Category Archives: Differentiated Activities Accommodation

How can you differentiate instruction for an activity work session in a Judaism lesson plan?

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Judaism Differentiated Instruction Work Session Activities

Judaism Differentiated Instruction Work Session Activities

Isn’t it great when students are actually excited about coming into your class? When I created my differentiated instruction Judaism activity work session, I looked at the Multiple Intelligence Theory. It brought interests in for the students. Then I went a step further and allowed them to choose the Judaism activity that they were most interested in doing. I also allowed them to choose how they wanted to work; by themselves, with a partner, or in a group. I had them make these choices the day before which gave me time to make appropriate grouping and the right number of copies that I needed. I heard students talking about what activity they were going to do in the halls and at lunch. As soon as they came in the next day they asked to make sure that those were the activities that they were doing.

It surprised me how I didn’t need to level this assignment. It turns out that by applying the Multiple Intelligence Theory for differentiated instruction, students chose an activity that they had a strength in. After I used the MI Theory in this lesson and I saw the excitement in my students, I have tried to apply it to all of my lesson plans since.

I created four different activities so that I could use six of the seven original Multiple Intelligences of Dr. Howard’s Theory. I didn’t worry about putting in the Logical Multiple Intelligence because that would be used in the concluding set when they completed a graphic organizer. The activity options I provided to my students are as follows along with the Multiple Intelligences that are applied:

  • Song: Musical Multiple Intelligence, Interpersonal Multiple Intelligence
  • Rhyming Poem: Linguistic Multiple Intelligence, Intrapersonal Multiple Intelligence or Interpersonal Multiple Intelligence
  • Skit: Linguistic Multiple Intelligence, Kinesthetic Multiple Intelligence, Interpersonal Multiple Intelligence
  • Cartoon Strip: Spatial Multiple Intelligence, Linguistic Multiple Intelligence, Intrapersonal Multiple Intelligence or Interpersonal Multiple Intelligence

In each of these activities I had every student use the same content. This is a very important part of differentiated instruction because all students, no matter what their ability level or intelligence, must be exposed to the content. The content I used is as follows:

  • Abraham
  • Israel
  • Moses
  • Exodus
  • Ten Commandments
  • Torah
  • Old Testament

To find out more about my Judaism differentiated instruction lesson plan, click on the links below.

How can you differentiate instruction for a Judaism lesson plan?

How can you differentiate instruction to teach vocabulary in a Judaism lesson plan?

How can you differentiate instruction for a mini-lesson in a Judaism lesson plan?

How can you differentiate instruction for a writing assignment in a Judaism lesson plan?

How can you differentiate instruction with a graphic organizer in a Judaism lesson plan?

 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico offers the Judaism lesson plan above. Check it out! Or, if you only want to purchase this single differentiated instruction lesson plan for Judaism, Click here.

Written by,

Kasha Mastrodomenico (Connect with me on Linkedin.com)

http://www.socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

kasha@socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico

How can I differentiate instruction for a writing activity?

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Differentiated instruction has to do with the use of the same content but in different ways or levels in order to engage and interest all students in the classroom at the same time.

Whether the purpose of the writing activity is to use the content or to learn the writing process, a leveled writing system can be useful. Each writing level has a milestone that needs to be met before the student can move on to the next step. It is systematic, and from my personal experience effective, for students learning either the content or the writing process itself. A great website to check out for an expository leveled writing system is http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Leveled-Expository-Writing-System-867302. It has a leveled writing system that begins with writing a topic sentence and ends with a DBQ essay. There are 7 levels in the leveled writing system. It is a very fast way to differentiate instruction by ability. It takes less than 5 minutes to create the writing assignment.

Teachers can also differentiate instruction for writing assignments by providing questions that involve different multiple intelligence learning styles yet are still based on the content. Differentiated instruction by providing questions that interest the students or that they can relate to might help their creative juices flow.

Differentiated instruction is definitely possible for writing activities. Whether you use a leveled writing system, an interactive writing system or provide question options based on the different multiple intelligence learning styles, differentiated instruction has the potential to improve student writing and increase their interest.

 

Written by,

Kasha Mastrodomenico

http://www.socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

kasha@socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico

How do you explain why activities are different when differentiating instruction?

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Differentiated Instruction Misconceptions

Fair is a very difficult concept for many students to grasp. Many students will see differences in assignments, differentiated instruction, as frustrating at all levels of ability. The advanced or gifted student might resent the lower levels because they may see their work as easier or shorter. The lower levels may feel like they are not as good as the upper levels or embarrassed that they were given a different assignment.

It is very important that the teacher differentiate instruction correctly. Don’t just add busy work to upper level students and don’t just take away parts of an assignment for the lower level students.

I try not to level activities at all but to differentiate them using multiple intelligences instead. I also give students the choice of what they want to do and how they want to work (self, partner, group) through the use of flexible grouping. That way everyone is different so no one feels different.

There are some occasions when leveling/scaffolding/tiering an assignment is necessary. Accommodations for SPED and ELL students are constant too which can make certain students stand out more and resentfulness and embarrassment can take place. This is when the teacher needs to step in and explain to everyone that “fair isn’t always equal”, to quote my former Principal Lauren French, Gouverneur Middle School. Explain that all students are starting with different background knowledge and need to be taught from that level and brought up to the next level. No one should feel jealous of another group because at some point in the year, during different concepts, people are going to change levels. You need to bring it down to their level and possibly relate it to a sport or video game. These accommodations or levels of an assignment equal the playing field like a handicap does in golf.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico helps social studies teachers differentiate their activities and writing through the use of multiple intelligences and  leveling/scaffolding/tiering. 

Written by,

Kasha Mastrodomenico

http://www.socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

kasha@socialstudiesdifferentiatedinstruction.com

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kasha-Mastrodomenico