DIFFERENTIATION

PORTFOLIO
!
EDUC4721 ASSIGNMENT 2

NAME AND STUDENT NUMBER: KOH JIA MIN (2169812)

The above clipart image is taken from Canisius College (2011)

http://www3.canisius.edu/~grandem/catholicconference/catholicconference2.html
 Introduction

Teachers once looked at education outcomes as a one size fits all prospect, they

now realize that the attainment reflects and depends on different factors. One of

the factors as well as an important challenge that teachers meet in today’s

classrooms is teaching a diversity of learners, which have “become more

prominent over the past few decades” (Jarvis, 2013, p.53).

Teachers face students who are diverse in a variety of ways including students

who come from different economic, religious and family backgrounds, students

who are gifted as well as students who have special educational needs. For

classrooms to be of optimal learning environments, it is necessary that we, as

educators, implement and embrace the concepts of inclusion and differentiation.

What is Inclusion?

Kindling inclusion in education is the basic building block of an inclusive society.

Foreman (2014) stated that inclusion is based on the philosophy that schools

should provide for the educational needs of all children in the community

regardless of their backgrounds or abilities. He further mentioned that an

inclusive school welcomes and celebrates diversity of learners, answering the

question of, “How do we provide for the educational needs of an individual?”

Inclusion can further be defined through four interrelated elements: Participation,

Progress and A Sense of Belonging of all students (Ainscow and Miles, 2008).

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First of all, student has to be physically present in the classroom in order for

participation to take place. Participation also relates to the quality of their learning

experiences whilst they are in the inclusive classrooms. Achievement refers to

the educational outcomes across the curriculum. Finally, students must feel they

are being accepted (no matter their differences) and that they belong to the

classroom amongst their peers.

What is Differentiation?

Differentiation is built upon inclusion philosophy. It is referred to as the general

methodology to planning, teaching and managing the classroom, taking into

consideration every student’s learning needs and characteristics, aiming to allow

individuals the access to high-quality curriculum and empower them to progress

in common learning outcomes (Jarvis, 2013). Therefore, a differentiated

classroom is an inclusive environment where all individuals are able to learn,

regardless of the differences they bring to the classroom.

Teachers can create different paths for students by differentiating the classroom

elements – Content, Process, Product, Affect and Learning Environment which

according to student characteristics- Readiness, Interest and Learning Profile

(Tomlinson & Imbeau, 2010). They further stated that to differentiate effectively, it

also requires teachers to deliberately and systematically conduct diagnostic,

formative and summative assessment to inform decisions about planning for

instruction.

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The diagram below demonstrates how differentiation and inclusion philosophies

are interrelated and based upon.

figure 1.

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 School “Diversity and Inclusion Profile”

Background information & Demographic Information

about students

Garden Children’s Centre (this is a pseudonym, not the real name of the school)

is an early intervention centre for children aged 2 to 7 years old who have been

clinically diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or suspected ASD. It

was first started in May 1998 as an autism-specific early intervention

government-support centre in Singapore. The program incorporates a mixture of

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Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) strategies and 2Treatment and Education of

Autistic and Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH) principles. Each

session includes a mixture of 1:1, small group activities or big group activities.

According to the school’s annual report as of 31st March 2017, there are a total of

134 students and 24 teaching staff in Garden Children’s Centre. Autism is a

spectrum condition and it affects individuals in different ways. Hence, the school

typically groups students according to the levels of support needed. For example,

students on the higher end of the spectrum will most likely be in the same class.

1
ABA is an approach that was derived from learning theory that is based on the
principles about how behaviour works and how learning takes place so as to help
increase useful or desired behaviour (Autism Speaks, 2012).
2
TEACCH principles are based on the learning characteristics of learners with
ASD, including their strengths in visual information processing. It offers
structured teaching in the physical environments and visual structure of materials
in the tasks and activities presented to them (Autism Speaks, n.d.).

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The average number of students per class is 3 to 6 with 2-3 teachers. Please

refer to Appendix A- Demographic Information about Students for a table

summary.

