Differentiation

At Norwood we have been lucky enough to have Glen Pearsall present to staff in 2021 on differentiation. The booklet is available here.

Differentiation can be thought of as a tiered process.

Tier 1 – Differentiated classroom instruction

Tier 2 – Small Group instruction

Tier 3 – Individualised intervention/extension

A classroom teacher is required to look after Tier 1 and Tier 2.

Tier 3 will be students that have IEP’s and are a part of the Tutor program, QuickStart, High achievers’ program or Integration. Please look out for these IEPs which are pinned to students' Compass profiles.

Teachers can differentiate the content, process, product or learning environment according to a student’s readiness, interest or learning profile.

Tier 1 - Differentiated classroom instruction means:

• Having high expectations of all students
• Ensuring the classroom is an inclusive space by putting into practice questioning techniques such as:

1. Cold Calling
2. Wait time
3. Pause time
4. Blank prompts
5. Inverted questions
6. Second draft answers

• Having students take responsibility for their learning. In doing so, work with students to set their own SMART learning goals where they reflect on and monitor their achievements and progress
• Provide students with multiple entry and exit points
• Give students the opportunity to choose how they learn and how they demonstrate that learning (with teacher guidance)
• Provide students with opportunities to demonstrate prior knowledge and progress with more challenging tasks as appropriate (based on formative assessment)
• Structure tasks and assessment that permit a range of responses
• Be flexible (cherry pick, offer choice)