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Multiple Intelligence Theory and Growth Mindset

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Learn how multiple intelligence theory and the research on growth mindset can empower students to take ownership of their learning!

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I'm about to share my top tip when it comes to planning instruction. It's not fancy or flashy, but it's super important and helpful. What is it? Pre-tests!

Pre-assessing your students tells you where they're starting. You can use that data to figure out how to get them to where they need to go. While pre-assessments take time to create and use, they can actually save you a lot of time and energy later because they show you where to focus your efforts.

We all know it's no good to teach advanced concepts if your class hasn't mastered the basics. And on the flip side, it wastes time to spend days going over something they already know. A pre-test gives you helpful data to plan a unit or lesson.

For me, the best pre-assessments are easy to plan and quick to administer and evaluate. So let's dig into 10 EASY activities you can do to pre-test your students in any subject.

1. Traditional Pre-tests

Yep, a good old-fashioned pre-test is a solid place to start. To make it even easier, I love going digital with pre-tests. Google Forms and digital Boom Learning cards save tons of time because of the automatic grading!

You can also use traditional writing prompts to get writing samples.

I tend to make pre-tests shorter than end-of-unit assessments because I just need enough information to get an idea of strengths and areas of growth. To save time creating the pre-tests, you can take an end-of-unit test and shorten or tweak the questions.

2. Knowledge Splash

Back when I taught first grade, my team and I would take our kids out into the hallway (where there was less environmental print). They'd each have a blank piece of paper and 2-3 minutes to write every word they could think of (we called it "splashing" the words on the paper). This gave us so much information and I love that it was low-stakes!

You can easily do this in the upper grades, especially when it comes to a new math, science, or history concept.

A similar option is to do a gallery walk. You can hang different posters with words or topics from an upcoming unit and see what students can add to the "graffiti wall."

3. ABC Chart

An ABC chart, or digital ABC book, is helpful to get students thinking about specific vocabulary related to a topic. I've used this strategy a lot in science and social studies, but it really works with any subject.

I also like to use this strategy at the end of a unit to review key terms, people, and places.

4. Four Corners

Playing a game of 4 Corners in your classroom is a fun way to pre-assess your students because it gets them moving! You can also do a digital version where you have students click and drag their names to different corners of a Google Slide.

5. Sorting Activities

You know how much I love hands-on sorting activities. Sorting cards with words and/or images is a great partner or small group activity to get an idea of what students know before you teach it.

6. Parking Lot

When it comes to pre-tests, we often think about students showing us what they know, but I also like to see what they want to know. Writing questions on sticky notes and adding them to a parking lot anchor chart is a fun way to get a sense of students' wonderings about an upcoming lesson or unit.

7. Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down

Another low-prep activity is to have students respond to a series of statements or questions using thumbs up/down. You could also give them colored papers or cups to show their answers.

If you want to do a little more prep, you can set up a trivia game or bulletin board. Here's an example of one I made for Virginia history.

8. Student Discussions

Using small group discussions is one of my favorite ways to pre-test! You can display an image, quote, primary source, question, vocabulary word, math problem, etc., and have students discuss it. Then you just walk around to eavesdrop and jot down some notes as they turn and talk.

9. One-pagers

I'll call these miscellaneous activities "one-pagers" for lack of a better term. These are all good low-prep activities to find out what students know:

entrance tickets

true/false statements

anticipation guide

connections between keywords

open-ended questions

defining vocabulary terms

KWL chart

graphic organizer

thinking map/concept map

10. Whiteboards

Last but not least, whiteboards are my favorite tool to use for pre-assessment (besides digital activities).

It's so easy to whip out the whiteboards and have students draw something, write a word, answer true/false, or rate something on a scale. If you practice routines for distributing and collecting whiteboards and markers, you'll save lots of time!

I hope this list gets you started with some low-prep-for-you, low-stress-for-kids pre-assessment activities. As you can see, there are lots of options besides a traditional pre-test. Let me know your other favorite strategies in the comments!

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10 Easy Ways to Pre-Test Your Students - Alyssa Teaches

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Looking for some engaging and low-prep strategies to pre-test your students? I'm loving this list of pre-assessment ideas for any subject area!

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Differentiated Learning and Technology: A Powerful Combination

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Dynamic, individualized instruction is possible when teachers intentionally design learning experiences.

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In education circles, Carol Ann Tomlinson is known as the guru of differentiation. Her research-based work is in such high demand that she has made more than 700 presentations and keynote addresses to school districts and professional associations across the country and abroad since joining the Curry School in 1991. She has authored 17 books on the topics of differentiated instruction and curriculum, some of which have been translated into twelve languages. In this Curry conversation, Tomlinson offers her take on what makes differentiation so important for students.
What is the essence of differentiation?

