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Curriculum Plan Critique Instructions

The purpose of this assignment is for you to critique a curriculum plan through describing the strengths or weaknesses of the curriculum plan. You will evaluate and critique 1 curriculum using articles. The article will focus on a single topic. You will only critique that topic of the lesson through the assigned article.

In your critique, you should provide suggestions to improve the curriculum plan based upon what’s been learned in this course. This assignment must include a title page, have a 500-word limit, and adhere to current APA format. Title page and citations are NOT included in the word limit.

Please use the following curriculum plan provided by the Virginia Department of Education. (Attached)

· Curriculum Plan:

Grade 6-8: Understanding Connotation

The paper will include the following:

a. A title page

b. First section a 225-word summary of the assigned article.

c. Second section, the critique, a 125-words comparing the article to the curriculum plan

d. Third section, 125-words contrasting the article to the curriculum plan.

Below you will find the Critique Topic #3 and link to the corresponding article assigned. You will only need to critique the portion of the sample curriculum plan based upon the assigned topic:

· Topic: Differentiation

Good Curriculum as a Basis for Differentiation (Tomlinson, 2014) (Attached)

Running head: TITLE OF PAPER 1

TITLE OF PAPER 3

Title of Paper

Author

EDUC 872 Research in Curriculum Design and Development

Title of Paper

Use this space to give a short introduction to the article and the purpose of the paper. This should be a minimum of five sentences. Make sure when you list the author’s name, you place the year of publication in parenthesis after the author’s name. You will need to follow all APA guidelines for citations. Citations should include the author’s last name, comma, and the year of publication. Example: (Smith, 2010). Citations with direct quotes should include the author’s name, comma, year of publication, comma, and the page number. Example: (Smith, 2010, p.23). You do not need the page number unless you have a direct quote from the work in the sentence.

Summary

Use this section to summarize the assigned article. This should include the main points of the article. Make sure you properly cite within this section. APA states that you must credit the source when “paraphrasing, quoting an author directly, or describing an idea that influenced your work” (p. 170). All paragraphs must be at least five sentences and this section should be between 225 words.

Compare

Use this section to analyze the comparisons between the assigned article and the provided curriculum plan. This means you will need to think critically through the main points of the article and the curriculum plan. This section should be between 125 words.

Contrast

Use this section to analyze the differences between the assigned article and the provided curriculum plan. This means you will need to think critically through the main points of the article and the curriculum plan. This section should be between 125 words

References

You will only include references that you cited within the Curriculum Plan Critiques. If you integrate a Biblical worldview by quoting from the Bible, you do not include the Bible in this section. Make sure all references utilize a hanging indent and remove any hyperlinks.

EnglishEnhanced Scope and Sequence

Lesson

Skill: Understanding connotation

Strand Reading–vocabulary

SOL 6.4
7.4
8.4

Materials

• Copies of Lincoln’s “The Gettysburg Address,” available online

Lesson

1. Have students read through “The Gettysburg Address” for broad comprehension. Then,
have them reread the first paragraph carefully and identify all words with positive
connotations and all words with negative connotations. Have them list the words on a T
chart, like this:

Negative Positive

new nation
dedicated
equal

2. Have students continue with the remaining paragraphs. After paragraph two, their charts
might include the following:

Negative Positive

battlefield new nation
dedicated
equal
dedicated
Proper

3. Be sure students include repeated uses of the same word (e.g., dedicated). After
paragraph three, their charts might resemble this:

English Enhanced Scope and Sequence

Negative Positive

testing new nation
battlefield dedicated

not equal
struggled dedicated

Poor power proper
unfinished work brave

dead consecrate
(shall not)died in dedicated

vain great task
honored dead
nobly advanced

4. Once students have finished the re-reading and word analysis, have them identify the
column of words that contains greater emotion, greater meaning, and therefore greater
impact.

5. Discuss ways the use of other words (synonyms) for the words in the positive column
might have affected the impact of Lincoln’s speech (e.g., leaders for fathers or goal for
great task).

6. Have students write a summary of their reactions to the word choices Lincoln made for
this famous speech.

5
Good Curriculum as a
Basis for Differentiation

The Giver flicked his hand as if brushing something aside. “Oh, your instruc-
tors are well trained. They know their scientific facts. Everyone is well trained
for his job. It’s just that . . . without the memories it’s all meaningless.”
“Why do you and I have to hold these memories?” [the boy asked.]
“It gives us wisdom,” the Giver replied.

Lois Lowry, The Giver

A young teacher tried her hand at developing her first differentiated lesson
plan. “Could you give it a look and see if I’m on the right track?” she asked me.

