Differentiated Instruction: An Overview

June 26, 2008

Nashville, Tenn.

No two students learn and behave exactly alike. So why do schools function as if all students in a particular grade or subject are identical? Here's your opportunity to explore a vision of effective classrooms in which heterogeneity is honored through differentiated instruction. Attend this one-day Institute to discover how teachers in academically diverse classrooms address student differences in readiness, interest, and learning profile in order to provide a genuine challenge and maximize achievement for each learner. Participants will

• Understand how to establish and facilitate differentiated classrooms.
• Examine many examples of effectively differentiated curriculum.
• Learn the types of support needed in order to expand the number of well-differentiated classrooms in a school or district.

Leading for Differentiated Instruction

June 26, 2008

Nashville, Tenn.

Attend this one-day Institute to gain a better understanding of leading differentiated instruction (DI) in your school or district. Bring colleagues from your district or school team to develop a vision of effective heterogeneous school communities through differentiated instruction and begin an action plan for implementation that includes

• Ideas for supporting and enhancing a responsive learning community in schools
• School and district structures that support or hinder DI
• Skills that serve as resources to observe, coach, and support teachers in DI
  

Understanding by Design: Beginning the Journey

June 26, 2008

Nashville, Tenn.

Do you understand understanding? Can you describe the elements of good unit design? Participants in this full-day Institute will examine understanding and good design as a foundation for beginning the journey with Understanding by Design. Participants will experience the backward design process as they work through all three design stages using a generic topic. Through discussion, reflection, design, and self-assessment exercises, participants will develop a solid foundation for future work with Understanding by Design.

Schooling by Design

June 26, 2008

Nashville, Tenn.

If your school or district is using or considering ASCD's popular Understanding by Design (UbD) framework, how should your school maximize this improvement effort? In this Institute, UbD author Grant Wiggins addresses that question while examining a variety of practical and proven processes, tools, and examples to assist school- and district-level leaders. Drawing on the ASCD book Schooling by Design, consider these essential questions

• How can "backward design" greatly enhance school improvement?
• What new policies, structures, and job roles need to be established?
• How does the curriculum reflect how learning and calendars unfold?
• How do standards apply to curriculum, assessment, and instruction?

Building Background Knowledge Through Vocabulary Development

June 26, 2008

Nashville, Tenn.

What are the most effective research-based strategies for teaching and learning vocabulary to enhance background knowledge and promote academic achievement for all students? How can a school articulate the curriculum more clearly by identifying an agreed upon academic vocabulary? 

In Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement, Robert J. Marzano shows how teaching specific terms in a specific way is probably the strongest action a teacher can take to ensure that students have the academic background knowledge they need to understand the content they will encounter in school. Combine this with an effective sustained silent reading program to improve learning for all students and help overcome the deficiencies in background knowledge that hamper the achievement of many children.

Participants will explore the research and best practices for teaching academic language and sustained silent reading, and gain a basic understanding of

• The defining characteristics of effective vocabulary instruction
• A six-step process for direct instruction in vocabulary
• The role of a vocabulary notebook
• The components of an effective sustained silent reading program

Participants will leave this session with a set of practical strategies to incorporate into their instruction and ideas to establish a systemwide approach for vocabulary development.  

Classroom Assessment and Grading That Work

June 26, 2008

Nashville, Tenn.

Attend this Institute to understand how to apply the specific recommendations from ASCD's best-selling book Classroom Assessment and Grading That Work. Learn how the research-based approach described in this book provides feasible direction for immediate and long-term changes. And deepen your knowledge of all the issues related to effective classroom formative assessment, including

• Changing grading and assessment practices
• Developing classroom assessments that provide an accurate profile of what students have learned
• Creating grade books that separate academic from nonacademic factors
• Tracking specific learning goals in grading records
• Using new grading practices to communicate with students and parents