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Students are different, so why are you still teaching them all the same way?

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Students are different, so why are you still teaching them all the same way?

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This article list some great tips for educators like myself. Who may need just a little extra guidance on alternative ways to meet their students' needs. Although it's only four steps; I do believe these concepts help students by having a personalized learning plan. -Iesha Tramble

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Leaning on your previous experience, think about where in the syllabus you've noticed that some students "get it" easily but others seem to struggle. It's certainly not necessary - or possible - to personalise a whole course at once, so start by identifying the contents in which having a single way of teaching seems to have caused demotivation or lack of significant learning for some students . Also identify where your students have shown more pronounced individual differences - these are likely areas where they will benefit from differentiated instruction.

How are your students different from one another within the content you identified in the previous step? You may find that, for some content, your students arrive with notable differences in depth of knowledge, while for other content, the difference might come in the levels of mastery achieved. In addition, students' preferred mode of learning, as well as theirinterests,can berelevant criteria for differentiation.

Once you have identified the criteria, think about how you would classify your students. Then create categories and define them. For example, in a first-year module about habits for a healthy life, you might find strong differences in the students' mastery of said habits and decide to divide them into two categories: (1) self-managed, defined as students who perceive that it's easy for them to keep or adopt healthy habits; and (2) managed, defined as students who perceive that it's difficult for them to keep or adopt healthy habits.

Select or design a diagnostic instrument that works for your purpose. When creating self-made instruments, you will need to set the conditions for each category by defining the characteristics (or grade) the student's performance must demonstrate to be considered category A, B, C, etc. If you need a standardised test or inventory, look up the plentiful free online versions.

There is no one-size-fits-all way of teaching, but it is feasible to find patterns of need among students and tailor effective teaching to each group via differentiated instruction. Teaching in the various ways different students learn means helping all of them maximise their potential - and that, of course, is always the end goal, no matter how we get there.

Adriana Plata-Marroquin and Leticia Castaño are both leaders in educational innovation at Monterrey Institute of Technology, Mexico.

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Students are different, so why are you still teaching them all the same way?

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Leaning on your previous experience, think about where in the syllabus you've noticed that some students "get it" easily but others seem to struggle. It's certainly not necessary - or possible - to personalise a whole course at once, so start by identifying the contents in which having a single way of teaching seems to have caused demotivation or lack of significant learning for some students .

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What Makes Differentiated Instruction Successful? 

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What Makes Differentiated Instruction Successful? 

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I wanted to share this article because now that we have explored the definition of differentiation it's important to move beyond just gaining knowledge and start applying it. The best way to start exploring this concept is to understand what makes Differentiation successful. -Iesha Tramble

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Reading Rockets is a national multimedia project that offers a wealth of research-based reading strategies, lessons, and activities designed to help young children learn how to read and read better. Our reading resources assist parents, teachers, and other educators in helping struggling readers build fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension skills.

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Practical Guide to Planning for Intentional Differentiation

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Practical Guide to Planning for Intentional Differentiation

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The piece from this article that I took to heart was the K-W-L chart. I’ve heard of them before, but hadn’t really seen them implemented in a way that effectively laid out the groundwork for differentiated instruction to follow.

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Differentiated Instruction

By considering what students need to know, their interests, and how learning will be assessed, teachers can differentiate assignments.

Planning: Content, processes, and products

Learner access: Readiness, interests, and learning preferences

Environment

Differentiating for the needs of all learners is an important focus that many teachers across the world share. We want our students to have a year-plus growth in courses, whether they're struggling with core basics, are just at the appropriate skill level, or have understanding that exceeds the learning outcomes of the curriculum. These are the key elements to consider in differentiating instruction:

Much has been written to help teachers think about and provide differentiated experiences for learners that align and explain these elements. However, the question and challenge that I hear and observe from teachers most often is: how do we effectively plan intentional differentiation that we can implement and evaluate with the same confidence and understanding as traditional lessons? The answer that follows is based on a change in how to use the planning elements-content, processes, and products-for differentiation, which is finding traction in classrooms that are using this approach.

A Three-Pronged Approach to Planning for Differentiation

Part 1: Content. Content is what students need to know, understand, and do something with. When identifying these outcomes, we also shape the assessment(s) by how learners can demonstrate what they understand. Success comes from teachers accomplishing two steps for this task.

First, identify the specific skills and concepts that students must achieve. This is what gets measured and analyzed through a variety of assessments. Unpacking the skills and concepts enables teachers to track student learning progress for areas of additional support for learners with significant gaps and learners who are ready for complexity beyond the content expectations of the lesson. This understanding enables teachers, instructional coaches, and supervisors to be on the same page as to what students need to learn through intentional differentiation.

Second, collect data on what the students bring to the focused content. Sometimes, this step is viewed as finding strategies for planning differentiation. That is a mistake. Meeting learner needs means knowing what opportunities they bring to the lesson based on what they already know and what challenges exist, based on gaps in core areas of need. Examples of student data to collect prior to planning include life experiences and interests outside of school and academic skills. Using strategies like K-W-L charts or need to knows is one way to find out what learners already know about the topic. Their level of understanding of the content should be factored into the planning. No student feels engaged with a lesson or session that delivers content they have long since mastered. This stage of planning also helps to confirm gaps in knowledge.

Educators should collect information about students' interests and passions that may relate to, or give them background for, applications of the content. This data can lead to rich learning experiences, such as providing informational text to read and analyze from articles about sports or Minecraft if many students identify those as areas of interest.

