Summary Sheet for Assignment 2: Differentiated Learning Experience

Name & Student Number: Daniel Barker 2186451

Curriculum (Learning) Area of Lesson or Learning Task: HPE
Specific Topic of Lesson or Learning Task: Start of semester general introduction the HPE
Year Level/s: 10

Differentiation Choices
Mark the appropriate box/es

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

 Learning Menu or Agenda
 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
 Learning profile preferences

Context (about 1 paragraph)

Provide any contextual information that will help the examiner make sense of your planning decisions. For example,
summarise the broader unit into which this lesson fits and the broad aim/s of that unit, and explain where this lesson
or learning task fits into the unit sequence (Does it come after several introductory lessons? Does it come towards the
end of the unit and enable students to apply their knowledge, understandings and skills to a particular learning task?
Is it an assignment that will be ongoing over the course of a whole unit? Is it a single lesson or a task/ arrangement
that spans several lessons?).

The RAFT learning task used within the following piece is designed specifically to be
implemented at the beginning of the semester. This is done because the piece is not specific to
one unit topic and rather targets the scope of HPE as a whole, providing the teacher with a lot
of useful information about their students. This RAFT can be used as informal preassessment for
the entire topic as the options within it target various areas that will be explored in the future.
The piece will provide the educator with information regarding student readiness not only
within the topic they choose but also a gauge of student efficiency, prior knowledge and
problem solving skills with regards to HPE as a whole. The RAFT will also provide clear outlines
of where student interests/strengths lie regarding units throughout the subject and assessment
strategies. This is shown within the options most commonly chosen by the students.

To be effectively implemented this needs to takes place at the beginning of the subject and be
allocated 2-3 lessons to be completed. (NOTE) This could be modified to implemented at the
conclusion of the subject and used to recap important aspects that have been covered.

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Learning Objectives
Personal, social and community health
Communicating and interacting for health and wellbeing
-Critically analyse and apply health information from a range of sources to health decisions and situations
(ACPPS095)
Contributing to healthy and active communities
-Critique behaviours and contextual factors that influence health and wellbeing of diverse communities (ACPPS098)
Movement and physical activity
Understanding movement
-Design, implement and evaluate personalised plans for improving or maintaining their own and others’ physical
activity and fitness levels (ACPMP102)
-Examine the role physical activity, outdoor recreation and sport play in the lives of Australians and investigate how
this has changed over time (ACPMP104)

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…)

- physical activity, sport and fitness have significant relevance to the subject of HPE and each play a
defining role in a balanced, healthy lifestyle.
-how and why these factors affect people’s lives and the impact that further education can have on them

Know (e.g. facts, vocabulary, dates, information) Be able to (do) (Skills, processes)
-describe a healthy lifestyle
- the positive impact a healthy lifestyle has on -explain the benefits of sporting participation
the human body and the consequences a -describe an unhealthy lifestyle and how this might
poorly balanced lifestyle can have. occur
-health promotion -explain the importance of education within these
-different avenues for conveying this fields
information
Essential Questions (These should help students engage with the “big ideas” or understandings)

-How important is the public’s understanding of physical health and wellbeing and how can this influence
the frequency and quality of their interactions with physical activity/healthy life decisions?

-What impact can further education within fields such as physical activity, sport and sedentary
consequences have on a community?

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Learning Task/ Implementation
The learning task being implemented is a RAFT task. A RAFT within an educational setting provides
multiple choices to the students with regards to options to be completed. The students are presented
with, in this case, four options each detailing their role, intended audience, the format of the piece as
well as the topic it will be based on. Typically, a RAFT will be used within a specific unit with each option
representing various topics/viewpoints within the same capsule. However as previously mentioned this
RAFT is to be used at the beginning of the semester before any specific topics have been delved into and
for this reason covers multiple crucial content areas within year ten HPE. (the RAFT still maintains a
general theme with this being the importance of physical activity)

Seen below is the RAFT learning task the students will be presented with.

Role Audience Format Topic

Personal trainer Client Email The do’s and don’ts of
physical activity
HPE teacher Students Poster Physical activity
recommendations/supporting
evidence
Health promoter School Skit Physical activity and Healthy
lifestyle/consequences
associated with unhealthy
lifestyle
Athlete Sport Love letter Everything sport has done for
you throughout your life

This will be used within the first theory lesson of the HPE topic. The educator will provide an overview of
the topic as a whole and explain the significance of each subtopic individually. This will then transition
straight into the RAFT activity. The intended outcomes of the activity as well as expectations for
participation and timeframes will be discussed with the class. The educator will then record which
students have chosen which scenarios (based on their individual interests) and the class will begin
working on it. Over the following few lessons the teacher’s role will be to guide the students and provide
assistance when it is required. At the conclusion of the three lessons (in the fourth) students will present
their work to the rest of the class. Students who chose the skit option will have the choice of either
presenting it live with their group or pre recording the skit and presenting it to the class that way.

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The RAFT will then be assessed based on the below rubric:
NOTE: Another benefit of this RAFT learning task is that each student although working on
different tasks can be graded via the same rubric therefore creating uniformity amidst the
differentiation and further allowing for student collaboration.

CATEGORY 4 3 2 1
Enthusiasm Facial expressions Facial expressions Facial expressions Very little use of
and body language and body language and body language facial expressions or
generate a strong sometimes generate are used to try to body language. Did
interest and a strong interest and generate not generate much
enthusiasm about enthusiasm about enthusiasm, but interest in topic being
the topic in others. the topic in others. seem somewhat presented.
faked.
Content Shows a full Shows a good Shows a good Does not seem to
understanding of the understanding of the understanding of understand the topic
topic. topic. parts of the topic. very well.