School Approaches

Curriculum

The diagram (figure 2.) below shows the school’s curriculum framework. They

are further broken down into smaller achievable steps that teachers will pick to

be used in student’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Creating IEP is one

way the school has worked to address student differences. For example, based

on the child’s learning needs (which are typically evaluated during assessment),

under “Work Habits”, he may have the goals of, “Follow one part instruction (sit,

stop, keep, hands down)” and under “Functional Communication”- “Requests for

Desired Items” in his IEP goals.

All students have access to the same curriculum but at different levels of

learning. The school determines the curriculum; teachers do not make

modification to it.

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 figure 2.

One of the essential principles of differentiations is a foundation of high-quality

curriculum where all students are working towards a common set of broad goals

but at a level of complexity that is appropriate to them as individuals (Tomlinson

& Strickland, 2005). The curriculum in Garden Children’s Centre is to a moderate

extend fostering differentiation practices because teachers pay attention to the

broad curriculum framework and tie students’ learning to that common

framework.

Tomlinson et al. (2002) presented principles of high-quality curriculum and

instructions for all learners and they include providing opportunities for learners

to develop in-depth understandings and are mentally challenging and engaging

to the students. However, it is questionable whether the curriculum follows the

principles of high quality curriculum after discussions and interviewing teachers in

school. Teachers feel that the even though students with autism need to learn

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social and communication skills which the curriculum is focusing on, the

implementation of the curriculum neither stretch the students to help them

become competent problem solvers in life nor is enriching and challenging to the

students. What are the essential facts, skills and understandings behind the

framework that help to promote students higher order thinking?

Please refer to Appendix B- Interview with Teachers for more details.

Assessments

The variety of student differences can impact learning in the classroom in a

range of ways. Teachers are required to continually attempt to create and design

activities, which are at an appropriate level of challenge that is known as the

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) (Turville, Allen & Nickelsen, 2010). The

authors further explained that ZPD is the zone in which learning occurs and it is

different for every student. Too much challenge and the students become

frustrated, too little challenge and students become bored. To maximize learning,

teachers need to manage learners in the ZPD, the zone which students feel

excited and enriched. Hence, teachers will need to find out a student’s readiness,

which refers to where a student is in his grasp of learning at a certain point in

time during assessment that are relevant to those goals (Doubet & Hockett,

2015).

Teachers in Garden Children’s Centre assess students using the above

curriculum framework (figure 1). They assess student status before picking the

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IEP goals (pre-assessment), throughout the whole of semester (formative

assessment) as well as a key ending point at the end of the semester/ IEP

(summative assessment).

In addition, due to the small student to teacher ratio, teachers can usually create

tasks to fulfil such condition for learning to take place (ZDP), even individualized

activity for a particular student. Tomlinson & Moon (2013) have noted that in a

differentiated classroom, the process of curriculum-based assessment guides

teachers in decision-making for classroom planning and instructions.

Classroom Structure & Instructions

Through observations and working in the classrooms, it can be evident to see

students who have differences in readiness to learn, short attention span,

behavioural issues, sensory concerns or inflexible adherence to routines. These

differences will make an impact across a variety of classroom planning. For

example, the number of students and teachers in a class (as mentioned), class

structure, type of learning groups (1:1, paired, small or big group), assessments,

lesson planning or even the day-to-day routines.

According to the teachers, differentiation of activities is mainly according to

students’ interests and readiness. They will also ensure that every student

regardless of differences will have access to the intervention framework. For

example, students who have communication barrier such as those who are non-

verbal can still have access to the curriculum by using Picture Exchange

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Communication System (PECS)3. Such an approach will help students to reach

the same outcome but through a different process (Jarvis, 2013). At the same

time, this shows that teachers demonstrate and implement differentiation as a

philosophy of teaching.

In addition, through observation, it is evident that teachers used a few different

strategies to meet the learning needs of students. These include, visuals (daily

schedules, written instructions), interest based tasks and multiple workspaces.