Her 4th graders were all reading the same novel. She had fashioned five
tasks, and her plan was to assign each student one of the tasks, based on what
she perceived to be their readiness levels. She showed me the task options:

1. Create a new jacket for the book.
2. Build a set for a scene in the book.
3. Draw one of the characters.
4. Rewrite the novel’s ending.
5. Develop a conversation between a character in this novel and one

from another novel they’d read in class that year.

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Good Curriculum as a Basis for Differentiation 61

After I looked at the tasks, I asked a question that I wish someone had
insisted I answer daily in the first decade of my teaching: “What do you want
each student to come away with as a result of this activity?”

She squinted and paused. “I don’t understand,” she answered.
I tried again: “What common insight or understanding should all kids

get because they successfully complete their assigned task?”
She shook her head. “I still don’t get it.”
“OK, let me ask another way.” I paused. “Do you want each child to

know that an author actually builds a character? Do you want them all to
understand why the author took the time to write the book? Do you want
them to think about how the main character’s life is like their own? Just what
is it that the activities should help the students to make sense of?”

Her face flushed. “Oh my gosh!” she exclaimed. “I don’t know. I thought
all they were supposed to do was read the story and do something with it!”

“Hazy” Lessons
Many of us could have been this novice. We entered the profession with a
vague sense that students should read, listen to, or watch something. Then
they should do “some sort of activity” based on it. Consider the following
examples:

• A 1st grade teacher reads her students a story. Then she asks them
to draw a picture of what they heard. But what should the picture portray?
The story’s beginning and end? How the main character looked when she
was frightened by the stranger? The big tree in the barnyard?

• A 5th grade teacher talks with his students about black holes. Then
he shows them a video about the topic. He asks them to write about black
holes. To learn what? Why gravity acts as it does in black holes? To deal with
issues of time? To demonstrate their understanding of the evolution of black
holes?

• As part of a 3rd grade unit on Westward Expansion, students build
covered wagons. How does that help them understand exploration, risk,
scarcity of resources, or adaptation? Is the activity about pushing frontiers
forward—or about manipulating glue and scissors?

• A middle school teacher asks her students to convert fractions into
decimals. Is the purpose to get the answers correct and to move on? Or does

Tomlinson, C. A. (2014). The differentiated classroom : Responding to the needs of all learners, 2nd edition. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com
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62 The Differentiated Classroom

the teacher have a greater goal in mind: understanding how the conversion
works and why it works?

In each example, the teacher had a hazy conception of what children
should gain from their experience with content. Students did “something
about the story,” “something about black holes,” “something about Westward
Expansion,” and a bit of what matters about converting fractions into dec-
imals. Although these activities weren’t deadly dull or totally useless, they
present at least two problems. One is a barrier to high-quality teaching and
learning. The other is a barrier to powerful differentiated instruction.

When a teacher lacks clarity about what a student should know, under-
stand, and be able to do as a result of a lesson, the learning tasks she cre-
ates may or may not be engaging and almost certainly won’t help students
understand essential ideas or principles of the content they are attempting
to learn. A fuzzy sense of the essentials results in fuzzy activities, which in
turn results in fuzzy student understanding. That’s the barrier to high-quality
teaching and learning.

This sort of ambiguity also works against differentiated instruction. With
most differentiated lessons, all students need to gain the same essential knowl-
edge, use the same essential skills, and probe the same essential understanding.
Yet because of variance in their readiness, interests, or approach to learning,
students need to master the knowledge, “come at” the ideas, and work with
the skills in different ways. Teachers who aren’t clear about what all students
should know, understand, and be able to do when the learning experience
ends have overlooked the vital organizer around which to develop a powerful
lesson. That was the problem for the novice 4th grade teacher and her five
“differentiated” activities. She just created five “somethings” about the novel.
The activities would probably result in five fuzzy understandings about the
book—or, more likely, no understanding at all.

This chapter will help reduce the fuzziness that pervades much curric-
ulum and instruction in general. It also sets the stage for the many samples
of differentiated instruction in the remainder of the book. The goal is to
help you fashion a sturdy foundation for differentiated instruction. After all,
creating one version of an activity or product takes time. Creating two or
three—and especially five—is more labor intensive. It makes sense to ensure
that you have a firm grasp of what makes a solid, powerful lesson before you
create multiple versions of it.

Good Curriculum as a Basis for Differentiation 63

Two Essentials for Durable Learning
Over the years, I’ve been fascinated by how savvy students are about what
goes on in classrooms. I have had young adolescents say to me with diagnostic
precision, “Her class is lots of fun. We don’t learn a whole lot, but it’s a fun
class.” They understand the opposite situation, too: “We’re learning math, I
suppose, but it always seems like an awfully long class period.”

