Comparing Math Reteach Differentiation to WTW

Words Their Way proactively differentiates for the students' readiness levels.  Three times a year students are tested based on a Qualitative Spelling Inventory.  The students are put into spelling groups based on their scores they received on the QSI.   And thus, spelling levels are born.

Each week each of the different groups has different words they are tested on based on their spelling skill level.  This allows the students to be successful at their prospective spelling levels.  If all the class was given the same list the bad spellers would always fail and the advanced students would never get any better.  The spelling time each day was tiered based on the students readiness level.  All students need to learn to spell and they all need to learn the same words by the end of the year.  With tiered spelling groups the students just learn the words at different rates. Using WTW proactively differentiates so the students can all excel at their own level.

In field experience my 4th grade team did an after the fact differentiated math lesson.  All the students would be taught the same lesson and they would be tested with the exact same test.  After the test the 4th grade team of teachers broke all three classes of students into 3 groups. They would then spend a half hour a day for a week teaching to 3 different tiers.  The lowest group would need to be retaught the same concepts from the test with many scaffolds as well as they would need to review the material from the previous section.  The middle group just needed a few scaffolds to help them solidify the test concepts better in their brain.  The highest group didn't review they test at all.  They just extended their math skills and spent time being challenged with the higher level thinking. At the end of the week a mini quiz is given to each group testing what they re-learned in their groups. If they get 90% on the quiz then points are added to their original test. The three tiers allowed the students to successfully master the required content.  It gives the students a second chance to be the best they can be.

Both of these differentiated tiered lessons tie in perfectly with hallmark #1 which says that assessment needs to be strongly linked with instruction.  These two forms of differentiation wouldn't be successful if they didn't has an assessment prior to the tiering process.  And the assessment would be pointless without teaching to the specific student's needs. I learned through this post that you can't successfully differentiate without successful assessment.  Hallmark #1 is so essential be a fantastic differentiating teacher.