Please refer to Appendix C- Sample Lesson Plan

External Professionals

Garden Children’s Centre outsources an occupational therapist and a speech

therapist from the therapy hubs. The therapists only come in once a week for

each session. With the centre housing 134 students, the therapists will not work

with every individual directly, unless identified by the teachers. However, the

therapists will make classroom observations and provide suggestions or

strategies to the classroom teachers so that they can work with the students.

Strategies are in particular to addressing student’s sensory and speech issues.

3
PECS is a form of augmentative and alternative communication system (Frost
& Bondy, 2012).

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Others

• The school does not have any special programmes or initiatives to

address various aspects of students’ diversity.

• As Garden Children’s Centre is an autism-focused school, teachers are

typically encouraged to attend courses that are autism specific. Examples

of training or workshops teachers are encouraged to attend are

“Fundamentals of Autism, Certificate in Autism”, “TEACCH” or “Higher

Certificate in Autism”. There is no staff professional development

initiatives related to diverse students.

• The school’s mission as stated on the website is to “equip our pre-

schoolers with autism with relevant skills to be ready for school settings”.

While this statement does suggest that the school will help to provide for

the needs of all students with relevant skills, there is very little in their

written mission that explicitly highlights differentiation or encourage and

implement inclusion principles as a school priority.

• Please refer to Appendix D- School’s Philosophy, Mission and Vision.

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 Going forward…

Garden Children’s Centre can be seen as a quality school as the school has

targeted to support autism learning style by using evidence-based practices

according to the needs of the students. However, the principles of

differentiation can be explored further by looking into the below highlighted

points.

• Teachers in Garden Children’s Centre have highlighted that classroom

planning and tasks are usually geared towards individualization rather

than differentiation as a whole class. Doubet & Hockett (2015) have

stated that respectfully differentiated tasks are the insurance policy of

differentiation. For tasks to be respectful, one of the criteria is that the

activities helps to build and solidify the class’s sense of community, the

tasks will lead learners to whole-class closure and engage in the same

closing discussion.

• Another point that was highlighted earlier on was for the school to think

about providing tasks that encourage students to work at higher levels

of thoughts. In the first place, curriculum should be coherent and

inviting then only “does it make sense to differentiate that curriculum”

(Tomlinson & Strickland, 2005, p. 17).

• Due to the way Garden Children’s Centre group the students, it is

evident that students are always working with the same group of

friends or one-to-one with a support teacher. As stated in Jarvis

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 (2013), flexible grouping is used in a differentiated classroom to

address diverse needs. This flexibility means that opportunities should

be created for students to work with different group of peers for various

purposes. Garden Children may want to consider grouping students in

different ways so that there are opportunities for interactions with other

peers.

• Finally, from the teachers’ interview, it is reflected that there is a weak

collaboration between themselves (early intervention) and teachers

from the (mainstream) preschools that students are. Teachers may

want to look into how they may work together for theirs students who

are in the mainstream settings to be in an inclusive environment, rather

than to work separately and have different goals in these two different

settings.

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 Professional Reflections

My experience of teaching in a differentiated classroom …

My understanding of differentiation has been changing over time and has

developed as I gain more experience in teaching young children, especially after

this module. Inclusion and differentiation works hand in hand, we have to

differentiate to build an inclusive environment and we have to include everyone

by differentiating. Each learner comes into the classroom with different

experiences and readiness that vary from lesson to lesson and skill to skill. Some

students may struggle to learn a new concept but comprehend other topic with

ease. For effective differentiation to take place, one important factor that was

learnt in this differentiation module, is to adopt a growth mindset. When using a

growth mindset with students, they will be able to develop mastery of a skill

through the awareness that whichever degree of learning proficiency they have, it

can be cultivated and built upon progressively (Cash, 2017). We have to see

students having unlimited potential and not fixed ability.

With a greater understanding of differentiation, I realized that during my

professional experience, I have explored a few strategies with my students. I

have also come to realize that I have been using “Tiering” strategy after attending

this differentiation topic. Tiering is a process of designing tasks differentiated for

student readiness based on information gathered from assessment to move

students toward the same learning goals (Doubet & Hockett, 2015).