These students voice an implicit awareness that two elements are required
for a great class: engagement and understanding. Engagement happens when
a lesson captures students’ imaginations, snares their curiosity, ignites their
opinions, or taps into their souls. Engagement is the magnet that attracts
learners’ meandering attention and holds it so that enduring learning can
occur. Understanding is not just simply recalling facts or information. When
learners understand, they have “wrapped around” an important idea, incor-
porating it accurately into their inventory of how things work. They own
that idea.

Brain scientists often use two slightly different terms for the two elements
required for enduring learning—meaning and sense. Meaning refers to con-
nections between the content and one’s own experience and life. Sense refers
to the learner’s grasp of how something works and why. Meaning is a close
match for engagement, and sense is a close match for understanding (Sousa &
Tomlinson, 2011). In either case, the message is the same. Students don’t really
learn if they don’t connect with or don’t understand the content they study.

A student who understands something can do the following:

• Use it.
• Explain it clearly, giving examples.
• Compare and contrast it with other concepts.
• Relate it to other instances in the subject studied, other subjects, and

personal life experiences.
• Transfer it to unfamiliar settings.
• Discover the concept embedded within a novel problem.
• Combine it appropriately with other understandings.
• Pose new problems that exemplify or embody the concept.
• Create analogies, models, metaphors, or pictures of the concept.
• Pose and answer “what if ” questions that alter variables in a problem-

atic situation.

64 The Differentiated Classroom

• Generate questions and hypotheses that lead to new knowledge and
further inquiries.

• Generalize from specifics to form a concept.
• Use the knowledge to appropriately assess his or her own performance

or that of someone else (Barell, 1995).

Lessons that are not engaging let students’ minds wander. They fail to
make the case for relevance because students don’t connect the content to
what’s important in their lives; students have little long-term use for what
they might “learn” in such lessons. Lessons that fall short of developing stu-
dents’ understanding of the big ideas or principles that govern the discipline
leave students without the capacity to use what they learn in meaningful
contexts. Thus, lessons that fall short of engagement and understanding have
little staying power and diminish both students’ enthusiasm for learning and
students’ power as learners.

Levels of Learning

Hilda Taba (in Schiever, 1991) understood before many others that learning
has several dimensions. We can learn facts, or discrete bits of information
that we believe to be true. We can develop concepts, or categories of things
with common elements that help us organize, retain, and use information.
We can understand principles, which are the rules that govern concepts.
The terms concepts and principles are the more professional terms for what
in education we often call “understandings” or “big ideas.” As learners, we
develop attitudes, or degrees of commitment to ideas and spheres of learning.
And, if we are fortunate, we develop skills, which give us the capacity to put
to work the understandings we have gained.

Full, whole, and rich learning involves all these levels. Facts without
concepts and principles to promote meaning are ephemeral. Meaning without
skills needed to translate it into action loses its potency. Positive attitudes
about the magic of learning are stillborn until we know, understand, and
can take action in our world.

Joan Bauer, author of the young adult novel Sticks, speaks of the need
for children and adolescents to see connectedness in learning. They need to
understand that the principles of science, math, history, and art are the same

Good Curriculum as a Basis for Differentiation 65

ones that we find in a pool hall, in our fears, and in the deep wellsprings of
courage that make us taller than our nightmares (personal communication,
1997).

In Sticks, Bauer displays the skill of a master teacher orchestrating all the
levels of learning. She writes of 10-year-old Mickey, who has a fire in his belly
to win the 10- to 13-year-olds’ nine-ball championship at his grandmother’s
pool hall. Mickey’s father was a pool champ, but he died when Mickey was
a baby.

Mickey’s friend, Arlen, is as passionate about math as Mickey is about
nine-ball. Arlen hasn’t memorized math. He thinks mathematically. It is a
way of life for him. Math, he explains, will never let you down in this world.
Arlen knows what an angle is. He knows that a vector is “a line that takes
you from one place to another” (Bauer, 1996, p. 37). These are facts Arlen
has learned. Yet he understands the concepts of energy and motion and the
principles that govern the concepts, as he explains here:

“Every body remains in a state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line,
unless acted on by forces from the outside. In pool talk, this means a pool
ball isn’t going anywhere unless it’s hit by something, and once it starts
moving, it needs something to stop it, like a rail, another ball, or the friction
of the cloth on the table.” (Bauer, 1996, p. 177)

Because Arlen sees the utility of math, his attitude about math is that
it’s a language without which many things can’t be properly explained. To
him, the universe is written in the language of mathematics. What matters
most about Arlen, however, is not what he has learned, and not even what
he understands. What matters most is his skill. He uses pink yarn to teach
Mickey about bank shots and geometric angles, about angles of incidence
and angles of reflection. “When you hit the eight ball at a certain angle to
the rail, it will bound off the rail at the same angle” (Bauer, 1996, p. 179).
Arlen draws diagrams of pool shots so that Mickey sees the lines his balls
will draw on the table, but Mickey comes to see much more. He explains:

