/what do you teach, where have you taught in the past?
Be real share about a struggle, a tough situation, and/or a tough kid.
What are your greatest challenges in reaching students in your contact area? How do you make
your subject relevant to high school students?
What policies do you implement in class to take into account low-SES students? For example,
how do you address resources students may or may not have at home? What kind of homework do
you give, taking this into consideration?
How do you make sure your course is rigorous enough for high achieving students, but still
doable for lower achieving students? What does differentiating look like? How do you handle bigger
(30 or more kids) classrooms with one teacher?
Can you talk about administration support? When classroom distributions occur do admin.
generally support you? Both sides of support.

Homework
Read Moule Ch 9
Find something that strikes you from the chapter. Write 4
sentences about it.
Continue to work on group micro-teach. We will start these on
Wednesday if ONE group is ready Tuesday and wants to go,
let me know!
Continue to work on 3 - 5 unit lesson plans. Due Friday 8 am.