How can a teacher become more efficient in the classroom?
How can our schools make the most of
mathematical minutes?
What does RtI (Response to Intervention)
look like in a high school classroom?
What does a week of small-group, differentiated instruction look like?
Help!
Elementary & secondary level teachers, administrators, leadership teams, departments, and districts are looking for good examples of small-group, differentiated instruction in mathematics.…
“Why go into something to test the waters ? Go into it to make waves.”
Pre-Assessment and On-Going Assessment are some of the Essential Elements of the Tabor Rotation Framework. They’re also foundational components in a differentiated classroom. Whether you’re sophisticating your methods for assessing your students or just beginning to use on-going assessments, they’re a great place to begin a journey differentiating instruction in a classroom.…
“How many students should be in a group?”
The PGCPS website [http://www.pgcps.org/~elc/learning1.html] gives this simple and easy to understand description for small groups:
Size
The smallest group is two. The largest recommended is six. Generally, in smaller groups each member participates more, fewer social skills are required, and groups can work more quickly.…
“A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.” -Francis Bacon
“Talent alone won’t make you a success. Neither will being in the right place at the right time, unless you are ready. The most important question is: “Are your ready?” -Johnny Carson
During follow-up conferencing this week I was asked a wonderful question.…
“Dreams are today’s answers to tomorrow’s questions. ” Edgar Cayce
Many educators, who have attended my workshops concerned with simplifying small-group, differentiated instruction in mathematics using the Tabor Rotation Framework, have submitted questions. Before the year is over, my goal is to respond to as many of these questions as possible.…
“I can’t ever go back to teaching difficult concepts to the whole group. Quite frankly, by the time I finished passing out manipulatives to the class and monitored their use, I just wanted to collect them and end the lesson. Small groups are a gift to my students.”…
Have you heard this saying, “If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail?” Or this one, “Bad planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” Maybe Winnie-the-Pooh (as written by A. A. Milne) said it best, “Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.”…
“Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.
Several teachers have written me asking about the scheduling of readiness groups and the vigor with which the readiness groups should be taught.…
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
An effectively differentiated lesson clearly indicates that the teacher has anticipated and planned for student diversity (Tomlinson, 1999).…