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Tiering was used when I worked in a mainstream preschool setting with 20

students including 2 children with autism. For example, during a phonics lesson

to teach children the sound of “S”, I have developed tiered tasks according to the

student’s readiness with regards to their phonological awareness and create

learning objectives using “All, Most, Some”. This allows me to set explicit

baseline for all learners and ensure that everyone still have access to important

content.

Another strategy that I employed was to use both teacher-structured and student-

choice avenues to learning-profile differentiation, where students can select

modes of exploring or expressing ideas such as working alone, with a peer, sit in

a desk and etc. (Tomlinson, 2010). In the preschool setting, I have created

learning corners that are set up within the classroom with a specific focus that

encourage children to learn through hands-on activities. In that way, students

have the choice of working alone or with a small group of friends or even to have

a session with me.

They were effective and it allows me to see the growth especially the two

students with autism. More often than not, I was able to reach a common “place”

where all students could progress together through the next step of the unit or

concept to be taught. Students also seemed to have high motivation and

engagement levels for the task and allowed them to develop growth mindset

about their own learning.

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Coming back to my current placement of work in Garden Children’s Centre, what

I find is the most successful form of differentiation in this school was

differentiating according to students’ interests. Differentiation by interest is

effective through raising the level of enjoyment and standard of the work

completed. Students are more enthusiastic about their learning and are more

comfortable with the activities created for them. However, as mentioned earlier

on, I agreed with the teachers that there is a lot of individualization going on that

decreases the sense of community building with peers.

I believe that the school could move towards a more highly effective

differentiated centre by applying the principles of differentiation, i.e. a high quality

curriculum that promotes students’ higher order thinking and flexible grouping. I

am also excited to implement the lesson plan in assignment 1 after the approval

from my mentor.

What makes differentiating challenging?

What made it difficult for me to differentiate was I need more practices and

experience in implementing and managing differentiated tasks within the

classroom. It can be challenging when it comes to managing a number of

children who are at different readiness and who may have behavioural issues,

i.e. classroom management.

Another challenge that I faced in implementation was time. It can be tough to

plan and think of different tiered tasks that cater to different student readiness. In

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addition, for students with special needs, there may be a huge gap between what

one comprehends as compared to another; the challenge comes in bridging the

gap.

Future Growth

Although I was able to implement some differentiation strategies, there are still

many areas for me to improve on. First of all, it is the need to foster better

communication with students with regards to providing process feedback and in a

more structured way to better suit their individual needs. Next, the need to also

work with students to develop growth mindset so that students are more

receptive to learning in general. I have to also constantly remind myself to

function with a fluid mindset by avoiding the grouping of students according to

how I think they will fare in the tasks I design by conducting assessments in all

learning areas, rather than their abilities. And finally, to apply in action the

principles and practice of differentiation in content, process and product.

I have come to conclude that differentiation is more than just a useful process

and tool, differentiation when conducted effectively, allows a student to move

forward in their learning. I hope to always refer back to the principles learnt in this

topic and apply it to my teaching practices.

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References

Ainscow, M., & Miles, S. (2008). Making education for all inclusive: where next?.

Prospects, 38(1), 15-34.

Autism Speaks. (2012). Applied behavior analysis. Retrieved from

https://www.autismspeaks.org/docs/sciencedocs/atn/atn_air-

p_applied_behavior_analysis.pdf

Autism Speaks. (n.d.). TEACCH autism program. Retrieved from

https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/treatment/teacch

Cash, R.M. (2017). Advancing differentiation: Thinking and learning for the 21st

century. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit.

Canisius College. (2011). Differentiated instruction. Retrieved from

http://www3.canisius.edu/~grandem/catholicconference/catholicconferenc

e2.html

Doubet, K., & Hockett, J. (2015). Differentiating according to student readiness.

In K. Doubet, & J. Hockett. Differentiation in middle and high school:

strategies to engage all learners, Alexandria, Virginia: ASCD. pp. 173-206.

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Frost, L., & Bondy, A. (2002). The picture exchange communication system

Training manual. (2nd ed.). Newark, DE: Pyramid Educational Consultants,

INC.

