Before you start planning your lesson you should give students a pre-learning survey. The survey can take any form; a quiz, discussion, writing prompt etc. After students complete this survey, you can see what each student already knows about the topic and plan your instruction accordingly. Some students may already have a good knowledge about the topic and some students may know nothing about it. Knowing this allows you to plan appropriate activities for each level of students. When using tiered instruction it also tells you which tier to place students in based on their knowledge level.
Tiering instruction is when you adjust your lesson based on students readiness, interests, or learning needs.
When tiering a lesson you should start by planning tier II first, which is the proficient or grade level tier. After you have planned instruction for this tier, then you can plan up or plan down for tier III and tier I. Tier III is the more advanced tier, so you will plan more advanced instruction or activities to help enrich the knowledge the students already have. You can also plan tier III instruction to begin covering more advanced topics in the content area.
Tier I is for the students who have low-readiness in the content area. These students have very minimal knowledge on the content level. These students should begin by learning the basics and most important information.
An example of tiered instruction for a unit on planets: Your goal is for students to know the names and order of the planets and some important information about each planet.
Tier I: Learning the names and order of planets
Tier II: Learning important information about each planet
Tier III: Learning more advanced information about planets or begin learning about the sun and stars.
Starting students at the levels in which they are ready for will help ensure success for all of them. As students learn the material, you can move them up to different tiers so they continue learning.
http://www.teachersnetwork.org/ntny/nychelp/science/differentiating.htm
This was very interesting! I have heard about tier learning but haven't used it. It makes sense to look at the middle tier first to make sure to get the first tier lower as well as tier three difficult enough. Looking at the preassesment is a good way to help. Being able to move up and down tiers is important to have a variety of activities for each one. GOOD INFO! :)
ReplyDeleteGreat information Nikki, I have heard of Tiering, but NOT very much about it. You think we would learn more about this in some of our classes. It is so logical, yet never talked about! I'm glad you researched this topic because I would never have thought to look it up, and now I will be doing some of my own research on it. Thanks for the info!
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