The Burlington Early Childhood Center will be hosting an Open House on Friday, January 20, 2012 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Burlington High School - where the programs are located. This Open House provides families with an opportunity to view the programs, meet the teachers and pickup registration packets to enroll their children for next year. Students must be 3 years old by August 31, 2011. For more information call Sandy at 781-270-1808.
A. That every child learns in a special way?
B. That every teacher teaches in a special way?
C. That a teacher specializes in educating all kinds of learners?
Actually it's
D. All of the above
If I posed this question to all of my friends, I would receive a wide range of responses. Perhaps I would have one group of people who could barely follow the instructions to make a box of macaroni and cheese. Others could probably make eggs and spaghetti but that is the extent of their culinary expertise. Then I would have this top tier of friends who are so amazing in the kitchen that they make their own sauce from scratch! That's how I judge top notch: sauce from scratch.
Well, I would never ask my "macaroni friends" to make their own sauce, nor would I toss a box of macaroni to my top tier friends, when I know they could be creating a divine meal from scratch! Let's apply this idea to the classroom.
These four ideas are interconnected, but to truly understand how to differentiate instruction, it is more manageable to look at them separately.
1. Content: Content is what we teach. It is what we want students to learn, understand and be able to apply as a result of instruction.
2. Delivery of Instruction: Delivery of Instruction is the how of teaching. This can mean how activities are designed to help students make sense of content. Delivery of Instruction also includes the process of teaching and even integrating different co-teaching models if you have multiple adults in the classroom.
3. Resources and Materials: Resources act as the medium through which you teach students. Resources can include texts, supplies, videos, materials, field trips, etc.
4. Product/Assessment: A product is the evidence of learning. It is how the student demonstrates his or her understanding of an idea. A product is a method of assessment, and in a differentiated classroom there are multiple product/assessment styles offered to students.
Here's an example. Let's say that in a differentiated classroom, students are learning about communities.
1. Differentiated Content: Some students may be working on developing an understanding of the term "community" by exploring different books, photos and videos about communities. Others might be working on understanding the difference between rural, urban and suburban communities. Here, the content for each group of students is different.
2. Differentiated Delivery of Instruction: A teacher might teach a lesson about the different types of communities by watching a video and taking shared notes. He or she might then pull a group of students and do a read-aloud activity using a book with vivid photographs that show the different types of communities. Here, the students are learning the same content through different learning activities. The instruction is being delivered differently.
3. Differentiated Resources: A teacher might have three groups of students researching communities. One group might be using a series of easy readers and picture books to compile their information, while another group uses higher-level non-fiction text with chapters and features such as glossary and index. Perhaps there is a third group doing independent Internet research. In this case, three groups of students are using appropriate texts in the classroom.
4. Differentiated Products To assess learning, perhaps some students do an oral presentation of their findings, while others create a poster based on their research. Others design a test and answer key on the subject! In this case, student learning is beingdemonstrated in different ways.
If you have any tips for differentiation -- especially small, simple things we can do -- please share them!
Learning Through Predictable Books
by Rynette R. Kjesbo, M.S., CCC-SLP
What Are Predictable Books?
Predictable books are books that are written in a way that makes it easy to guess what will happen on the next page. Many predictable books repeat words, phrases, or sentences throughout the text. For example, in the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr., the question “What do you see?” and the answer “I see a ___ looking at me.” repeat throughout the entire story. Deborah Guarino’s book Is Your Mama a Llama? is another kind of predictable book that uses rhyme and rhythm to help children solve riddles about animal mothers. Other predictable books build on storylines or sequences that are familiar to children. For example, Cookie’s Week, a story by Cindy Ward, follows the misadventures of a cat through the familiar sequence of the days of the week.
Why Are Predictable Books Important?
There are many benefits that come from reading predictable books with your children. Here are just a few:
• Children learn pre-reading skills. As you begin to read books with your children, they learn pre-reading skills, such as reading from top to bottom, reading from left to right, and turning pages. They also learn that a story has a beginning, middle, and end.
• Children participate in reading. Predictable books are easy to understand and remember. Because of this, children become familiar with predictable books quickly, which allows them to fill in words and phrases when they read the books again.
• Children learn about rhyme and rhythm. Many predictable books use rhyme and rhythm to make them predictable. As a result, children learn these skills as they read and re-read predictable books.
• Children learn inflection in a natural way. We don’t usually speak in just one tone of voice. Inflection is the change between the high tones and low tones in our voices when we speak. Predictable books often have a rhythm that is read with a singsong inflection which is easier for children to imitate.
• Children get additional speech practice. Because words and phrases are repeated in many predictable books, finding a book that repeats your children’s targeted speech sounds can give them additional speech practice as they read.
• Children experience success with reading. Reading predictable books can make children feel successful with the skill of reading. Children who feel successful with reading will want to continue reading.
List of Predictable Books
There are many wonderful predictable books that you can read with your children. Here is just a small sample list. Your local library can assist you in finding more.
An Egg Is an Egg by Nicki Weiss Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
Don’t Climb Out of the Window Tonight by Richard McGilvray
I Went Walking by Sue Williams
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff
It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw
My Very Own Octopus by Bernard Most
This Is The Bear by Sarah Hayes
Where Does the Brown Bear Go? by Nicki Weiss
Who Sank the Boat? by Pamela Allen
Who Says That? by Arnold L. Shapiro
