If you’re attempted to differentiate your math program through preassessment, I’m sure you’ve stumbled across students who have already demonstrated mastery of an upcoming unit. Typically, we try to come up with something deep and meaningful for these students to work on while we instruct the class. This, however, is a tricky problem with no simple solution.
Differentiation
Math Project: Furnish A Hotel
Starting with an IKEA catalog, a hotel furnishing math project was born. Use this project as a tool to differentiate your math instruction and impart some practical knowledge on your students.
Differentiate Math With Complexity and Novelty
Looking for some ways to challenge your advanced mathematicians? If you’d like to keep them on the same topic as the rest of your class, consider increasing the complexity of your current unit. If they’re in need of more advanced curriculum to keep their creativity flowing, try to bring in novel ways of looking at math.
Making Inferences: Think Like An Anthropologist
Like all HM comprehension skills, “Making Inferences” appears yearly beginning in kindergarten, so I know my 6th graders have had practice, and may have mastered, the skill. To differentiate, I turned to Sandra Kaplan’s model of “thinking like a disciplinarian.” Students will be expected to think from the perspective of an expert, making well-informed inferences.
10 Ways To Differentiate Tomorrow
Ten simple ways to alter your classroom for the benefit of gifted learners.
Ask Them Which Is Better
Moving from analysis to evaluation sure makes things more fun. Why? Check out these examples. Which would you rather answer?
iPods, Apple Stock, & Authentic Math
Entice your gifted mathematicians with real world data and an authentic problem such as: “Let’s say that instead of buying the original iPod, you spent the same amount of money on Apple stock. How much would that stock be worth now?”
Do I Have To Work In A Group?
Once in a while, a student will ask me a question that makes me realize how much more there is to know about my class. One child came up and quietly asked me, “Do I have to work in a group?”
Enticing Gifted Students To Read Twice
Think you’re lucky to get your students to read a story once? Can’t imagine convincing a class to read a story through again? The key is giving your gifted students an enticing purpose for a reread.
Offer Choice With Extension Menus
One way to build flexibility into your classroom is through extension menus. Extension menus require upfront work to build, but offer endless options for your gifted students. Make them a part of your classroom culture and you’ll enable students to interact with content in meaningful ways.