I think that Tiering is just good teaching. Most teachers adjust their lessons for different levels in their class anyway. I don't think that it is too hard either if we do it right. We don't have to come up for 5 different lesson plans. We start with one goal and main idea and make adjustments to that activity to make it work for each level. I think it will take a lot of practice but once we are used to the idea it will probably be easier than we think.
I think that these examples are all tiered activities. The Think-Tac-Toe is tiered by having two different versions with some overlap. The 1st version seemed easier to me but it was hard to tell. Each of the activities involves work and I think it caters well to children's different interests. I know that I like having different options when I do projects or activities, so I know that children like having options too. People seem to work harder on things that they have chosen to do so this is a great idea. The RAFT examples were tiered as well but everyone in the class received the same paper. The only thing I worry about is, what if higher level students choose to do a lower tiered activity? What if it isn't challenging enough for them but they want to do it anyway? If we give students the option are they always going to choose the one that is right for them at that time? I hope that they would be able to make the right decision on what they are capable of, but you never know.
I believe that all of these examples in the book are tierable and that almost every activity can be tiered in some fashion. With the Math Tickets the teacher is able to put the assignments that she wants students to do on a card and they are able to finish it within a specific amount of time during the week. She is able to check up on their work during the Teacher Feature and help the student as needed. THey are also able to pick out the pieces that shows their best understanding and the teacher also has control because she gets to pick out a piece at random too. The students all know exactly what they need to accomplish on their ticket and the contract rules are clearly stated so their are no surprises at the end.
ThinkDots are also a great tool that is fun and allows students to be on different levels while still learning. In the math example each version is a little different but a lot of it is also the same. You can group like students and they can feed off of each other to answer the questions. This can also be done individually as a study guide or assessment.
Overall I think that Tiering is definitely a great tool that can and will make us successful teachers. If we can tier a lesson to meet the readiness levels of all our students than all of them will succeed. We need to challenge our students enough but also give them work that they are ready for and know they can finish and learn from it.
1 comment:
You get the important basics of tiering. The specific part I'd like to add to your knowledge is that TIERING is differentiating FOR READINESS. When students choose, they choose FOR INTEREST. Sometimes that's the thing they NEED to be differentiated for. When motivation to show you their very best effort, or to REALLY SHOW you what they understand, tiering for interest or letting them choose, as you explained, it the best way to differentiate. Tiering doesn't include CHOICE of the overall task... that is assigned, based on what you have pre-assessed about students' readiness levels. You should tier when the most important thing is that the students really GET it... the stakes are high, and they can't progress until they get this objective. Other types of differentiation work better for other goals. We'll clarify this in class, but it sounds like you're THERE. (I agree that tiering is just GOOD TEACHING. I don't find, however, very many teachers to are WILLING to "let" students do different tasks to get to the same learning... or they do it by quantity more often than qualitative differences).
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