The Well Developed Classroom Blog writes:
"I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn."
- Albert Einstein
What are multiple entry points?
Teachers create Albert Einstein’s “conditions for learning” by designing curriculum and learning experience using multiple entry points. Howard Gardner, in The Unschooled Mind, describes entry points as different ways by which a teacher can approach a topic so that students, regardless of their unique blends of intelligences, experiences, and interests, become involved with content. He likens multiple entry points to a room with several doorways through which to enter a topic of study (1991).
In fact, many theorists and practitioners recommend multiple entry points as a means to help all students learn. For example, David Rose’s Universal Design for Learning (UDL) suggests that through multiple means of representation, teachers can offer students different ways to perceive information, including visual or auditory cues, alternatives for language and symbols use and multiple structures to increase comprehension (CAST). Carol Tomlinson’s differentiated instruction calls for teachers to make room for student variance by adapting content (what students learn), process (how learning takes place), product (evidence of learning), and affect (attention to student feelings and emotional needs).” (Sousa, Tomlinson, 2011). All of these theories suggest that learning is more effective when teachers acknowledge and respond to student diversity. In this blog post, we will focus on how teachers can use multiple entry points through three instructional methods:
1. Questions
2. Curriculum Materials
3. Representations/Demonstrations
Why are multiple entry points important?
Four reasons for using multiple entry points to help students learn are:
"I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn."
- Albert Einstein
What are multiple entry points?
Teachers create Albert Einstein’s “conditions for learning” by designing curriculum and learning experience using multiple entry points. Howard Gardner, in The Unschooled Mind, describes entry points as different ways by which a teacher can approach a topic so that students, regardless of their unique blends of intelligences, experiences, and interests, become involved with content. He likens multiple entry points to a room with several doorways through which to enter a topic of study (1991).
In fact, many theorists and practitioners recommend multiple entry points as a means to help all students learn. For example, David Rose’s Universal Design for Learning (UDL) suggests that through multiple means of representation, teachers can offer students different ways to perceive information, including visual or auditory cues, alternatives for language and symbols use and multiple structures to increase comprehension (CAST). Carol Tomlinson’s differentiated instruction calls for teachers to make room for student variance by adapting content (what students learn), process (how learning takes place), product (evidence of learning), and affect (attention to student feelings and emotional needs).” (Sousa, Tomlinson, 2011). All of these theories suggest that learning is more effective when teachers acknowledge and respond to student diversity. In this blog post, we will focus on how teachers can use multiple entry points through three instructional methods:
1. Questions
2. Curriculum Materials
3. Representations/Demonstrations
Why are multiple entry points important?
Four reasons for using multiple entry points to help students learn are:
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Research in neuroscience confirms individual differences.
When developing UDL, researchers learned that our brains are as unique as our finger prints (CAST). Each student varies greatly in how his/her brain recognizes information, organizes and expresses ideas, and engages in learning. Efficient and effective teaching anticipates and responds to these differences through establishing multiple entry points (CAST).
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Information must be moved from working memory into long term memory.
Multiple entry points cast a wide net to engage a range of student interests as well as create opportunities for meaningful rehearsal to move information from working
1.2b Multiple Entry points (strategies, questions, routines)
Across classrooms teaching strategies, questioning, and routines are strategically differentiated so that all learners, including students with disabilities and ELLS, have multiple entry points, supports, and extensions into the curricula."
Across classrooms teaching strategies, questioning, and routines are strategically differentiated so that all learners, including students with disabilities and ELLS, have multiple entry points, supports, and extensions into the curricula."
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memory into long term memory. Judy Willis, both a classroom teacher and
neuroscientist, found that “even with highly conceptual learning, such as political
systems or philosophy, if the students can actively do something with the new
information, they can ultimately own it and store it in permanent memory” (23). To
first help students to engage in learning, teachers use multiple questions, materials,
and choice in problems or assignments. Then teachers go further, asking students for
multiple demonstrations and representations to practice skills and apply learning by
solving problems and/or creating products.
The short descriptions of classroom practices below are supplemented by the Multiple Entry Point Examples and Planning Guide, UDL Lesson Considerations for Planning a Lesson, Unit, or Assessment, Questions to Guide Our Thinking when Creating Universally-designed Curriculum, Materials and Methods Worksheet, and UDL Guidelines in the tools section of this blog to assist teachers in designing materials and lesson plans with multiple entry points.
Multiple Questions
A turtle just arrived as a new class pet. To take advantage of student excitement over the turtle, the teacher seeks to engage the young learners in using their observation and research skills. Through planned questions that establish multiple entry points, the teacher invites all students to conduct their own observations and research in order to learn more about turtles.
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Multiple entry points make prior knowledge visible.
