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
When I differentiate, I don’t usually offer extra credit. Most times there is no incentive other than
for students to challenge him- or herself at an appropriate level. This can take some coaching, but I try to
leave the choice up to the students when I offer a “Choose Your
Challenge.” Choose Your Challenge is
when I have two different practice sheets available. I allow students to select whether they are
working on level or whether they need a little extra challenge because they’ve
already mastered the topic. Most of the
time students chose wisely, but every once in while I coax students to
reselect. This works with classwork and
homework, too. Most nights I offer a
regular homework assignment and a “challenge” assignment that has 1-3 problems
that have been replaced with something a little more difficult. I have another post about this here.
Strategic Grouping
Perhaps sometimes you want to plan
the groups ahead of time instead of offering a choice. My decisions are usually based on exit ticket
results or scores on the previous quiz. Group
students up and give them their assignment or activity. For example, when we review combining like
terms in the beginning of the year I break my students up into groups. Some groups are given the OMG game with
positives only and others are given the challenging edition. They don’t even need to know that they have a
different game because the general premise is exactly the same. Grouping students with similar ability can
help all students work at a level that is appropriate for them at that
time. It’s important for groups to be
fluid. A student may struggle with one
unit, but may be in the advanced group for another topic. Groups always must be based on the needs of
the students. There’s a time and place
for groups of mixed ability, too, but that’s a topic for another day. J
If you love these ideas, be sure
that you are subscribed to my blog to receive a free math resource and to stay
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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