Miles Sumner (2119296)

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EDUC4720_4721 Differentiation for Diverse Learners (MSS-

Summary Sheet for Assignment 2: Differentiated Learning

Experience
Name & Student Number: Miles Sumner (2119296)
Year Level: 3
Setting: High Economic Status School
Student with Aspergers Able to do all work, but may need more time to complete each task.
Unit Name: Critically Analysing Texts
English Literature and Context ACELT1594
Content Description:
Discuss texts in which characters, events and settings are portrayed in different ways, and
speculate on the authors reasons.

Differentiation Choices
Mark the appropriate box/es

1. For this assignment, I have chosen to design a differentiated:

Learning Menu or Agenda
O Choice Board
RAFT
Summative Assessment Task for Unit of Work
Lesson with Specific Adjustments for Students with Special Needs
Series of Tasks for Learning Centres or Stations
Learning Task or Lesson with Innovative Use of Technology to Support Differentiation
2. My lesson or learning task is differentiated to address differences in student:
Readiness
Interest
O Learning profile preferences

Year 3 Achievement Standard

Receptive modes (listening, reading and viewing)
By the end of Year 3, students understand how content can be organised using different text structures
depending on the purpose of the text. They understand how language features, images and vocabulary
choices are used for different effects.
They read texts that contain varied sentence structures, a range of punctuation conventions, and images
that provide extra information. They use phonics and word knowledge to fluently read more complex
words. They identify literal and implied meaning connecting ideas in different parts of a text. They select
information, ideas and events in texts that relate to their own lives and to other texts. They listen to others
views and respond appropriately using interaction skills.
Productive modes (speaking, writing and creating)
Students understand how language features are used to link and sequence ideas. They understand how
language can be used to express feelings and opinions on topics. Their texts include writing and images to
express and develop, in some detail, experiences, events, information, ideas and characters.

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Students create a range of texts for familiar and unfamiliar audiences. They contribute actively to class
and group discussions, asking questions, providing useful feedback and making presentations. They
demonstrate understanding of grammar and choose vocabulary and punctuation appropriate to the
purpose and context of their writing. They use knowledge of letter-sound relationships including consonant
and vowel clusters and high-frequency words to spell words accurately. They re-read and edit their writing,
checking their work for appropriate vocabulary, structure and meaning. They write using joined letters that
are accurately formed and consistent in size.
-

Context

Aims of Unit:
- Students to gain a further understanding and critically analyse a text.
- Looking at the elements that make up a text e.g. characters, settings and events.
Understanding author(s) reasoning for the text and the key messages.
- With students having the choice of their own text with the assistance of the teacher will
help the students gain a greater passion and understanding of their individual chosen
text.
Brief Overview of Unit:
- Lesson 1 of 7: Students in the first lesson are introduced and undertake activities in
relation to class text where the students deconstruct the story e.g. characters, settings,
events, author(s) reason and key messages of the text together. This gives them the
opportunity to understand the structure that makes up a text and will help them
deconstruct their own short storied text in future lessons. Students also in this lesson
choose a short storied text (with teachers approval) that they will use for their
Choiceboard activity.
- Lesson 2 of 7: Students are introduced to the Choiceboard and how the classes will be
run for the following weeks. In this lesson the students will read their text, making key
notes of the elements within the text.
- Lessons 3, 4 & 5: Undertaking the Choiceboard.
- Lesson 6 of 7: Students at the beginning of this lesson and after completing their
Choiceboard will analyse why the author(s) chose to portray the characters, settings,
events and key messages in the way they did and this will be used in their presentation.
Then the students will begin preparing their presentation where they will present the text
they chose and a brief description of the text. They will also discuss the characters,
settings, events, authors reasoning and key messages within their chosen text.
- Lesson 7 of 7: Students Presentation.
- For this unit I will be focussing on Lessons 3, 4 and 5 as this is where the students
will be undertaking the Choiceboard that I have established for their chosen
texts.
Assessment:
- Formative: Throughout the Choiceboard I will be using formative assessment when
discussing with students individually about what they are deconstructing from their text.
At this stage I can see if the students are meeting the intended knowledge,
understanding and skills from the Choiceboard task.
- Summative: At the end of each lesson of the Choiceboard lessons I will be setting goals
for the students to make sure they complete one choice task per lesson and which they
will hand-up at the end of the lesson to be marked. Also the students will be marked in

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Miles Sumner (2119296)

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EDUC4720_4721 Differentiation for Diverse Learners (MSS-

relation to their presentation in Lesson 7. This will be the final opportunity to see the
students knowledge, understanding and skills about their text.
To help provide support for students with writing difficulties, the students will have access
to ipads and computers.
As the Choiceboard activity is quite challenging for the students that find work difficult
they will have the option to choose just two options over the three lessons.