New understandings are built on previous understandings. For example, students who understand how to compose sentences are getting ready to create paragraphs, and students who understand interdependence can study an ecosystem. So when prior knowledge has not been established, it can get in the way of new learning. For example, irregularities in understandings of basic letter-sound relationships can cause a beginning reader many difficulties” (Nolet & McLaughlin, 47). Multiple entry points allow students to react to a topic in different ways that often make previous knowledge and experiences as well as misunderstanding visible for both the teacher and the student. This information can then be used to explicitly build on or challenge previous understanding.
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Multiple entry points encourage the use of student communication strengths.
According to CAST, “In formal schooling, there is a marked tendency to present the majority of information in language, specifically in printed text. Many students, for whom language is not a particular strength, thus face persistent barriers not experienced by others.” It therefore is hard to know to what extent printed text or other popular methods of communication are impeding a student from demonstrating their full knowledge and skills. UDL “implies that teachers should allow students to select, from a menu of options, the form of expression that best meets their needs” (Nolet & McLaughlin, p. 47). When teachers offer students multiple communication methods such as writing, speaking, drawing, building, and moving, students have increased chances to practice as well as to communicate through an area of strength resulting in a more complete assessment of student learning.
The short descriptions of classroom practices below are supplemented by the Multiple Entry Point Examples and Planning Guide, UDL Lesson Considerations for Planning a Lesson, Unit, or Assessment, Questions to Guide Our Thinking when Creating Universally-designed Curriculum, Materials and Methods Worksheet, and UDL Guidelines in the tools section of this blog to assist teachers in designing materials and lesson plans with multiple entry points.
Multiple Questions
A turtle just arrived as a new class pet. To take advantage of student excitement over the turtle, the teacher seeks to engage the young learners in using their observation and research skills. Through planned questions that establish multiple entry points, the teacher invites all students to conduct their own observations and research in order to learn more about turtles.
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The teacher poses multiple questions:
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Narrative: Using what we know about turtles, can we make our own picture book about
them?
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Experiential: How can we find out what turtles like to eat? How can we find out if turtles
like music?
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Aesthetic/Experiential: Can we sketch the patterns we see on our turtles with increasing
detail? Can we build a representation of our turtle?
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Logical: Do turtles play? What do they do that seems like play?
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Quantitative: Is our tank big enough?
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Social: Can you observe the turtles and discuss your observations with a partner?
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Foundational: Are turtles smart? What makes you think that? How do we know a turtle is
alive? Do turtles know we are here?
The questions invite students with a range of interests and skills to learn more about turtles, and can be explored through centers as well as whole and small group activities. Small groups of students might select or be assigned a question to answer. Multiple questions add complexity to the topic and provide the impetus for purposeful research about the new class pet.
Perceiving and Responding to the Questions
Using, Gardner’s entry points we have offered questions that would engage learners with a wide range of strengths in learning about turtles. However, multiple questions also need to address the diversity of communication strengths and instructional needs of the learners. The questions can be posed and responded to through a variety of communication methods, such as speaking, listening, drawing, writing, moving, and building. See the resource below: Option Two: Question to ASK/UDL Considerations for Planning a Lesson, Unit, or Assessment for more ideas on broadening the opportunities for perception and response to multiple entry point questions.
Multiple Materials
A high school Humanities teacher is engaging her students in a study of great speeches. To show mastery of a common standard, all students must answer the question, "Why do we remember the Gettysburg Address?" Students then have the option to choose one of several other research questions based on personal interest. Each research question involves the analysis of specific materials selected based on their different modes of expressing information through various forms.
Examples of five research questions are:
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How do numbers help us understand the importance of the Gettysburg Address? Examine
data on causalities in battles of the Civil War and other wars.
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What was the experience like of listening to the Gettysburg Address? Research the
weather, pitch of Lincoln’s voice, number of horses buried/decaying, etc. and use a news
reporter’s account to act out the Gettysburg Address.
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What was the story of the Gettysburg Address? Use primary sources such as the invitation
letter, program of who spoke, newspaper reviews, etc. reconstruct the larger context or the
“whole story” of the Gettysburg Address.
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How is the Gettysburg Address like other great speeches? Compare the Gettysburg Address
to Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech, the Declaration of Independence, or the
Star Spangled Banner. Identify the elements of a great speech. Where are those elements
found in the Gettysburg Address?
In this example, the students are using different materials and means of analysis to examine the speech through different disciplinary lenses. At the same time, the multiple explorations provide opportunities for the classroom teacher to differentiate instruction by assigning different students to specific material. For example, various reading levels can be addressed with the comparison of great speeches. English Language Learners could analyze The Star Spangled Banner, and students needing extra challenge could analyze Martin Luther King’s, I Have a Dream speech.