Foreman, P. (2014). Introducing inclusion in education. In Foreman, Phil &

Arthur-Kelly, Michael (Eds.), Inclusion in action (4th edition, pp. 2-46),

South Melbourne, Vic: Cengage Learning Australia.

Jarvis, J. (2013). Differentiation learning experiences for diverse students. In P.

Hudson (Ed.), Learning to teach in the primary school (pp.52-70). Port

Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.

Tomlinson, C.A. (2001). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability

classrooms. (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Tomlinson, C.A., & Imbeau, M.B. (2010). Leading and managing a differentiation

classroom. Alexandria, V.A.: ASCD.

Tomlinson, C.A., & Strickland, C.A. (2005). Differentiation in practice: A resource

guide for differentiating curriculum. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

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Tomlinson, C.A., Kaplan, S.N., Renzulli, J.S., Purcell, J., Leppien, J., & Burns, D.

(2002). The parallel curriculum: A design to develop high potential and

challenge high-ability learners. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc.

Tomlinson, C.A., Moon, T.R. (2013). Assessment and student success in a

differentiated classroom. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Turville, J., Allen, L., & Nickelsen, L. (2010). Differentiating by readiness:

Strategies and lesson plans for tiered instruction grades K-8. New York,

London: Routledge.

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Appendix A – Demographic Information about Students

Basic Information Data

Total number of students 134

Age 2 to 7 years old

Number of students per class 3 to 6 students

Number of teachers per class (Depending on the level of supports

needed) 2 to 3 teachers

Most commonly represented special Autism (child has to be clinically

needs diagnosed with autism or suspect ASD)

Student Ethnic Profile 80% Chinese

15% Malay

5% Indian

Financial Assistance Depending on the family’s household

income, every Singaporean student in
Garden Children’s Centre receives
some form of financial subsidy from the
government board, i.e. a child whose
household income is low will receive
higher amount of subsidy from his or
her school fees.

About 80% of the students are

Singaporean while the rest who are
permanent residents will not have any
form of financial assistance.

Gifted Education 0%

Note: Information is collected from the School’s annual report as of March 2017.

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Appendix B – Interview with Teachers

Interview Questions with 5 teachers

1. Define Differentiation.

• To individualise every aspect of learning or interaction of an individual to

ensure success.
• Provide different types of worksheets or tasks to different students.

2. How do you differentiate in your classroom to meet the different needs of the
students?

• There is a lot of individualization rather than differentiation as a whole

class, especially with interests and student’s ability.
• I meet the needs of the students that I have, but through a lot of one-to-
one working with them. I am not sure whether is that differentiation.
• Even though our students (with autism) need to learn social and
communication skills, which the curriculum is focusing on, the
implementation of the curriculum is not challenging or enriching to them.
They are always doing the same things over and over.
• To elicit the goals of soft skills, we always use the same old tasks or
activities that they are familiar with, especially puzzles! This can be very
boring to them, I think.

3. Define Inclusion.

• Every member of a group is able to participate in an activity with ease and

confidence.
• Students with special need studying in typical schools.

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4. Do you support the idea of inclusive school? How do you find the school’s
approaches in fostering an inclusive culture or practices?

• Yes, this is a great opportunity for everyone to learn and understand

differences. How one succeeds in society comes from learning from
others.
• Not sure how inclusion can work especially when my students are all high
support needs.
• Hardly work with the teachers from the preschools unless parents want
me to contact them.
• Sometimes parents will update us about child’s progress or learning in
preschool, unfortunately, it is a culture in school that we don’t actively
work with them. I’m not sure how to provide suggestions and whether
teachers there will be receptive to what we say too.

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Appendix C – Sample Lesson Plan

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Appendix D – School’s Philosophy, and Vision

Our Mission We equip our pre-schoolers with

autism with relevant skills to be ready

for school settings

Our guiding principles • Incorporate meaningfulness,

dignity, independence and

safety in all that we do

• Advocate caregiver collaboration

and joyful learning as essential

components for successful long-

term outcomes

• Support the autism learning

style by utilising key autism

strategies and evidence-based

practices

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