Oak Park Elementary School District 97

Oak Park Elementary School District 97
Institute Day 2006

Focus Differentiation Strategies

Edward De Bono devised the Six Thinking Hats as a strategy to encourage students to look at a topic or problem or idea from more than one perspective. Each hat represents a different kind of thinking and therefore different kinds of questions.	Thinkers Keys is a strategy used to develop creative and critical thinking designed by Tony Ryan. Each of the twenty keys is a different question which challenges the reader to compose his or her own questions and come up with responses.
Six Thinking Hats	Thinking Toolbox : Thinker's Keys	Bloom's Critical Thinking Questioning Strategies
Six Hats Posters	Teacher's Toolbox- Thinkers Keys Posters	Classroom Strategies to Engender Student Questioning
Six Hats Problem-Solving	Thinkers Keys Samples and Templates	Asking Good Questions
Six Hats Novel Study	Thinkers Keys Examples	Questioning Strategies
Six Hats: A Framework for Thinking	Thinkers Keys Literature Example	Questioning Ideas and Examples

Differentiation Strategies

Cubing- Cubing gives students the opportunity to construct meaning about a given topic through six different ways. Cubing can be used in all disciplines. Each side of the cube asks the student to use different thinking processes: Description (What is it like?) Comparison (What is it similar to or different from?) Association (What does it make you think of?) Analysis (How is it made or what is it composed of?) Application (What can you do with it? How is it used?) Argumentation (Take a stand, arguing for or against it) Directions: 1. Provide students with a pattern for making a 3-dimensional cube. You may also provide a handout and a direction sheet for the student to use to write out some ideas for each of the 6 sides (see above). 2. Students make the cube with their responses written on each of the sides.	Tic-Tac-Toe Extension Menu or Choice Board: a collection of activities from which a student can choose. It is generally presented in the form of a 3x3 or a 4x4 grid, similar to a tic-tac-toe board, with the center square often allowing for student choice. This format can be applied to extension activities, contracts, study guides, or independent studies. They allow a teacher to differentiate content, process and product according to different levels of student performance/readiness, interests, and learning styles.
Prewriting with Cubing	Think Tac-Toes and Cubing- Lots of Examples
Reading Cubing	Tic-Tac-Toe Managing Differentiation Instruction
Cubing Worksheet	Tic-Tac Toe Menus
Cubing Examples	Activites and Assessments
Six-Sided Reading	Think Tac-Toe Other Examples