Limitations
- The teacher will not have the knowledge and understanding of each students individual
text which can make it hard to help the students to know the characters, settings, events,
author(s) reasoning and key messages within the text.
- For the students that may progress slower with tasks it may be tough for students to
finish a Choice board task at the end of each lesson.

Explanation:
Differentiation through student interest is quite a difficult task to implement effectively. Making
sure that the clear objective is still met is the key to any lesson or unit. So making sure when
differentiating through interest that it has effective and achievable goals as well as
accommodating for students interest is very important. Some effective ways that teachers can
differentiate through student interests are:
Provide several avenues for student exploration of the topic.
Provide the opportunity for the students to use a widespread range of resources and
technologies.
Allowing student choice for tasks and products, including student designed options.
Encouraging students to investigate and apply their knowledge to concepts and principles that
appeal to the students interest area.
For this Assignment I have chosen to use a Choiceboard to differentiate students learning
through interest. Choiceboard or can also be referred to as Tic-Tac-Toe or Think-Tac-Toe is a
method that gives the students choice on the type of topic they want to demonstrate their
knowledge, understanding and skills in. The Choiceboard is presented in a nine- cell table with
each square having an option to undertake a task. The teacher should make sure that each
option within the square addresses key concepts and corresponds with the knowledge
understanding and skills that should be taken out of the unit.
For this unit, students choose three options. The options are chosen in a vertical line
(Characters, Setting, and Events) and students when choosing the three options cannot
formulate a straight line. For this unit I have chosen to design just the one Choice board as it
provides a variation of simple and complex tasks that student can chose at their discretion.
Teachers can also create more Choice boards to cater for students that may need assistance or
extending.
This choiceboard task accesses students learning styles as they are provided chppppoice on
how they would like to show their understanding of their chosen text. Also, these choices allow
students to use Sternberg Triarchic Theory. This theory is made up of three sub theories;
analytical, creative and practical. For this Choiceboard students will be accessing their analytical
intelligence as they will apply their intellegience to analyze and evaluate. Students will also be
using their creative intelligence as they will think creatively and effectively to new situations.

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In this unit, students have a choice of their own short storied text where they read it and analyse
the characters, settings, events, author(s) reasoning and key messages within the text. The
students will then undertake the Choiceboard task. I have designed the Choiceboard task to
accommodate for students learning styles. The Choiceboard has two ways in which it has been
established, these are:
When the students are choosing an option from the Choiceboard they are obtaining
knowledge and understanding about each of the elements of the text e.g. characters, settings
and events.
Also, it has a variety of various strategies that the students can undertake a task, this allows
students to use their learning style to choose the options of song writing, drawing, writing, oral
presentation etc.
As this Choiceboard activity has a high emphasis on students understanding of the literature it is
important for the teacher to have instructional strategies to make sure the students are achieving
what is required of the unit. For students with hearing impairment it is important for the teacher
to use the microphone and allow the students with the hearing impairment to be placed in a
position of the classroom that is best for their learning. Students that may find it difficult to write
will have the assistance of classroom ipads or computers. Allowing time allocation for the
student with Aspergers as they may lose concentration easily or may need individual
instructions to undertake each task.

