My #1 passion for math education is differentiation, so once I started writing I couldn’t stop. Check out my previous posts on the topic:
Today I want to wrap up my thoughts
on differentiating based on readiness with 3 final strategies.
Leveled Take-Home
Assessments
I believe strongly in using a
spiraled review to help students develop fluency in their math ability. At our school, we create and assign Skill
Drills. These graded take-home
assignments, review material previously taught earlier in the year and in
previous grades. Topics for my eighth
grade students can range from operations with fractions to solving two-step
equations to writing an equation in slope intercept form given two points. Students get the assignment on Friday and it
is due the following Friday. Graded for
25 points (1/4 of a test), students are able to ask questions throughout the
week. They can use their notes and other
resources. Of course, they need to show
all of their work. Now the
differentiation comes in because I offer two different versions. Version 1 is the standard Skill Drill that
about 2/3 of my students will take.
Version 2 is the “challenge” version.
Students earn 2 extra points if they take on this version that has
somewhat more “difficult” numbers or could have problems with an extra step or
two. This means that students can earn
up to a 27/25, earning a couple of extra points. This is something that you could do with any
differentiated, graded assignment.
Offering a small reward for taking on a more challenging assessment can
be a great motivator for students.
Choose Your Challenge

Strategic Grouping

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updated on this differentiation series and other ideas. Thank you!
Follow the second edition of this series:
2.1 Differentiating Note-Taking Based on Readiness
Follow the second edition of this series:
2.1 Differentiating Note-Taking Based on Readiness
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