K.U.D. vs. 4MAT – Effective Uses of Differentiation

What is Differentiation?

Differentiation is a hot topic among educators today as we strive to find new ways to engage and activate our students to achieve at a higher level. But what is differentiation and what can it really do for me as a teacher and for my students?  A concise definition found in an article by Kay Brimijoin says that “differentiation is a conceptual approach to teaching goals, continual assessment of student needs, and instructional modifications in response to data about readiness levels, interests, learning profiles, and affects.”  The leading expert in differentiation, Carol Ann Tomlinson, discusses differentiation in an article entitled “Mapping a Route Toward Differentiated Instruction” as personalized instruction that focuses on student understanding and student engagement.  I am drawn to differentiated instruction because of this definition.  I am passionate about ensuring that my students are engaged in the learning and not merely checking off my course on their road to graduation with no lasting meaning or impression.  There have also been endless studies to show that differentiation can aid in the acquisition of general education curriculum by special needs students (according to an article by Margaret E. King-Sears) based on the idea that the methods used to help special needs learners will in turn help every learner.  Additionally, differentiation can aid in improving standardized testing scores (according to an article by Brimijoin) by allowing teachers to teach in a way that integrates the testing standards into the curriculum without making them feel that they are “simply covering the content” for the tests. 

Differentiation allows the teacher to offer engaging instruction to all learners through a variety of methods.  Some examples of differentiation strategies offered in the Brimijoin article include:

• Compacting
• Tiered Lessons
• ThinkDots©
• Graphic Organizers
• RAFT
• Anchor Activities and Task Cards

But differentiation is more than just the occasional implementation of an activity (see the article “Mapping a Route Toward Differentiated Instruction” for great examples of what is and is not differentiated instruction).  It is a way of thinking and planning that must infiltrate your entire teaching philosophy.  Two strategies and guidelines for planning differentiated instruction that I looked at were K.U.D.'s and 4MAT.  Here is a brief overview of each:

K.U.D.

Know. Understand. Do.  As a teacher, we should plan each unit of instruction based on what we want the students to know, understand and be able to do at the conclusion of the unit.  “Know” involves the facts, dates, definitions, roles, people and places; “Understand” involves the big ideas, principles, generalizations, rules, the “point” of the discipline or topic within the discipline; and “Do” involves literacy, numeracy, communication, thinking, planning, and production skills, etc.  The attached handout for drafting differentiated lesson planning uses K.U.D. as a roadmap for the course of study.  By first looking at what you want your students to know, understand, and be able to do in reference to course of study requirements, you are actively planning for their success: if you have a clear understanding of where they are going in the learning process, they will as well.  Developing a solid K.U.D. plan for the unit also helps you to easily determine the essential question for the content.  It is a tremendous tool to center and focus your planning as well as provides a benchmark to assess learning.

4MAT

In my somewhat brief exposure to 4MAT thus far, I have determined that it is a “Love it” or “Hate it” type of strategy.  Those who use it value it and those that do not use it are passionate about their reasons for not using it.  I have grown to be a big fan of 4MAT and how it can model thorough and effective teaching for your classroom.  4MAT uses the basis of learning profiles and brain modality to develop a 12-step process within a 4-quadrant cycle for learning a given unit or lesson.  This strategy allows you to actively seek to engage every learner through a variety of tactics designed to constantly apply and direct their learning to real-world applications.  See the 4MAT wheel image below to understand how through the course of learning, students will answer the following questions (all information is gleaned from the work of Bernice McCarthy and her book “About Teaching” and her website http://www.aboutlearning.com/):

Why? (Quadrant 1 on the wheel)

Answering this question establishes relationships with the content, and personal, meaningful connections based on previous experience.

What? (Quadrant 2 on the wheel)

Answering this question allows the student to connect, comprehend, organize, classify and clarify the knowledge.

How? (Quadrant 3 on the wheel)

Answering this question allows the student to practice, experiment and get hands-on with the information being presented.

What If? (Quadrant 4 on the wheel)

This is where the students will modify, refocus, summarize and ultimately perform the knowledge they have acquired in a real-world context that aids in answering the essential question for the unit or lesson.

Putting It All Together For Better Instruction

As I took a look at the benefits of K.U.D. planning and 4MAT strategies, I began to look at what each offered to the overall planning a teacher will undergo for a unit or lesson.  I talked with a mentor of mine, Tara Bensinger, who is a local English teacher and former curriculum and reading coach.  She is actively utilizing K.U.D. in her planning, but discussed that many teachers today are not using K.U.D. or 4MAT or differentiation at all for that matter.  Of her previous training of teachers as the curriculum guide, she says that she realized that “she couldn’t change teachers.  Teachers have to change themselves.”  To me this statement exemplifies and verifies the complacency that exists among some teachers today.  There are so many options to better your teaching for your students, but it takes an effort that so many are unwilling to explore.  It is not my vision to see every teacher overhaul their teaching philosophy and classroom structure, but an open-minded mentality that would embrace trying something new for the sake of your student's success is key.

I feel that as a teacher it is my job to exhaust all efforts to ensure that each student in my class has a significant chance for success based on what they bring to the table and what I, in turn, offer them.  One idea that I have had as a result of this study was to combine K.U.D. Planning and 4MAT for overall unit and lesson planning (of this idea, Tara Bensinger affirmed its validity and suggested she and I write a book…be on the lookout in years to come!)  K.U.D. planning offers you the opportunity to really think out and plan the “bones” of your teaching, how you want to reach your students and what you want them to take away from the learning.  It seems that this is a tremendously logical precursor to plotting out your 4MAT wheel of instruction.  By knowing what you want the students to know, understand, and do in a holistic sense, you can better determine who you will engage and connect them with the content.

In closing, I want to encourage every teacher to explore the possibilities that spicing up your classroom with differentiation could bring to you and your students. I will leave you with this quote from The Differentiated Classroom by Carol Ann Tomlinson:

“Every child is entitled to the promise of a teacher’s enthusiasm, time and energy.  All children are entitled to teachers who will do everything in their power to help them realize their potential everyday.  It’s unacceptable for any teacher to respond to any group of children (or any individual child) as though the children were inappropriate, inconvenient, beyond hope, or no in need of focused attention.”