“In school I keep seeing the table. Long shots. Short shots. Bank shots.
Vectors. I’m seeing geometry everywhere—diamond shaped ball fields, birds
flying in V formation. I have grapes for lunch and think about circles. Then
I ram the grapes across my tray with my straw. Wham! Two grapes in the
corner. It’s all connected.” (Bauer, 1996, p. 141)

66 The Differentiated Classroom

Arlen knew some data. What gave him power, however, was not so much
what he knew (facts) but what he understood (concepts and principles) and
how he could parlay his understanding into action (skills) in a situation far
removed from a schoolhouse worksheet.

All subjects are built upon essential concepts and principles. All subjects,
by their nature, call for use of the key skills that professionals in that field
use. Some concepts—such as patterns, change, interdependence, perspective,
part and whole, and systems—are generic, cut across subjects naturally, and
invite linkages. These concepts are a part of physical education, literature,
science, computer science—virtually all areas of study. Other concepts are
more subject-specific, essential to one or more disciplines but not as powerful
in others. Examples of subject-specific concepts include probability in math,
composition in art, voice in literature, structure and function in science, and
primary source in history.

Similarly, skills can be generic or subject-specific. Generic skills include
writing a cohesive paragraph, arranging ideas in order, and posing effective
questions. Skills that are subject-specific include balancing an equation in
math, transposing in music, using metaphorical language in literature and
writing, and synthesizing sources in history. Figure 5.1 illustrates the key levels
of learning in several subject areas.

During planning, a teacher should generate specific lists of what students
should know (facts), understand (concepts and principles), and be able to do
(skills) by the time the unit ends. Then the teacher should create a core of
engaging activities that offer varied opportunities for learning these essentials
in contexts that connect with the world of the learner. Activities should lead
a student to understand or make sense of key concepts and principles by
using key skills. In later chapters of this book, illustrations of differentiated
lessons typically are based on specific concepts, principles, facts, and skills
that ensure this kind of clarity.

Addressing Standards in a Meaningful Way
In many districts, teachers feel great pressure to ensure that students attain
standards delineated by the district, the state, a particular program, or a
professional group. Standards should be a vehicle to ensure that students
learn more coherently, more deeply, more broadly, and more durably. Sadly,
when teachers feel pressure to “cover” standards in isolation, or when the

Good Curriculum as a Basis for Differentiation 67

Figure 5.1 Examples of the Levels of Learning in Different Content Areas

Levels of
Learning

Science Literature History

Facts • Water boils at 212°
Fahrenheit.

• Humans are
mammals.

• Katherine Paterson
wrote Bridge to
Terabithia.

• Definition of plot
and definition of
character

• The Boston Tea
Party helped to pro-
voke the American
Revolution.

• The first 10 amend-
ments to the U.S.
Constitution are
called the Bill of
Rights.

Concepts • Interdependence

• Classification

• Voice

• Heroes and
antiheroes

• Revolution

• Power, authority,
and governance

Principles • All life-forms are
part of a food
chain.

• Scientists clas-
sify living things
according to
patterns.

• Authors use voices
of characters as a
way of sharing their
own voices.

• Heroes are born
of danger or
uncertainty.

• Revolutions are first
evolutions.

• Liberty is con-
strained in all
societies.

Attitudes • Conservation bene-
fits our ecosystem.

• I am part of an
important natural
network.

• Reading poetry is
boring.

• Stories help me
understand myself.

• It’s important to
study history so we
write the next chap-
ter more wisely.

• Sometimes I am
willing to give up
some freedom to
protect the welfare
of others.

Skills • Creating a plan for
an energy-efficient
school

• Interpreting data
about costs and
benefits of recycling

• Using metaphorical
language to estab-
lish personal voice

• Linking heroes and
antiheroes in liter-
ature with those of
history and current
life.

• Constructing and
supporting a posi-
tion on an issue

• Drawing conclusions
based on analyses
of sound resources

Continued

68 The Differentiated Classroom

Figure 5.1 Examples of the Levels of Learning in Different Content Areas (continued )

Levels of
Learning

Music Math Art Reading

Facts • Strauss was known
as “the Waltz King.”

• Definition of clef

• Definition of
numerator and
denominator

• Definition of prime
numbers

• Monet was an
Impressionist.

• Definition of pri-
mary colors

• Definition of vowel
and consonant

Concepts • Tempo

• Jazz

• Part and whole

• Number systems

• Perspective

• Negative space

• Main idea

• Context

Principles • The tempo of a
piece of music helps
to set the mood.

