Week 14- Differentiation

Differentiating Vocabulary Instruction

Universal Design for Learning

 UDL is meant to guide the design and development of curriculum that is effective and inclusive for all learners.  UDL is based on three neural networks in the brain that focus on processing certain kinds of information.  They are recognition, strategic, and affective networks.  Children differ greatly in each area.  Recognition has to do with the visual aspect of learning words.  Teachers can support comprehension of words by highlighting relationships and fostering the processing, visualization, and manipulation of information.  Strategic learning has to do with the ability to plan, execute, and monitor actions and skills.  Teachers can foster this area by helping students use words in a variety of ways.  Also helping students goal-set and monitor their own learning helps build strategic networks.  Affective learning refers to the emotional part of learning.  The more emotional a task, the more it leaves a lasting impression.  Choosing topics that interest children help develop this area.  By using UDL for vocabulary instruction, teachers can provide multiple ways for children to access word meaning and demonstrate word knowledge.  UDL helps children who are below, on, or above grade levels.  

How to Use UDL in the Classroom  

Connect Prior Knowledge

Children learn words quickly when their prior knowledge is activated.  Connect words and concepts to prior lessons.  

Offer Linguistic Support

Teachers can help students understand words or concepts within a difficult subject.  The support can come from providing definitions, giving verbal cues, and for ELL students, making connections to their native language.  

Use Multiple Representation to Present Words and Concepts 

Give definitions verbally and nonverbally.  Showing a video can help students understand concepts.  Having students act out vocabulary words is another way to nonverbally demonstrate words.  

Use Graphic Organizers to Highlight Critical Features of Words and Relations among Words

Helping student learn to organize words through a graphic organizer helps students see connections.  Graphic organizers help students identify important concepts about vocabulary words.  

Use Paraphrasing, Role-Play, Visualization, and Mnemonics to Support Memory for Representation

Student’s can have difficulty remembering meanings of words, but when they define them in their own terms this helps them memorize better.  Using memory aids can be helpful in remembering words.

Multiple Means of Action and Expression

Offer Alternative Response Modes

Offer different ways for students to demonstrate they know word meaning.  Teachers can provide fill in the blanks, open ended questioning, drawing, or writing opportunities. 

Provide Added Support and Opportunities for Practice

Extra support and practice may help students learn words.  Simply giving previews of words before learning and review of words after learning can provide the extra help students need.

Support Strategy Use though Goal-Setting, Step-by-Step Instruction, Think-Alouds, and Self-Monitoring

Teaching students strategies to use while reading can help them independently.  Teacher modeling can provide support for how to use those strategies.  Modeling can show students how to set goals and work through them as they are reading.

Multiple Means of Engagement

Promote a sense of word ownership by allowing students to choose words they want to learn.  Using small groups that are at the same level and learning the same words, open up peer discussions of the words being learned.  Talking about words with peers establishes an authentic context for word learning and sets the stage for developing depth of word knowledge.  As students learn words, they can self assess and reflect on their learning.  When children appreciate their effort in learning, it becomes more meaningful.  

Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners 

Culturally Responsive Vocabulary Instruction

Culturally responsive teaching involves respect for children’s home culture and language, recognitions, and funds of knowledge.  Building vocabulary upon a student native language and culture supports children’s academic vocabulary.  Teachers can support student’s culture and backgrounds by support their culture within the classroom.  

Vocabulary Instruction for ELLs

ELLS have varying levels of English proficiency.  These student could also have varying levels of native language support.  By helping ELLs, teachers can (1) take advantage of students’ first language, (2) ensure ELLs know the meaning of basic words, and (3) provide review and reinforcement.  The Input-interaction-output model is useful for supporting language development and vocabulary acquisition.  This model shows that ELLs need comprehensible input, meaningful interactions, and purposeful outputs.  

Low Socioeconomic Backgrounds

Teachers can help these students by providing resources to help build background knowledge.  Teachers can provide multiple means of representations, action and expression, and engagement.  Also appropriately using multimedia can help these students with vocabulary instruction.

