Tiering...

All this talk about tiering makes me think of a tiered wedding cake. I couldn't resist putting in a picture.

Anyway...

1) pp. 136-140 Do you understand what tiering is?

Yes. As a teacher tiering is planning a lesson that will challenge all your students at each of their zones of proximal development. Tiering is not making several new and different lessons for the same subject, but making the same lesson and tweaking it so all students can participate, understand the objective, and successfully complete the required assignment using their skills and expertise they all have at different levels. I think the main goal for tiering is providing an assignment but making it so all students can complete it successfully.

2) pp. 130-135 Are these tiered? If not, how COULD you tier them?

I think these lessons are tiered, in the fact that it is the same assignment, yet there are several ways to go about completing the assignment. I like the think tac toe, because the students have a choice in what they can complete. I also liked the think tac toes because the assignment choices also catered to students’ multiple intelligences, for instance the choice to draw or paint a greeting card will be very enjoyable for students who are especially artistic, it will give them a chance to shine in their work. I also liked the choice about finding songs to make a collage about the character and the student. Students who enjoy music and are attuned to music and its moving characteristics will enjoying putting this assignment together. I think that student gain more from the assignments when they can put themselves into the assignment, and they make connections with the characters from their book and themselves. A deep connection between the reader and character is magical and would be wonderful for a student to experience.

3). pp. 149-162 Are these “tierable”? Explain

Yes. Each lesson is tierable because the lesson has several versions, starting with a basic version to an advanced version. I like especially the math ticket because the teacher can make sure that each student has work to complete, but at their own level, or ZPD. I like how the teacher lets the student know what they will be graded on and how they have a choice on what piece of work they want to present as well as the teacher can choose a piece of work to grade.

I loved all the tiered lesson examples because I was apprehensive as to how to tier my lessons, or how to write a tiered lesson plan. I hope with lots of help and guidance that I can be successful in writing tiered lesson plans. I think they are definitely more creative lessons that engage the students and help them to feel successful.