• Jazz is both
structured and
improvisational.

• Wholes are made up
of parts.

• The parts of a
number system are
interdependent.

• Objects can be
viewed and repre-
sented from a vari-
ety of perspectives.

• Negative space
helps spotlight
essential elements
in a composition.

• Effective paragraphs
generally present
and support a main
idea.

• Pictures and sen-
tences often help us
figure out words we
don’t know.

Attitudes • Music helps me to
express emotion.

• I don’t care for jazz.

• Math is too hard.

• Math is a way of
talking about lots
of things in my
world.

• I prefer Realism to
Impressionism.

• Art helps me to see
the world better.

• I am a good reader.

• It’s hard to “read
between the lines.”

Skills • Selecting a piece of
music that conveys
a particular emotion

• Writing an original
jazz composition

• Using fractions and
decimals to express
parts and wholes in
music and the stock
market

• Showing rela-
tionships among
elements

• Responding to a
painting with both
affective and cogni-
tive awareness

• Presenting realistic
and impressionistic
views of an object

• Locating the main
idea and support-
ing details in news
articles

• Interpreting themes
in stories

Good Curriculum as a Basis for Differentiation 69

standards are presented in the form of fragmented and sterile lists, genuine
learning is hobbled, not enriched.

Every standard in a prescribed list is a fact, a concept, a principle (under-
standing), an attitude, or a skill. Some standards imply more than one level of
learning. It is a valuable exercise for teachers, administrators, and curriculum
specialists to review standards and label each of the components with its
level of learning—and then “unpack” the standards, with multiple implicit
levels of learning embedded.

Some sets of standards are based on concepts and principles, integrating
skills of the particular discipline into networks of understanding, as is the
case with many of the standards developed by high-level professional groups.
In other instances, however, standards reflect predominantly skill-level
learning, with an occasional knowledge level, and less frequently a principle
level, included. When this is the case, educators need to fill in the blanks,
making certain that learning experiences are solidly based on concepts and
principles and that students use skills in meaningful ways to achieve or act
upon meaningful ideas.

This point hit home for me when I heard one educator telling another
about a classroom she had visited. “I asked the child what the class was
working on,” the educator reported. “She told me they were writing para-
graphs, and I asked what they were writing about. She told me again that
they were writing paragraphs. I wrinkled my brow and asked, ‘But why are
you writing the paragraphs? What are you trying to communicate?’ She
answered me with some irritation, ‘Oh, that doesn’t matter in here. We’re
just writing paragraphs!’”

Contrast the mechanical way in which this teacher is “teaching” students
standards about writing with another teacher who took a more meaningful
approach to ensuring that students became proficient with standards—in this
case, to understand how particular elements in fiction interact (for example,
how setting shapes plot or characters).

Realizing that the standard as stated was disconnected from her middle
school students’ experiences, she first had students talk about elements in
their own lives and how these affected one another. They discussed how
music influenced their mood, how they could be swayed by friends, how the
time of day impacted their energy level, and so on. She moved from that to
helping students discover that the stories they had enjoyed reading worked
the same way: authors use elements like the motivation of a character (to

70 The Differentiated Classroom

drive the action in a story) or the weather (to help readers understand a
character’s mood). Students suggested some principles about how elements
in systems interact in life and in fiction. They tried out their ideas about the
interaction of elements in songs they cared about, in movies they’d seen, and
in art and photography—and then refined these principles as their conver-
sations about the writer’s craft developed over time. This teacher’s students
found the exploration to be not only worth their time and participation but
also very helpful with their own writing. Many of them even commented on
interaction among elements in fiction and interaction among elements in the
scientific and governmental systems they were studying in social studies class.

Put another way, teaching information and skills without connection to
and use in addressing coherent, meaning-rich ideas is hollow. In addition, as
was discussed in Chapter 3, teaching mechanics without meaning is counter
to the way humans learn.

Standards are an important part of a curriculum, but they should not be
seen as “the” curriculum. They are ingredients in curriculum in the same way
that flour, yeast, water, tomato sauce, and cheese are ingredients in pizza. It’s
a foolish cook who assumes diners who are asked to eat two cups of flour, a
cup of water, a tablespoon of yeast, an eight-ounce can of tomato sauce, and a
block of cheese will feel they have had a tasty pizza. It’s a foolish teacher who
confuses ingredients with an inviting and wholesome learning experience.

Learning Levels: A Case in Point
I remember watching two 3rd grade teachers scramble to figure out how
they could “cover” another unit in science before the year ended. They told
me they had “moved too slowly”; they still had to “do” clouds with students
in the few remaining days of class.

