- Houston Independent School District
- Effective Practices
- I-3 Differentiation
- Tiered Assignments
OLD-Professional Development
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Effective Practices
- PL Toolkit
- PL-1 Develops Student Learning Goals
- PL-2 Data-driven instruction
- PL-3 Design Effective Lesson Plans, Units & Assessments
- I-1 Objective Driven Lessons
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I-2 Check for Understanding
- Assess Mastery
- Begin with the End
- Checkpoints
- Chunking Text
- Closure
- Cold Call
- Exit Ticket
- Graphic Organizer
- Guided Practice
- Non-Verbal Signals
- Open-Ended Responses
- Post It
- Randomizing Responses
- Right is Right
- Running Roster
- Stretch It
- Structured Peer Conversation
- Student Conferences
- Student-Generated Questions
- Teach Back
-
I-3 Differentiation
- Chunking Text
- Double Plan
- Exit Ticket
- Flexible Grouping
- Graphic Organizer
- Grappling
- HOT Question
- Independent Practice
- Leveled Text
- Multimedia
- Open-Ended Responses
- Post It
- Product Menus
- Right is Right
- Running Roster
- Stretch It
- Structured Peer Conversation
- Student-Generated Questions
- Take a Stand
- Tiered Assignments
- Workstations
- I-4 Higher Level Thinking
-
I-5 Maximizing Instructional Time
- 100 Percent
- Academic Posture
- Call and Response
- Cold Call
- Do Now
- Entry Routine
- Exit Routine
- Job Assignments
- Material Organization
- Non-Verbal Interventions
- Non-Verbal Signals
- Open-Ended Responses
- Pacing Tools
- Right is Right
- Stretch It
- Strong Voice
- Student Conference
- Teach Back
- Tight Transitions
- Work the Clock
- Workstations
- I-6 Communicating Content/Concepts
- I-7 High Academic Expectations
-
I-8 Student Engagement
- Academic Posture
- Call and Response
- Closure
- Cold Call
- Do Now
- Engage and Connect
- Graphic Organizer
- HOT Question
- Independent Practice
- J-Factor
- Job Assignments
- Leveled Text
- Non-Verbal Signals
- Open-Ended Responses
- Product Menus
- Randomizing Responses
- Real-World Connections
- Reinforcers
- Structured Peer Conversation
- Student-Generated Questions
- Workstations
- Work Hard, Get Smart
- I-9 Classroom Management
- I-10 Classroom Climate
- Literacy Routines
- Academics
- Swivl Pilot Program
- Professional Development
Description
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Tiered Assignments are one way to differentiate the curriculum for heterogeneous classrooms. The content and objectives are the same, but the levels of tasks are varied according to the students’ readiness level their background knowledge and skills related to the learning objective. This practice ensures that students understand the information at their level of challenge because it builds on what they already know. Assignments at each tier should be interesting and challenging to avoid students' perception that we expect less of some students than others. Students are very sensitive to the labeling of themselves and their peers.
- Identify a focused, measurable lesson objective.
- Formally or informally pre-assess the students’ current level of knowledge and skill with the topic.
- Develop a lesson assignment that is clearly focused on the concept.
- Determine what the assignment will be for on-level students.
- Adjust the assignment to provide varying levels of difficulty.
- Match students to appropriate tiered assignments based on their pre-assessment results.
- Explain and model the assignments to the students.
- Allow time for students to complete the assignment.
- Assess students’ mastery of the lesson objective.
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Alerts
It is important for the teacher to communicate to the class why each person/group may be working on different tasks to avoid misunderstandings.
Be sure to prepare scoring guides/rubrics to assess different products fairly.
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Quick Tips
Teachers can provide paper strips or index cards with different prompts, assignments, or questions to each student, include two or more tiered options and have students choose the right level of challenge for them.
Tier assignments by providing different levels of reading materials, forms of expression, levels of complexity, number of steps, and/or time allotted for the assignment.
Use flexible grouping to avoid labeling/tracking students.
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Other Strategies
Tiered Question
A strategy that allows the teacher to vary the complexity of the question according to the readiness level of the student. Scaffolding the questions for understanding helps build higher-order thinking through rigor into each interaction with students. Question stems may be based on Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Examples include:
a) What kind of bear lives in the North Pole?
b) Why are polar bears white?
c) How would you change a polar bear’s physiological make-up to help it survive in the desert?
Tiered Writing Prompts
A strategy that allows the teacher to vary the complexity of the writing prompt according to the readiness level of the student.
Examples include:
a) Describe how the character looks.
b) Describe why the character feels that way in the story.
c) Describe how the events in the story influence how the character behaves.