DIFFERENTIATION OF LESSON CONTENT In the figures below, we provide example small-group lesson plans that differentiate instruction for students in primary-grade (Figure 1) and upper-elementary grade (Figure 2) classrooms. In the first set of examples, all kindergarteners receive primarily code-focused instruction, but the teacher differentiates the content and intensity of instruction students receive. To group students for these kindergarten, code- focused small-group lessons, the teacher would first administer a curriculum-aligned placement test or a phonics inventory to determine what letter-sound knowledge they have and where to place them in the sequence of instruction. Some kindergarten students may have no letter-sound knowledge in the fall of kindergarten. These students will be placed at the start of the sequence of instruction. For example, if the teacher is using Scholastic’s Ready4Reading Short Reads Decodables book series, they would start with Sam and Tam and the letter-sound cards that introduce the short-vowel sound for a and the sounds associated with the consonants m, s, and t in common consonant-vowel-consonant words. (This is the only letter-sound knowledge students need to read Sam and Tam .) Other kindergarten students may already know the short-vowel sound associated with a and all of the consonant sounds introduced in the first seven decodables in the series but still lack knowledge of the short-vowel sound associated with i. Such students would be grouped together and placed in the sequence of instruction at the lesson that introduces the short-vowel sound for i and scaffolds reading of the decodable Rip! Dip! and Pat! . Students with lower levels of knowledge may need more support and opportunities for practice than students who start kindergarten with more letter-sound knowledge. The “Code-Focused Lesson 1” is designed to provide a little extra practice for students with initially low levels of phonics/decoding knowledge. Students who receive “Code- Focused Lesson 1” learn new letter-sounds and temporarily irregular words, practice decoding words using new letter-sound knowledge, and read a decodable book. Then, in “Code-Focused Lesson 2,” these same groups with initially lower levels of phonics/ decoding knowledge have an opportunity to read the same book again, this time focusing on comprehension as well as decoding. For students with higher initial levels of phonics/decoding knowledge (e.g., the group that started with Rip! Dip! and Pat! ), it’s okay to skip “Code-Focused Lesson 1” and go straight to “Code-Focused Lesson 2.” Teachers can usually expect more advanced students to pick up on new letter-sound knowledge more quickly; such students will likely be able to focus on comprehension as well as decoding even on the first read. When groups that need more teacher support are engaged in the second small-group lesson for this decodable, groups of students with strengths in this area can engage in child-managed instructional activities, which are associated with greater benefits for students who are initially more proficient (Connor, 2011b).
ALIGNING PRACTICE WITH RESEARCH TOPIC PAPER 16
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