The two teachers worked hard to lay out materials from science books,
which they would have their students read. They found some stories about
clouds that students usually liked with the hope that they’d have time to
read them. The two teachers agreed on cloud worksheets the students could
complete, and they chose an art activity the students would enjoy. All this
work seemed very urgent and purposeful. Yet as the two began to decide
the order in which they’d use the materials, one teacher discovered she had
forgotten the name of one kind of cloud. The second teacher realized she

Good Curriculum as a Basis for Differentiation 71

recalled the names, but she couldn’t match the names to any pictures. Both
teachers had “taught the cloud unit” several times.

This example of “planning a unit” is common. With good intent, teachers
try to do what their program of study outlines. In this case, the outline said
students should know and recognize different kinds of clouds. Although the
curriculum guide may have stated how this segment of study fits into a larger
framework of understanding and skills, the guide did not make that explicit
to the teachers, who, in turn, would not make it explicit to their students.
Because the unit these teachers prepared was largely fact-based and devoid
of understandings (concepts and principles) and skills, it is not surprising
that the teachers themselves had difficulty recalling the facts. This did not
portend rich, long-term outcomes for their students.

By contrast, another teacher mapped out her whole year in science
around four key concepts: change, patterns, systems, and interrelationships.
Throughout the year, students examined a range of scientific phenomena,
learning how these illustrated the four concepts. At the outset of each
exploration, the teacher identified the essential principles she wanted all
students to grasp through their study. Some of the principles were repeated
in several units. For example, natural and human-made things change over
time. Change in one part of a system affects other parts of the system. We
can use patterns to make intelligent predictions. Some understandings, on
the other hand, were specific to a particular study (e.g., water continually
changes in form, but its amount does not change). The teacher also created
a list of skills students were to master in the course of the year. Her students
needed to learn to use particular weather tools, to make predictions based on
observations rather than guesses, and to accurately communicate through
pictures and written statements. At appropriate places in their various studies,
students used the skills to understand key principles. Facts were everywhere
as students talked about specific events just as scientists would.

At one point in the year, students used weather instruments (skills) to
talk about patterns and interrelationships in weather systems (concepts).
They explored two principles: (1) change in one part of a system affects
other parts of the system, and (2) people can use patterns to make intelligent
predictions. Then they predicted (skill) what sorts of clouds (facts) would
be likely to form as a result of the patterns and interrelationships they saw.
They illustrated and wrote about their predictions using appropriate cloud
terminology. They then observed what happened, assessed the accuracy of

72 The Differentiated Classroom

their predictions, and communicated their observations in the form of revised
drawings and explanations.

This kind of planning for student learning creates a structure for coherent
understanding all year. Facts illustrate and cement key ideas that are redis-
covered repeatedly. Skills have a purpose rooted in meaning and utility, and
learning promotes both engagement and understanding. These students are
more likely to understand how their world works and to feel more competent
as learners and young scientists. They also are more likely to remember the
names and nature of clouds in years to come—and so is their teacher.

Curriculum Elements
To ensure effective teaching and learning, teachers need to link tightly three
key classroom elements involved in learning: content, process, and prod-
uct. (The other two elements are learning environment and affect. Those
elements were introduced in Chapter 3, and they must consistently remain
central to thinking about, planning for, observing, and assessing instruction.)

Content is what a student should come to know (facts), understand
(concepts and principles), and be able to do (skills) as a result of a given
segment of study (a lesson, a learning experience, a unit). Content is input.
It encompasses the means by which students will become acquainted with
information (through textbooks, supplementary readings, web-based doc-
uments, videos, field trips, speakers, demonstrations, lectures, computer
programs, and a host of other sources).

Process is the opportunity for students to make sense of the content. If
we only tell students something and then ask them to tell it back to us, they
are highly unlikely to incorporate it into their frameworks of understanding.
The information and ideas will belong to someone else (teacher, textbook
writer, speaker). Students must process ideas to own them. In the classroom,
process typically takes place in the form of activities. An activity is likely to
be effective if it

• Has a clearly defined instructional purpose;
• Focuses students squarely on one key understanding;
• Causes students to use a key skill to work with key ideas;
• Ensures students will have to understand (not just repeat) the idea;
• Matches the student’s level of readiness; and
• Helps students relate new understandings and skills to previous ones.

Good Curriculum as a Basis for Differentiation 73

A product is the vehicle through which students show (and extend)
what they have come to understand and can do as a result of a consider-
able segment of learning (such as a month-long study of mythology, a unit
on weather systems, a marking period spent on studying governments, a
semester learning to speak Spanish, a year’s investigation of ecosystems, or
a week focusing on the geometry of angles). The examples in this book use
the term to signify a culminating product, or something students produce to
exhibit major portions of learning, not the pieces of work students routinely
produce during the course of a day to make their thinking evident. For the
purposes of this book, those short-term creations simply are concrete and
visible elements of an activity.