Multiple questions also create the opportunity for teachers to form purposeful groups that can be assigned specific questions. For example, students who need a background lesson on the Civil War might be grouped together so that the teacher can work with them before they begin research. The structure of the multiple questions leading to one common assessment question such as, “Why do we remember the Gettysburg Address?” enables all students to move toward mastery of a common content standard. Multiple materials and multiple questions can capitalize on student interest as well as lead students to one common assessment question.
Useful tools below include Option One: Questions to guide our thinking when creating a universally-designed curriculum and Materials and Methods Worksheet are designed to assist teachers in planning curriculum that anticipates barriers, which prevent students from learning Some of these barriers may include difficulties with perception, varied cultural experiences, missing background knowledge or pre-requisite skills. When barriers are visible to teachers in their planning, the teacher strategically avoids them when designing her curriculum in order to lead to more engagement and efficient learning from the onset in the classroom.
Multiple Representations and Demonstrations
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A third grade teacher wants to both deepen and assess student understanding of the history of
different famous explorers. The teacher uses a graphic organizer to encourage students to
demonstrate their learning through multiple representations.
For example: Consider Christopher Columbus.
1. What is the story of Columbus? Include context beyond what is normally told.
2. What number might represent Columbus? Explain the significance (e.g. 3, 1492, 1, 0). 3. Draw a shape that represents Columbus. Explain how the shape expresses the story.
4. Consider patterns over time of events and the stories of people and their pursuits, what
patterns could Columbus’ story fit into?
5. Compare Columbus’ exploration to a time when you had an experience searching for
something or arriving someplace new.
The teacher might allow students to choose three of the five questions to answer, or the teacher might ask students to answer four of the questions - two that are mandatory for all students and two that are their choice. These questions invite students to think with the knowledge they have about Christopher Columbus, and answer with multiple representations and demonstrations, which allow them to explain their understanding of Columbus’ story. To support designing curriculum with opportunities for multiple representations, use the UDL Guidelines in the tool section below.
Where to begin?
Howard Gardner sums up our efforts for using multiple entry points, “We are not all the same; we are not all distinct points on a single bell curve; and education works most effectively if these differences are taken into account rather than denied or ignored” (Gardner, 1999, 91). Teachers can use the Multiple Entry Points Examples and Planning Guides for additional classroom examples and planning guides for questions, materials, and representations and demonstrations.
Tools
For example: Consider Christopher Columbus.
1. What is the story of Columbus? Include context beyond what is normally told.
2. What number might represent Columbus? Explain the significance (e.g. 3, 1492, 1, 0). 3. Draw a shape that represents Columbus. Explain how the shape expresses the story.
4. Consider patterns over time of events and the stories of people and their pursuits, what
patterns could Columbus’ story fit into?
5. Compare Columbus’ exploration to a time when you had an experience searching for
something or arriving someplace new.
The teacher might allow students to choose three of the five questions to answer, or the teacher might ask students to answer four of the questions - two that are mandatory for all students and two that are their choice. These questions invite students to think with the knowledge they have about Christopher Columbus, and answer with multiple representations and demonstrations, which allow them to explain their understanding of Columbus’ story. To support designing curriculum with opportunities for multiple representations, use the UDL Guidelines in the tool section below.
Where to begin?
Howard Gardner sums up our efforts for using multiple entry points, “We are not all the same; we are not all distinct points on a single bell curve; and education works most effectively if these differences are taken into account rather than denied or ignored” (Gardner, 1999, 91). Teachers can use the Multiple Entry Points Examples and Planning Guides for additional classroom examples and planning guides for questions, materials, and representations and demonstrations.
Tools
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Multiple Entry Point Examples and Planning Guide
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UDL Lesson Considerations for Planning a Lesson, Unit, or Assessment
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Questions to Guide Our Thinking when Creating Universally-designed Curriculum
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Materials and Methods Worksheet
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UDL Guidelines
References
CAST (1999-2012). Universal Design for Learning. Retrieved from: http://www.cast.org/udl/index.html on April 29, 2012.
Gardner, H. (1991). Unschooled mind: How children think and schools should teach. New York: Basic Books.
Gardner, H. (1999). Intelligences reframed: Multiple intelligences for the 21st century. New York: Perseus Books.
Nolet, V. & McLaughlin, M. (2005). Accessing the general curriculum: Including students with disabilities in standards-based reform (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
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Tomlinson & Sousa. (2011). Differentiation and the brain: How neuroscience supports the
learning-friendly classroom. Bloomington, IN: The Solution Tree.
Willis, J. (2006). Research-based strategies to ignite student learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Web Resources
CAST Universal Design for Learning
http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udlguidelines/principle1
Willis, J. (2006). Research-based strategies to ignite student learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Web Resources
CAST Universal Design for Learning
http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udlguidelines/principle1