References
Aus Curriculum (2016). English Foundation to Year 10 Curriculum by rows - The Australian
Curriculum v8.1. [online] Available at:
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/english/curriculum/f-10?layout=1#level1

Flinders University, (2016). Workshop Materials. EDUC4721 Differentiation for Diverse

Learners (Primary R-7). Pgs 60-65
IRIS | Tic Tack Toe (2016). (Iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu,) IRIS | Tic Tack Toe. [online] Available
http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/di/cresource/q2/p07/di_07_link_tic_tack_toe/#content
Tomlinson, Carol Ann and Allan, Susan Demirsky (2000). Understanding Differentiated
Instruction: Building a Foundation for Leadership. [online] Available at:
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/100216/chapters/Understanding-DifferentiatedInstruction@-Building-a-Foundation-for-Leadership.aspx
Willingham, Daniel. (2000). FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS [online]. Available at:
http://www.danielwillingham.com/learning-styles-faq.html
Willingham, Daniel. (2000). Critical Thinking- talk at a conference sponsored by the Harvard
Initiative for Learning & Teaching. [online] Available at:
http://www.danielwillingham.com/videos.html

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http://wilderdom.com/personality/L2-2SternbergTriarchicTheory.html

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Learning Objectives
As appropriate, these should be based on the Australian Curriculum. You can include specific references to ACARA in
parentheses where you have taken an objective verbatim (ACMMG006), or use language like Adapted from.. if you
have made some changes to statements from ACARA, but been guided by these.
As a result of engaging with the differentiated lesson or task, students will:

understand that (Concepts, principles, big ideas. Make sure your objectives are statements that work in the
form, Students will understand that)

Characters and settings play a vital role in presenting the key message(s) of a text.
Effectively interpreting and analysing characters, settings and events within a chosen
text.
- Students understand and analyse the structure and elements of a text.
Know (e.g. facts, vocabulary, dates, information)
Be able to (do) (Skills, processes)
- Identify that text has structure e.g.
- Elements that distinguish a text e.g.
characters, settings and events within a
characters, settings, events.
text.
- Events within a text need to be presented
- Events within a text are ordered in
in ordered sequence.
chronological order.
- Characters and settings help bring out the
CHARACTER
key message of the text.
- Use appropriate language to effectively
describe a character.
- To understand the characteristics of the
main character and display this orally.
- Distinguishing similarities and differences
between two characters.
SETTING
- Assess the texts setting and construct a
song that describes this setting.
- Design and make the main setting of the
text.
- Analyse the setting of the text and describe
it thoroughly in written form.
EVENTS
- De-construct a texts main events
throughout the story.
- Construct a poem describing there events
within the text.
- Design a storyboard of the key events
within the text.
FINAL ACTIVITY
- Analyse and understand the author(s)
reasoning and key messages for the text.
Essential Questions (These should help students engage with the big ideas or understandings)
What are the elements that make up an effective text?
What is the author(s) reasoning for the characters, settings and events within the text?
How can characters and settings present the key message(s) of a text?
What is the author(s) reasoning and key messages from your chosen text?

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Lesson Plan: Introduction of Choiceboard

Before the teacher establishes their choiceboard they will pre-assess the
students interest and preferences by asking the following questions:
Favourite book?
What is your favourite genre of text? (Teacher will introduce what the genres
are)
What is your favourite way to present your work? (e.g. oral, poster, play, written
etc)
For the introduction of the Choiceboard lesson, the teacher will introduce the
choiceboard and what it is and how it will be undertaken.
Following the introduction of the choiceboard a teacher will have a chosen book that
they will read to the class. This will create a hook for the students as they will begin
understanding what relevant information the students should be taking out of their text.
The teacher will then briefly show how to perform each activity within the choiceboard.
The students will then be each given a laminated, colour-coded choiceboard for a
visual appreciation.
Students will then begin reading their individual text using their note taking skills to
take out the relevant information to help them perform the activities in their
choiceboard.
Once the students have read and not taken they will begin their first task of the
choiceboard.
The teacher will make sure that all students understand the task they have chosen for
that lesson and will position the students accordingly in groups that will allow the
teacher to support the students that may need extra assistance. By putting these
students they may need more assistance will give the teacher the opportunity to work
closely with each student as well as the group to answer any questions and/ or keep
them on task.
At the end of the choiceboard unit, the teacher will create an exit card which will
assess the students understanding of the unit as well as provide feedback of
how effective the choiceboard activity was. These questions will ask:
What elements make up an effective text?
How can the author create the key message through characters, settings and
events in the text?
What is the key messages from your chosen text?
What was your favourite activity in the choiceboard?
Which choiceboard activity did you dislike or found hard?