A culminating or summative product might take the form of a demon-
stration or exhibition. Students could design a solution to a complex problem
or undertake major research and written findings. A culminating product can
be a test, but it just as easily can be a visual display such as a narrated photo
essay. In other words, a product can be a paper-and-pencil assessment, a per-
formance assessment, or a project. Whatever the type, culminating products

• Tightly align with the knowledge, understanding, and skill that are
clear to the teacher and students throughout the period being assessed;

• Emphasize student understanding rather than repetition of knowl-
edge or algorithmic use of skills; and

• Are accessible to students with a range of learning needs (e.g., vision,
reading, writing, attention, language problems).

Culminating products that take the form of performance assessments or
projects should also

• Clearly define what students should demonstrate, transfer, or apply
to show what they know, understand, and can do as a result of the study;

• Provide students with one or more modes of expression, which may
include the opportunity for a student to propose a format, as long as the
learning outcomes to be demonstrated remain constant;

• Communicate precise expectations for high-quality content (infor-
mation gathering, ideas, concepts, research sources), steps and behaviors for
developing the product (planning, effective use of time, goal setting, origi-
nality, insight, editing), and the nature of the product itself (size, audience,
construction, durability, format, delivery, mechanical accuracy);

• Provide support and scaffolding (e.g., opportunities to brainstorm
ideas, rubrics, time lines, in-class workshops on use of research materials,

74 The Differentiated Classroom

opportunities for peer critiques and peer editing) for high-quality student
success; and

• Allow for meaningful variations in student readiness, interest, and
learning profile.

Joining Learning Levels and Curriculum

Effective teachers ensure that the unit or segment they are exploring with
their students addresses all levels of learning. They make certain to build
activities so that the content, process, and product incorporate materials and
experiences that will lead students to engage with and genuinely understand
the subject. This means that content, process, and product are squarely
focused on exploring and mastering key concepts, essential principles, related
skills, and necessary facts (see Figure 5.2).

For example, Ms. Johnson and her middle schoolers will soon undertake
a study of mythology. The concepts she and her students will explore in this
study (and throughout the year) include hero, voice, culture, and identity.
The principles they will investigate include the following:

• People tell stories to clarify their beliefs for themselves and others.
• Our stories reflect our culture.
• Understanding someone else’s worldview helps us clarify our own.
• When we compare the unfamiliar with the familiar, we understand

both better.
• Who a person or culture designates as hero tells much about the per-

son or culture.
• Myths are mirrors of values, religion, family, community, science, and

reasoning.

The skills that will be emphasized in the month-long study include syn-
thesizing text, comparing and contrasting, interpreting and using similes and
metaphors, abstracting themes from fiction, and supporting ideas with text.
As is the case throughout the year, Ms. Johnson will make certain students
use the vocabulary of fiction (plot, setting, protagonist, antagonist, tone) as

Good Curriculum as a Basis for Differentiation 75

Figure 5.2 Joining the Levels of Learning and Elements of Curriculum

Content, process,
and product are used

for the purposes
of achieving

A Topic of Study
consists of

Key facts/
information
(essential
knowledge)

Organizing
concepts
(essential

understandings)

Guiding
principles

Associated
attitudes

Key skills
(essential skills)

Content (what students
should know, understand,

and be able to do as a
result of the study, or
how students will gain

access to the knowledge)

Process (activities
designed to help
students make

sense of or “own”
the content)

Product (how students
will demonstrate and

extend what they
have come to know,
understand, and be

able to do)

Powers as
learners

These components
are used to develop

Clarity, durability,
and retrievability

of knowledge

Teacher
clarity

Student
clarity

76 The Differentiated Classroom

they talk about and work with the myths. Ensuring that students encounter
characters and events (facts) from key myths often and in various contexts
will familiarize them with important names and events that contribute to
the vocabulary, symbols, and allusions in their own and other cultures.

Knowing the key facts, concepts, and principles she intends her students to
learn directs Ms. Johnson’s selection of myths (content). She knows, for exam-
ple, that she must select myths from several cultures; include clear exemplars
of heroes; reveal views about religion, community, and science; and introduce
events and characters that are the basis for often-used cultural symbols and
allusions.

Ms. Johnson develops core activities (process) to help students link what
they read and talk about from the myths with their own cultures, beliefs, and
ways of thinking. The activities will require students to use targeted skills,
and she plans to directly teach these skills as needed. For example, she and
her students will explore the idea of a “hero” as presented in Greek, Norse,
African, and Inuit myths. For one sense-making activity, she’s considering
having students write (and perhaps present) a conversation between a
mythological hero and a contemporary hero on a theme that is relevant to
both times and cultures. This activity will require students to compare and
contrast the heroes’ cultures and beliefs. To do so, they will have to know
important characters and events, understand the concept of hero, apply the
principles they’ve been studying, and use the skill of synthesizing text. They
will use excerpts from myths to guide development of their conversations.

