Have you heard? “Every student is an individual and needs to be treated as such.” Because of this statement when we think of DIFFERENTIATION we can really become overwhelmed. How as an educator do you DIFFERENTIATE curriculum so that it meets the needs of every student in your classroom as an individual? DIFFERENTIATION takes planning and with an educator’s plate already full this task can seem daunting.
BUT Let’s give DIFFERENTIATION a POSITIVE spin!! Let’s look at making learning enjoyable and attainable for every student. DIFFERENTIATION consists of the efforts of a teacher to meet the variety of needs among learners in the classroom. It means adjusting or changing a lesson and goal based on specific needs of the learner.
You might begin by taking interest inventories and find out everything you can about every student. How do they feel about each subject matter, where they work and even about how they feel about their own confidence? At early ages this may be a challenge so I often have them do it with an adult who can help explain some of the questions. I also like to ask parents to fill out a survey about their child.
With this resource students will share with you about themselves, what they enjoy, how they like to learn and what they think they are good at. Parents also fill a survey out with gives you even more information. I like to do these early at the beginning of the year and then make a notecard for each student with key information on it. You can also create an online file. I made these editable so that a parent can help the child fill them out at home on the computer and even add a picture or two.
Think about what are the big ideas, core concepts, and your learning expectations. Then think about ways to help students achieve them.
Let’s look at some ways teachers can DIFFERENTIATE.
Content: What do the students need to learn and what can you do to meet varying degrees of difficulty?Video, demonstration, verbal lesson, text
Process: How will the content be presented and what can you do to vary the ways of presentation? Same topic … different levels
Products: How will the students demonstrate mastery? (report, picture, play)
Learning Environment: How is your classroom set up to meet the varying needs for learning? (Quiet, Independent, Move and Learn, Small Group)
- Leveled reading.
- Using small groups to teach, reteach, and extend.
- Varying the expectations (write words, write a sentence, write a paragraph).
- Providing choices for way to present a final product. (written report, picture, verbally)
- Provide manipulatives or support tools for students who need them.
- Present material using verbals, visuals, and modeling.
- Provide flexible and varying means of assessment.
- Use questioning techniques adjusted to student’s ability.
- Think, Pair, Share
- Teach Up
Here is an example of what I have found helpful in my classroom in terms of leveling activities about the same topic.
Writing
You’ll see in this resource that there are pages that can be used for drawing, simple words or writing sentences for gathering ideas to write about. The final write pages also have three levels of final write pages. Level one students encouraged to write one sentence and focus on Capital and punctuation. Level two students write one or two sentences. Focus on using a connecting word. Level three students are encouraged to write a paragraph with an opening sentence, details and a closing sentence.
Math and Literacy Games
This FREE resource consists of EDITABLE game boards where you can individualize math and literacy game boards. You can create different levels of difficulty using the same boards so that when students are playing if partnered correctly all will be participating at their own level.
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