As a teacher, I know my job is to differentiate for all the various learner needs in my classroom. And I've spent a lot of time researching how to best meet these needs. During that time, I've found a lot of lists, ideas, and strategies. That's all good stuff but it still takes LOADS of TIME to implement them! (Never mind how long it took to just find all this information.)
That's the Trouble with Differentiation.
But there's more to know about differentiation. When I dug into the research, I found that if lessons were designed to meet the needs of the learners from the very start, then following a pattern of teach-reteach-enrich would make differentiation a much more streamlined process. While that gives teachers a better plan to follow, it still leaves plenty to do with creating the reteaching and enriching activities (and never mind the hundred other responsibilities a teacher has in a day).
That's why I say "Differentiation is NOT easy!"
But what if the work had already been done for you?
What if there were lessons tailored to the standards with differentiation already built in?
The kind of differentiation that has options for content (teaching), process (practice) and product (reteaching and enrichment) which will lead to an optimum learning environment for students?
Sounds like a dream, right?
Good news - it's not!!
I sat down and put my best work from the past 25 years of teaching Language Arts into this very format.
I call it TRESmart™ - *Teach*Reteach*Enrich - which is a 'Smart' way to teach because it helps to reach all learners!
The first TRESmart™ unit that I made is for Theme and Central Idea. (This is always the first unit I teach/review at the beginning of the school year)
It is aligned to R.CCR.2: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
Every unit includes:
TEACH:
★ A video to use an introduction to the unit
★ EDITABLE lesson plans
★ Teacher script for each day
★ Vocabulary Worksheets (The theme/central idea unit includes these words: inference, drawn, theme, central idea, cite, evidence, objective, summary, text, textual analysis, determine, explicitly, several, and development.)
★ Word Wall Cards to match the vocabulary worksheets
★ Dominoes game to practice the words
★ Pixanotes (interactive guided notes) that teach 3-4 steps to determining the content presented in 4 versions each with a different level of scaffolding. (differentiated content)
★ PowerPoint to match the notes with an original text
★ Menu or Task cards to practice the skills with directions for 3 ways to choose to use them so you can differentiate the process.
★ A Quiz
★ Answer keys
RETEACH:
★ Enhancement Menu for students who scored less than 80% on the quiz and need more practice. (differentiated products)
★ A video to use for reteaching that can be placed on any school password protected learning management system like Google Classroom or Canvas.
ENRICH:
★ Enrichment Menu for student who scored 80% or better (differentiated products)
And you can try the Theme Unit for FREE!
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