For a culminating product, Ms. Johnson plans to offer several options,
all of which require students to

• Demonstrate their understanding of myths as mirrors of the concept
of hero and culture;

• Use core knowledge about important characters and events from
important myths; and

• Use the targeted skills of understanding theme, metaphorical thought
and language, synthesizing text, comparing and contrasting, and using text
to support ideas.

Ms. Johnson’s clarity about what students must know, understand, and be
able to do as a result of a unit promotes both student engagement and student
success. Students see ancient myths as very much like their own lives. The

Good Curriculum as a Basis for Differentiation 77

myths make sense, seem real, and connect to things they feel are important.
The myth unit will promote understanding by linking new knowledge and
insight with the familiar. As Ms. Johnson and her students explore myths,
she will teach them to use appropriate terms and skills in discussions and
writing so that they connect knowledge, understanding, and skills into a
meaning-rich whole.

These types of activities help students build frameworks to organize,
think about, apply, and transfer knowledge, skills, and ideas. They provide
reinforcing and connective learning opportunities through all elements of the
curriculum. Ms. Johnson has not yet started to think about differentiating
instruction for varied student readiness levels, interests, and approaches to
learning. However, she is laying the foundation for doing so in a rich and
meaningful way.

The Curriculum–Assessment–Instruction Connection
It seems little more than common sense that teachers who care deeply about
both their students and their subject, and who invest heavily in both, would
be vigilant in determining where students are at a given time relative to crit-
ical learning goals. Common sense, of course, can be uncommonly difficult
to achieve, as habits, desires, and other distractions cause us to function in
less than logical ways.

A sensible cycle in teaching would be to set clear goals for a unit of
study, develop tentative plans to help students master those goals, check to
see where students are relative to those goals prior to beginning instruction,
adapt the tentative plans based on what is learned about students’ needs,
teach the first segment of content with both the goals and students’ needs in
mind, check to determine student grasp of the content in the first segment,
adapt plans for the next segment based on what is learned about student
progress, and so on.

Sadly, the pattern many of us follow in school is often more like this:
decide what to teach first, teach it; decide what to teach next, teach it; decide
what to teach third, teach it; and so on. At one or more “concluding” points
in the cycle, we give a test so that there’s something to record in the grade
book. Then we repeat the cycle. Despite the prevalence of this progression,

78 The Differentiated Classroom

when we teach this way we’ve abdicated the essence of effective teaching.
Effective differentiation depends on

• Teacher and student clarity about what students should know, under-
stand, and be able to do as the result of any segment of learning;

• Teacher and student clarity about where the student is relative to
those goals at a given time; and

• The teacher’s acceptance of responsibility to ensure that subsequent
segments of learning deal directly with student gaps, misunderstandings,
and advanced mastery in ways that are highly likely to promote significant
growth.

In other words, goal clarity informs design of pre-assessments and for-
mative assessment, which in turn inform teacher understanding of students’
points of learning, which in turn informs teacher instructional planning.
Formative assessment and pre-assessment can incorporate both formal and
informal measures of student readiness, interests, and approaches to learning.
The alignment of clear curricular goals, ongoing assessment, and instruction
drives meaningful differentiation.

• • •

Fundamentally, differentiation is an instructional model focused on how
teachers teach and how students learn in a classroom—not on what teachers
teach or what students learn. The “what” is a curricular issue. So it would
seem that a model of differentiation would be unconcerned with the nature
of curriculum. But, of course, teachers have to differentiate “something,” and
the quality of that “something” will certainly affect both the power of the
differentiation and the quality of the student experience in the classroom. If
a curriculum is all “drill and s(kill),” it likely still makes sense to differentiate
that curriculum, but consider how much more potent the curriculum, the
instruction, and the learning could be if students learned those skills in pur-
suit of solutions to authentic dilemmas or problems encountered by adults in
their jobs or avocations. Consider, too, that if a teacher differentiates even a
promising curriculum but lacks clarity about its essential knowledge, meaning,
and skills, the differentiation will offer students multiple pathways into fog.

Curriculum ought not be thought of as a document or program teachers
teach “as is” but rather as a starting point for helping learners make sense and
meaning of the world they inhabit. Much of the art of teaching resides in

Good Curriculum as a Basis for Differentiation 79

the capacity to integrate required content outcomes into coherent learning
experiences that capture young imaginations, build reliable organizational
frameworks in young brains, and ensure that learners learn deeply what
matters most in the disciplines they study.

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