Choice 1

Choice 2

Choice 3
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EDUC4720_4721 Differentiation for Diverse Learners (MSS-

Character

Setting

Events

DRAWING & WRITING:

Using either an A3 piece of
paper or computer, draw a
picture of the main
character. Also write some
words describing this
character.

SONG WRITING:
Write a song about the setting of
the text. The song can be used
with music from a song that is
of interest to you. (Ask teacher
first when choosing song)

CREATING A POSTER:
Create a poster that shows
the order of events within
the story. This can be
designed as a Menu, Poster,
Brochure etc

Make sure this picture is

quite detailed and NOT
RUSHED.
BECOME THE
CHARACTER:
Dress up as one of the
characters within your
story and present an oral
presentation speaking as
if you are that character.
Also students watching
will ask questions to the
presenter. Minimum 3
mins
CREATING A VENN
DIAGRAM:
On an A3 piece of paper,
create a detailed Venn
diagram comparing two
characters within the
story.

Song can be presented in an

oral presentation if comfortable.

DESIGN & MAKE SETTING:

First draw the main setting
within your text. Then using
objects from the Art room make
the setting.
Making sure that the setting is
carefully designed and made
effectively.

WRITING:
Write one paragraph describing
the main setting of the text.
Using many different describing
words.

POEM WRITING:
Write a poem for three main
events throughout the
story.
This CANNOT be an
Acrostic poem. Make sure
each poem is minimum 4
verses.

DESIGN A STORYBOARD
Students draw a storyboard
analysing the key events
within the text.

Make sure it is not just

single words used.
Sentences must appear on
diagram.

Task Card: DRAWING & WRITING:

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EDUC4720_4721 Differentiation for Diverse Learners (MSS-

Using either an A3 piece of paper or computer, draw a picture of the main character. Also write
some words describing this character.
Use the thesaurus or dictionary to find appropriate words.
Make sure this picture is quite detailed and NOT RUSHED.
Task Card: BECOME THE CHARACTER:
Dress up as one of the characters within your story and present an oral presentation speaking as
if you are that character.
Dress ups can be brought from home or can use costumes from the drama room.
The oral presentation should describe the character you are, what you think they like and dont
like etc.
Also students watching will ask questions to the presenter. Minimum 3 mins
Task Card: CREATING A VENN DIAGRAM:
On an A3 piece of paper, create a detailed Venn diagram comparing two characters within the
story.
Look at the characteristics of the characters individually and the things that make them similar.
Make sure it is not just single words used. Sentences must appear on diagram.
Task Card: SONG WRITING:
Write a song about the setting of the text. The song can be used with music from a song that is of
interest to you. (Ask teacher first when choosing song)
The song can be as long as you like making sure it is detailed and is appropriate to your text.
The song can also have characters and events in it to help support your song.
Song can be presented in an oral presentation if comfortable.
Task Card: DESIGN & MAKE SETTING:
First draw the main setting within your text. Then using objects from the Art room make the
setting.
Thus drawing can be traced from your text and can have characters in the design.
Making sure that the setting is carefully designed and made effectively.

Task Card: WRITING:

Write one paragraph describing the main setting of the text. Using many different describing
words.
Use thesaurus and/ or dictionary to help find words describing the setting.
Make sure the paragraph has good punctuation, spelling and structure and draft your work before
showing the teacher.
Task Card: CREATING A POSTER:
Create a poster that shows the order of events within the story.
This can be designed as a Menu, Poster, Brochure etc
Making sure this is in the order of which it is in the text.
Be creative with your poster, using colour, effective language and pictures.

Task Card: POEM WRITING:

Write a poem for three main events throughout the story.
Be very descriptive and imaginative when describing the events.
Choosing any type of poem that you would like. (except acrostic poem)
This CANNOT be an Acrostic poem. Make sure each poem is minimum 4 verses.

Task Card: DESIGN A STORYBOARD

Students draw a storyboard analysing the key events within the text.
Drawing detailed pictures with a minimum of 6 boards.
Making sure that the storyboards are presented from start to finish of the text.

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