Accomplishing these two steps helps to ensure that the educators feel well prepared about the specific curriculum expectations at a targeted level. It also ensures that teachers are fully aware of what students bring to the content in terms of opportunities and areas of challenge.

Part 2: Processes. Process is about the different ways that students make sense of the content. Students need frequent experiences of sense-making through a variety of different ways and opportunities. Teachers make this happen through lessons that are made up of a series of activities.

Differentiation through processes is applied in one or more of these activities that make up the lesson. Teachers might start with differentiating one activity. As confidence and experience grows, most lesson activities can be differentiated. The focus of intentional differentiation for process is based on students' content opportunities and challenges. It also incorporates at least one of the learner access elements: readiness, interests, and learning preferences.

Here are two examples.

English: Using details in writing through learning centers. Each center focuses on a different type of detail strategy: example, facts, and sensory detail. Each center includes two options and students choose one to complete.

Math: Understanding the parts and functions of fractions through think dots. Students are put into groups based on their readiness skill level to complete a tiered activity where they all must complete the focus skills. Each group collaborates to solve the six tasks in a random order of choice.

Part 3: Products. Products are the artifacts that students create to show what they know and do not know. These products vary in format both small and large, such as quizzes, reflections, discussions, multimedia, social media tools, and performance tasks.

Intentional differentiation is based on how to leverage what's known about students' content opportunities and challenges. Also, use at least one of the learner access elements: readiness, interests, and learning preferences. These experiences range from practice to learn to assessment checks on progress. There is much flexibility to provide learners with a range of opportunities and experiences to help them make connections and extend their learning while maintaining the content focus.

Driving Forward With Differentiation

Explore this approach for reflecting and planning for students' needs through differentiation. Using content, processes, and products as planning steps provides a clear and concise approach toward choosing strategies and activities based on learner needs that align with the lesson outcomes. This resource curation portal offers ideas to build into your plan, and this differentiation guide offers more insights and a differentiation planning criteria checklist to start your planning journey.

This structure not only empowers student learning but also gives educators common language for collaborative professional opportunities to discuss, implement, and build stronger experiences that meet the needs of all their learners.

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A Practical Guide to Planning for Intentional Differentiation

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By considering what students need to know, their interests, and how learning will be assessed, teachers can differentiate assignments.

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I googled “differentiation checklist for teachers” and this was the second result, and the first “real world” implementation of differentiation people will see when they begin looking for easy ways to make sure they are differentiating.

How does it do?

I thought that it did a great job of establishing a classroom environment that celebrates individualized approaches to learning, but was a bit surprised that only one line item was devoted to addressing accessibility, and that one only in a roundabout way. I guess IEPs may be the documentation in that district that assures any specific accommodations required.

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This youtube video is an excellent resource for first-year teachers. In the video, Kenneth Rescsanski clarifies misconceptions and helps viewers better understand the terms differentiated instruction. He mentions Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences and explains differentiated instructions. - Keithen

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Using Blogs to improve Differentiated Instruction

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Using Blogs to improve Differentiated Instruction

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This article is an awesome read for science teachers. The authors explain how science teachers' educational impact can be enhanced by employing blogs, a popular student tool that allows teachers to differentiate instruction for students with varying needs. Using the software, teachers can now easily create class blogs, which are Websites that incorporate text, audio, and video postings on a specific subject. Furthermore, software such as iTunes allows students to obtain high-quality instruction from class blogs even after they have left their science lectures. Students can read and download blog files at the library or in school computer labs or media centers, even if they do not have Internet access at home. This article explains how to use blogs better to differentiate education for students with different learning styles. Consider how science teachers provide high-quality, differentiated science instruction for all students in the classroom while considering the potential of blogs to enhance adequate instructional time.

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There are four ways a teacher can teach a lesson in this infographic, and each of them demonstrates creativity and collaboration.

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 Differentiating Instruction: It’s Not as Hard as You Think

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 Differentiating Instruction: It’s Not as Hard as You Think

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Larry Ferlazzo explains in this video that one of the essential parts of differentiating instruction is getting to know your students to make decisions that meet their needs, often at the time. His article offers some low-lift strategies that he knows from his years of experience for making activities accessible for students with different gifts, challenges, and abilities.

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Differentiating Instruction: It’s Not as Hard as You Think

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This video give examples of how students may struggle when learning different math concepts. It discusses the need for a differentiated learning approach and how not having one could hinder and/or impede a student's learning. It goes on to provide examples of differentiated tasks using a star system. This seems like a great way to tackle the job of differentiating instruction.

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Effective differentiation | Jodie Parsons and Yvonne Reilly, Sunshine College | TEDxRosalindParkED

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20 Differentiated Instruction Strategies and Examples

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20 Differentiated Instruction Strategies and Examples

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This resource comes from the Prodigy website. It lists 20 strategies and examples of ways to differentiate instruction in the classroom. It discusses methods to differentiate in 3 main areas - content, processes, and products. Some examples include creating learning stations, using task cards, and forming literature circles. There are many other innovative ways to differentiate included throughout the article.

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20 Differentiated Instruction Strategies and Examples [+ Downloadable List]

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As students with diverse learning styles fill the classroom, many teachers don't always have the time, or spend additional hours to plan lessons that use differentiated instruction (DI) to suit students' unique aptitudes.