Time use Student has made Student is prepared Student is somewhat Student is not
excellent use of class to present but prepared via a prepared to share
time and is required the use of combination of class their work
completely prepared home time to get to and home work
to present their this point however it could
finished work have been done
more efficiently
Comprehension Student is able to Student is able to Student is able to Student is unable to
accurately answer accurately answer accurately answer a accurately answer
almost all questions most questions few questions posed questions posed by
posed by classmates posed by classmates by classmates about classmates about the
about the topic. about the topic. the topic. topic.

Creativity Student was very creative and Student shows a Student does not
demonstrates a deeper understanding of basic understanding show an
the chosen format of the chosen format understanding of the
with little to no format and lacks
creativity relevant creativity
because of this

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Explanation:
Provide 1-3 paragraphs to clearly explain how your assignment is an example of a differentiated lesson or learning
task designed to address student differences and what specific aspect/s of student diversity you are aiming to
address. This explanation should demonstrate your understanding of the principles and application of differentiation,
supported by the topic readings and materials.

Differentiation is a very important aspect of effective teaching and needs to be addressed by educators
in order to provide a truly positive learning environment for their students. This differentiation can most
commonly be based off of three different areas, with these being interest, readiness and learning profile
preference (Tomlinson, 2008). The learning task used for this assignment was an educational RAFT. The
RAFT learning task, in itself, is a form of interest level and learning profile preference differentiation as it
provides the students with options and power over their own learning by allowing them to choose the
topic/format of work they would prefer to create (Dotger, 2010).

Differentiation based on learning profile preference is a powerful tool within an educational setting.
However, when differentiating based on learning profile it is important for an educator to remember
that all students learn differently and in a number of ways, not just one. Preferred learning profiles can
and do change overtime which makes a crucial aspect to effective teaching within differentiation the
ability to not pigeonhole specific students into specific preferred styles (Tomlinson, 2013). Providing
students with an opportunity to demonstrate their preferred style can however, be another effective
way of increasing engagement with the content and achieving the intended learning outcomes more
successfully (Tomlinson, 2003).

Interest based work within schools has been proven to have significant positive effects on aspects such
as student engagement, work ethic and overall enjoyment of the educational process (Mazer, 2013). This
is because of the direct relation between interest and engagement which exists in all areas and is not
exclusive to the school setting (Ainley, 2011). By implementing the RAFT task, the students not only gain
the freedom of choosing the area which most aligns with their interests, but this also provides a
significant amount of information back to the teacher just based off student choices. By completing this
activity at the beginning of the subject it can help the educator shape future units and content more so
towards these identified interests therefore increasing overall engagement throughout not just this task
but the entire subject. For this reason, the RAFT task is an extremely effective preassessment tool.

The RAFT also upholds the intended learning outcomes throughout each of the options. In some cases,
this is more obvious than others such as choice two which explicitly focusses on physical activity and the
supporting evidence (research) behind the benefits of it. While other options, such as choice four which
puts the students in the shoes of an athlete writing a love letter to sport are less explicit. However, once
this is looked at in depth it becomes clear that the connections are still there as some of the deeper
reasons behind the athletes love for sport connect back to the positive impact being physically active has
on the mind and body. The adaptability and flexibility of this task allows it to target a wide variety of
students whilst always drawing back on the key ideas, concepts and understandings of the HPE subject
as a whole.

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References

Ainley, M., & Ainley, J. (2011). Student engagement with science in early adolescence: The
contribution of enjoyment to students’ continuing interest in learning about science.
Contemporary Educational Psychology, 36(1), 4-12.

Australian Curriculum. (2020). Health and Physical Education. Retrieved from

https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/health-and-physical-education/?
year=12998&strand=Personal
%2C+Social+and+Community+Health&strand=Movement+and+Physical+Activity&capability=ignore&cap
ability=Literacy&capability=Numeracy&capability=Information+and+Communication+Technology+
%28ICT
%29+Capability&capability=Critical+and+Creative+Thinking&capability=Personal+and+Social+Capability&
capability=Ethical+Understanding&capability=Intercultural+Understanding&priority=ignore&priority=Ab
original+and+Torres+Strait+Islander+Histories+and+Cultures&priority=Asia+and+Australia
%E2%80%99s+Engagement+with+Asia&priority=Sustainability&elaborations=true&elaborations=false&s
cotterms=false&isFirstPageLoad=false

Dotger, S., & Causton-Theoharis, J. (2010). Differentiation through choice. Science.

Mazer, J. P. (2013). Associations among teacher communication behaviors, student interest, and
engagement: A validity test. Communication Education, 62(1), 86-96.

Tomlinson, C. A., Brighton, C., Hertberg, H., Callahan, C. M., Moon, T. R., Brimijoin, K., ... &
Reynolds, T. (2003). Differentiating instruction in response to student readiness, interest, and
learning profile in academically diverse classrooms: A review of literature. Journal for the
Education of the Gifted, 27(2-3), 119-145.

Tomlinson, C. A. (2008). Goals of Differentiation. Educational leadership.

Tomlinson, C., & Moon, T. (2013). Pre-assessment: Knowing Where Students Are as a Unit
Begins. In C. Tomlinson & T. Moon, Assessment and Student Success in a Differentiated
Classroom

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