Children with or at Risk for Language-Related Disabilities

Students with these struggles typically have problems processing, organizing, and recalling information.  Using Response to Intervention can personalize instruction for specific learning disabilities.  Using the Tiered vocabulary approach helps teachers break down instruction.

Chapter 16

The Interactive Strategies Approach to Early Literacy Intervention 

The Interactive Strategies Approach (ISA) is not a program.  It is not tied to particular instructional material.  ISA offers a way to conceptualize early literacy development and to support children as they learn to read and write.  ISA is based on the premise that the process of constructing meaning from text is dependent upon relatively effortless identification of a high percentage of the words in the text, syntactic and semantic knowledge about how words relate to one another and the concepts they represent, content-relevant background knowledge, and motivational and intentional factors that result in active engagement with the text.  

ISA focuses on instructional goals of students instead of components of instruction.  They include the following: motivation to read and write, alphabetic principal, word learning, and meaning construction.  The purpose of this is to help teachers deliver instruction that is goal oriented rather than activity oriented.  

The chapter summarizes a general reading lesson.  The first aspect is to help build fluency and confidence.  Allow children to read books they have read before.  Rereading helps develop comprehension and word knowledge.  Rereading also supports alphabetic principals.  The next aspect is phonological skills instruction.  This area addresses alphabetic code.  It also supports word learning particularly the Strategic Word learning subgoal.  Instruction can include explicit teaching.  Once new phonics skills have been learned, three types of instructional activities are used.  The first involves word building.  During this time children move letters to build words.  The next phase includes teachers building words and students identifying them.  Finally, children write words dictated by teacher.  The next part of an effective reading lesson is reading a new book.  Strategies for new word learning are learned during this aspect.  Teachers should provide as much support to help students who are learning new words.  There are three parts of the book reading: before, during and after.  Before reading activities should include picking appropriate books.  Then the teacher can do a book walk and discuss the pictures.  New words can be introduced through this stage.  The goal is to help students become as fluent as possible the first time they read the book.  During reading student can read independently or in pairs.  While reading the teacher can provide as much support that is need without giving to much.  After children read, students can share their ideas and make meaning.  These conversations should not just be comprehension checks, but thoughtful dialogue about what was read.    

Chapter 17

An Evidence-Based Approach to Response to Intervention

Response to Intervention (RTI) requires educators to provide effective reading instruction before a child is referred to a specialist for educational services.  It involved high quality instruction and interventions for students to help educators make important educational decisions.  In order for students to be identified as LD, a tiered instructional approach is often implemented, and it’s usually a 3 tiered approach.  Their 1 students are provided high quality in classroom instruction.  The child do not show adequate growth, they move to tier 2.  During this tier students extra instruction is added within the school day (small group, pullout, etc).  Tier 3 instruction provides one on one instruction with a specialist.  

Case Study

Taylor is a struggling reading.  The following is a case study that outlines six research-based principals to guide teachers through implementing necessary elements of RTI.

1. Expert Teachers Provide the Instruction

Allowing Taylor to stay in the classroom and receive quality instruction from her teacher would have been more beneficial.  Taylor received instruction through a paraprofessional, which research has shown has little positive effect.  Teachers should be using their knowledge to instruct these students.  

2. Match Text to Readers

Taylor clearly had specific interests.  His interest were not being met through a scripted curriculum program.  The text he was reading had no interest to him.  Also providing text that is at their appropriate skill level will help keep student engagement.  

3.  Dramatically Expanding Reading Activity

Taylor was only pulled out during normal reading instruction hour in the classroom.  He received no additional support, which he needed.  Practice helps struggling readers.  

4. Use Very Small Groups for Tutoring

Teachers are able to better meet the needs of the learning when the learning groups are small and intimate.  Instruction can be better differentiated.  

5.  Coordinate Intervention with Classroom Curriculum

Aligning instruction for RTI students that coordinates with classroom instruction helps students receive a more in-depth study.  They build upon each other and support one another.  

6. Focus on Meaning and Metacognition

Students need to understand the purpose for reading.  They also need to know the process of thinking through text.  By understanding these concepts, they develop a deeper understanding on text.