Define what is meant by connecting the models and differentiation, and explain why each is important in teaching and learning.

• Attending to the needs of all learners is one of the most important and difficult challenges facing teachers today.
• For over a century teachers have been admonished to attend to the individual needs of learners; however, they have also been expected to teach a prescribed curriculum to twenty to thirty students in age-graded classrooms.
• Today strategies and tactics exist that provide teachers with the tools to meet the challenges associated with adapting instruction to meet learner needs.

Explain how to use multiple models of instruction to accomplish particular learning goals, to provide variety, and to meet the needs of all learners.

• Repertoire refers to the number of models and strategies teachers have at their command. A wide repertoire allows teacher to use multiple models to adapt instruction and make wise instructional choices for ensuring different types of student learning.
• Although the goals of particular lessons is one factor for deciding which models and strategies to use, the nature of the students is another very important factor.
• The need for variety is a third factor that helps teachers decide to use various and multiple models during a lesson or unit of work.

Describe the rationale and major features of differentiation, and discuss the strategies that support the differentiated classroom.

• Theories of human development and abilities help teachers understand the wide range of readiness and abilities found in all classrooms.
• Developmental theorist such as Piaget and Vygotsky provide a perspective on how children develop and grow and how development proceeds at differing rates.
• Sternberg and Gardner, among others, posit that intelligence is multiple rather than unitary. Sternberg has defined three types of intelligence; Gardner has described eight basic forms of intelligence.
• Differentiated classrooms are characterized by features where teachers focus on the essentials; attend to student differences; view assessment and instruction as inseparable; make modifications of content, process, and products; and provide all students with respectful work appropriate to their abilities and needs.
• Strategies that support differentiation of instruction include curriculum differentiation, cooperative learning, problem-based learning, curriculum compacting, tiered activities, and independent study and contracting.
• For much of the twentieth century, grouping students by ability was the major means to decrease the range of abilities found in classrooms.
• Over the past three decades, research has pointed out some of the negative effects of ability grouping and has led many educators to explore alternative practices, such as within-class "flexible grouping."
• A small knowledge base is beginning to show the positive effects of flexible grouping.

Describe how to implement a learning environment conducive to differentiation and explain special concerns and issues about assessment and grading created in this type of classroom

• Differentiated classrooms, as with most learner-centered situations, place special demands on the teacher's management systems. They require systems for dealing with students when they are pursuing multiple learning tasks and ways to deal with differing finishing rates.
• Monitoring and managing students work is also more complicated in classrooms where student are working on various types of learning tasks and assignments.
• Assessment and instruction must be inseparable and fully integrated for differentiated instruction to be effective.
• Traditional approaches to assessment and grading can often inhibit efforts to adapt instruction to meet the needs of particular learners; emphasis should be on student growth rather than normative comparisons.