Day 1
01 Welcome 02 Model Lesson 03 Pause 04 Model Lesson Reflection 05 Supporting Equity 06 Wrap Up
Day 2
07 Welcome 08 Summary of Curriculum Investigation 09 Pause 10 Differentiation 11 Wrap Up

Session 10: Differentiation

33 minutes

Purpose

In this session, participants will have the opportunity to explore opportunities for differentiation within U5L5 with a focus on extending learning and supporting learning when appropriate. Participants will use the learning objectives and assessment opportunities to determine the core understanding that all students should have by the end of the lesson, regardless of how the lesson is modified to support the learning needs within the classroom.

Objectives

  • Participants understand how to make choices when implementing lessons that support inclusion within classroom.
  • Participants are able to identify opportunities for differentiation within lessons in order to appropriately support learning needs

Supplies & Prep

Workshop Modality:

  • Whole Group
  • Individual
  • Breakout Rooms

Facilitator Supplies:

Teacher Supplies:

  • Computer with webcam
  • Video conferencing software
  • Curriculum guide

Agenda

Teacher Support (17 minutes)

Teacher Strategies (16 minutes)

Facilitation Guide

Teacher Support (17 minutes)

(1 minute) Context

Remarks

The students in our classrooms come to us with various levels of prior knowledge and experience. This is especially true in units involving math concepts and programming. Differentiation is an approach to meet the various needs of learners in our classes and grow a culture of inclusion.

[Refer to the Differentiation and a Culture of Inclusion slide.]

Remarks

During the summer we introduced shared language for equity that included inclusion. Every classroom is likely to be inclusive to SOME of your students, but our goal is for the classroom to be an inclusive space for EVERY student.

The “Guide to inclusive computer science education” compiled by Microsoft, in partnership with CSTA, Code.org, NCWIT and other organizations, defines “inclusion” as “Creating learning environments that are accessible and welcoming of students’ identities, backgrounds, differences and perspectives without barriers or judgment. This means actively attending to gender, race, ethnicity, ability or socioeconomic status.”

(4 minutes) Teaching Tips

Remarks

Let’s discuss the teacher support built into lesson plans that help with preparing lessons while keeping differentiation in mind.

Share the following teaching tips from U5L5:

  • For younger students, you may want to stop the activity after they have finished the first page of the worksheet. This means that they will not need to go online for any of the lessons.

  • This activity models a base-2 number system for the student. However, it is not necessary for the students to understand the math behind the patterns that they are creating. Students should focus on the fact that they are using a binary system (face up/face down) to represent information.

Invite a couple of participants to share their response to the prompt.

Prompt: Think about the students in your room and the objectives of this lesson. What adjustments will you make to this lesson to meet the needs of your students?

(8 minutes) Breakout Rooms: Discussion Goals

Remarks

Throughout the model lesson, students engage in discussions and “Discussion Goals” are provided throughout the lesson plan to support teachers in guiding the discussions. During the wrap up of U5L5, a video connects the concept of binary to its real world application, and thus, adds context to the content presented in Lesson 5. For some of you in the room, this video might have been the context you were looking for to challenge your understanding of the concepts in this lesson and help you make connections between what you learned and the real world. For others, the content in this video might have felt overwhelming. It is possible that you thought you understood binary but then questioned that understanding because of the technical language in the video. This is a common experience for students in your classroom.

Transition: Participants go into breakout rooms for eight minutes to do the following.

  • Revisit the model lesson from U5L5.
  • Read the questions and discussion goals for the wrap up of the model lesson, U5L5.
  • Discuss the prompts in their breakout rooms.

Question for wrap up discussion in U5L5:

  • Why are all the types of data on the computer stored as numbers?

Discussion Goals included in U5L5: For the first question, they may want to return to their ASCII character sheets and see how the computer would interpret the same binary sequence as a number. For their image representation, they may wonder whether it is even useful to interpret the binary sequences as numbers. In the end, the purpose of defining all data as numbers is less about the "reality" of what the ones and zeros represent, and more about how binary is traditionally interpreted.

