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“iPad in education” in tweets, images, videos and links · Storify
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http://www.caroltomlinson.com/
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Differentiating the Process of Learning · lmblaine · Storify
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Differentiating with Discovery Education Resources – DEN Blog Network
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For Educators, the Importance of Making Meaningful Connections | MindShift
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Making Math Meaningful with Online Games and Videos | MindShift
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Higher Ed Trends: MOOCs, Tablets, Gamification, and Wearable Tech | MindShift
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the competition that MOOCs are bringing to the long-held university system is challenging the value of higher education. Many argue the competition is exactly what slow-moving universities need to change, but others wonder if the instruction offered by MOOCs reaches the same caliber. “As these new platforms emerge, however, there is a need to frankly evaluate the models and determine how to best support collaboration, interaction, and assessment at scale. Simply capitalizing on new technology is not enough; the new models must use these tools and services to engage students on a deeper level,”
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Are Teachers of Tomorrow Prepared to Use Innovative Tech? | MindShift
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How to Fuel Students’ Learning Through Their Interests | MindShift
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Preston’s current classroom centers around the publication and maintenance of students’ personal blogs. The blogs themselves are a requirement, but the content and medium used in many student responses—be it text, video, audio, or some combination—are often the result of students’ own creative vision. Preston also pushes students to think critically about the implications of their digital actions through virtual discussions with collaborators,
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“I still teach with standards in mind,” he said. “I just teach inductively from the standards instead of using them as the ceiling.”
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essential to his open source learning pursuit:
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BLOGGING: Blogs are the centerpiece of student work in Preston’s classroom. Students not only publish most of their work here, but also use blogs to share feedback, collaborate for group assignments, and even hold chat discussions with authors or other subject experts.
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VIDEO-CONFERENCING: Students use video both to visit with authors whose work they’ve read, and occasionally to offer insight to outsiders during conferences or interviews.
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BIG QUESTIONS: In a twist on the traditional term paper, students tackle a research project in which they try to answer a self-chosen question that both interests them and crosses boundaries of the core secondary academic subjects.
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COLLABORATIVE WORKING GROUPS: Like-minded students convene around an interest or idea of their choosing, such as creative writing, fitness, graphic design, etc. Using their classes’ blog community, they try to share the idea or interest with others for the purpose of boosting performance on the AP Literature and Composition exam.
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SMART GOALS: In another twist on an old theme, students state their personal goals for the rest of the term. Those goals, and mapping and executing a path toward them, evolve into a senior project.
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Five Free Web 2.0 Tools to Support Lesson Planning | Edutopia
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http://www.tie.net/content/docs/StrategiesThatDifferentiateInstructionK.4_001.pdf
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A Teacher’s Guide to Differentiating Instruction | Education.com
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Differentiated instruction is an approach that assumes there is a diversity of learners in every classroom and that all of those learners can be reached if a variety of methods and activities are used. Carol Tomlinson (2000), a noted expert on differentiation, points out that research has proven that students are more successful when they are taught based on their own readiness levels, interests, and learning profiles.
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What is Differentiation?
Simply stated, differentiation is modified instruction that helps students with diverse academic needs and learning styles master the same challenging academic content.
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When teachers differentiate instruction, they vary not only the materials students use but also the way students interact with them. Varying instructional activities allows all students to learn the same concepts and skills with varied levels of “support, challenge, or complexity” (Tomlinson, 2000, p. 2).
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How to Start
Four planning steps set the stage for effective differentiated instruction. First, teachers must have a thorough understanding of the academic content or skill they want their students to learn. Second, they must determine how much their students already know—and what they do not know—about that content. Then they must decide which instructional methods and materials will most successfully address those needs and, finally, design ways to adequately assess student mastery of what is taught.
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As always, the keys to choosing the “right” strategies are capitalizing on student strengths and possessing a clear understanding of students’ current academic needs.
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Formal or informal, the key to the successful use of these assessments is keeping track of the findings and using them to design instructional strategies tailored for the individual student.
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Making use of rubrics—guides that identify the criteria for demonstrating mastery of assigned work—can empower students to choose how they will show what they know and also provide them with a way to assess the quality of their own work.
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Tomlinson (2000) points out that efforts to differentiate are most successful when they are combined with the use of a high-quality curriculum, research-based instructional strategies, well-designed activities that address the needs and interests of students, active learning, and student satisfaction with the lesson.
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The consistent, effective use of differentiated instruction also requires considerable amounts of practice and feedback. To increase their repertoire of skills, general education teachers also can consult with colleagues with specialized training in differentiation, such as special education teachers and teachers of gifted students.
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