Question for wrap up discussion in U5L5:

  • If everything is stored as a number, how do you think the computer tells the difference between numbers, letters, images, and sound?

Discussion Goals included in U5L5: For the second question, allow students to think of different ways that the computer would distinguish between different types of data. While it's not necessary for students to come up with any specific answer, challenge them in any ways that involve human interpretation of context, such as knowing that a name is most likely text and age is most likely a number. Assure them that they will look at the problem again in a couple of lessons.

Prompts:

  • What are some benefits to using the Discussion Goal when preparing to teach a lesson?
  • How might the Discussion Goal support differentiation during a class discussion?

Producer Instructions: Send groups of four participants to breakout rooms for eight minutes.

Circulate: Support participants in responding to the prompts.

(4 minutes) Share Out

Participants return from breakout room discussions. Invite a volunteer to share their response to the following prompt.

Discussion Goal

Support participants in understanding the Discussion Goal is a guide for what to anticipate during a discussion and a plan to build out the discussion with students. The Discussion Goal supports teachers with differentiation by supporting teachers in scaffolding between knowing their students' varying needs during discussions and where the discussion should go.

Prompts:

  • What are some benefits to using discussion goals when preparing to teach a lesson?
  • How might this preparation support differentiation during a class discussion?

Remarks

Quick reminder the CSD Guide to Differentiation is found on page 60 of the Curriculum Guide. A link to the CSD Guide to Differentiation 2021 is provided on the slide to use as another resource when planning for differentiation.

Teacher Strategies (16 minutes)

Facilitator Tip

Consider testing the video and audio prior to playing this video during the workshop. Providing participants with the link to the video can alleviate technical issues.

The goal with the Introductory Remarks is to articulate a way to move forward. Having a fully differentiated classroom is not a realistic expectation for first time participants of this course. This work takes time.

(1 minute) Introductory Remarks

Remarks

In this session, we have focused on differentiation through the lens of Lesson 5. However, the ideas we have discussed here can be applied to multiple lessons throughout Unit 5 and the entire CS Discoveries course. At its core, we are simply adjusting our instruction to meet the unique learning needs of the students within our classroom. Each lesson can and should look different for different classrooms.

(8 minutes) Group Brainstorm: Breakout Rooms

Discussion Goal

Support participants in understanding the Discussion Goal is a guide for what to anticipate during a discussion and a plan to build out the discussion with students. The Discussion Goal supports teachers with differentiation by supporting teachers in scaffolding between knowing their students' varying needs during discussions and where the discussion should go.

Prompt:

  • What strategies do you use in your classroom that promote inclusion and meet the unique learning needs of your students?
  • What strategies do others use that you might want to try?

(1 minute) Participants add learning needs and strategies to address the needs in their corresponding breakout room slides.

(4 minutes) Participants share strategies they use to meet their students’ learning needs with the people in their group.

(3 minutes) After listening to strategies shared by others, participants discuss what they are excited to try out with their own students. Participants should also read what other groups shared.

Transition: Quick reminder of suggested roles for participants to self-select when they are in breakout rooms. Remind about designated slides to type on

Producer Instructions: Send groups of four participants to breakout rooms for eight minutes.

Circulate:

  • Circulate the breakout rooms
  • Identify common or key ideas to share in the closing remark

(6 minutes) Share Out

Participants return from breakout room discussions. Invite a couple of participants to voice over their group response to the following prompt, as well as any key takeaways from their breakout rooms discussions.

Prompts:

  • What strategies do you use in your classroom that promote inclusion and meet the unique learning needs of your students?
  • What strategies do others use that you might want to try?

(1 minute) Closing Remarks

Remarks

As we work towards growing the culture of inclusion within our classrooms, it is important for us to continuously reflect on how we might meet the various needs of learners in our classes.