Tomlinson: Differentiation is an instructional approach to help teachers teach with individuals as well as content in mind. Differentiation really means trying to make sure that teaching and learning work for the full range of students, which really should be our goal as teachers. We've often taught as though all the kids in the classroom are wired exactly alike to learn, as though they should come in programmed to learn on the teacher's schedule. Really, to me, differentiation is the common sense of saying, if we take on the responsibility of teaching, we accept the responsibility of making sure that every kid learns as well as he or she possibly can.

What Empirical Evidence Exists of the Effectiveness of Differentiation?

Tomlinson: The model of differentiation that I've been working with is sort of a Robin Hood model - it steals from lots of discipline areas and tries to synthesize what we know from many specialties into one specialty. Some of what we talk about in differentiation really comes from the work of special education and has been there for a long time. Some of it comes from gifted education. Some of it comes from the field of reading and how you work with students in developing literacy when they don't master the skills right on schedule. There's work that comes from the emerging and new science of the brain. And things that people have done in multicultural education.

What we've tried to do with this model is to synthesize a lot of those things so that it fits together as a whole and so the teachers don't have to go to 14 places to find guidelines and strategies they need. The research that supports the principles and practices of differentiation comes from many specialties.

There is also newer research that suggests academic benefits to the model's key principles and practices. There's always the caveat that it's easy to say you use a model and much harder to maintain fidelity to that model. What we find, not surprisingly, is when somebody differentiates effectively, the gains are really strong. The trick is always to help people understand that you can't pick and choose pieces of a model, implement five percent of it and dismiss the other 95 percent.

What is the Strongest Argument for Differentiation?

Tomlinson: The strongest argument for differentiation to me is looking at the kids sitting in the classroom. It's rare to go into a classroom where kids are all from the same language group, the same culture, the same socioeconomic status, the same background experience, the same wiring in terms of abilities, areas of weakness, that sort of thing. Realizing how seldom you go into a classroom and find virtually everyone fully engaged and participating in an optimistic way signals a need for instruction that addresses individual variance as well as common content requirements. We have way too many students who bring to school with them needs and differences that we just don't take into account in our thinking and planning. And we fail many learners when we do that.

What Are Some of the Misconceptions Educators Hold About Differentiation?

Tomlinson: The model of differentiation is very multifaceted, but it can be boiled down to three student needs which call for differentiating instruction: student readiness, student interest, and student learning profile. Learning profile refers to preferred modes of learning and has four facets-gender, culture, learning styles, and intelligence preferences.

We find a good number of classrooms where teachers do some work with students' learning styles, and they assume that they have therefore differentiated instruction. In essence, they have picked one fourth of one third of the information that we have about significant differences in learners for which they plan a response. In other words, they have neglected readiness differentiation, interest differentiation, how culture influences us, how gender influences us, and how intelligence preferences influence us and assume that if they've done something with learning styles they've done what needs to be done.

"Not to address readiness and to assume that a focus on learning styles is going to take care of everything, is generally way off base."

We have such a huge range of readiness in classes that not to address readiness and to assume that a focus on learning styles is going to take care of everything, is generally way off base. In terms of both needs of learners and in terms of what research tells us, readiness is where we need to begin and focus, and then we can open things up by looking at those other categories.

Another misconception is that our current massive emphasis on testing speaks to a need for standardization-everybody needs to pass the same test under the same circumstances on the same day, with the same parameters. I think that whatever your learning outcome needs to be, even if you think it needs to be highly standardized, students will still learn at different rates. They need to be taught in different ways, and they need different materials or approaches to learning. So as paradoxical as it may sound, the need for differentiation is even more critical if you're supposed to get everybody to the same point at exactly the same time-not less so. Differentiation doesn't suggest changing the outcome for students, but rather finding different avenues to success with those outcomes.

Why Are Some School Leaders Reluctant to Integrate Differentiation in the Classroom?

Tomlinson: What I more commonly find is leaders who ask for or demand differentiation but don't know how to support it fully or wisely enough. They are typically people who believe they are doing the right thing, but function in counterproductive ways. I hear really often, "We're going to do differentiation in our school this year." Differentiation is one of those things that people who are experts in the field of change call second order change. First order change is the kind of thing most teachers can implement with modest effort. Differentiation requires second order change. It really requires many teachers to change their approach to teaching as a whole-how we think about students and their capabilities, how we use assessment, how curriculum is crafted, flexible instruction to ensure that students go where they need to go. Perhaps most challenging, it asks teachers to learn to handle a classroom where two or three or four things are sometimes happening at the same time.

Second order change is demanding. It's also much more promising.

People whom we find providing teachers with sustained and intelligent support understand that they are there for the long haul, that everyone needs to be immersed in the ideas, that they don't ever go away, that they're in the foreground all the time, that you can hear the drum beating constantly. I don't find a whole lot of leaders saying, "No I don't want to support this. This doesn't make any sense." What I find is people who support the transition to differentiation as though it were a first order change and don't understand the depth of leadership required to facilitate second order change.

That Sounds Really Hard To Do. How Do You Make It Happen?

Tomlinson: It is hard to do. When you look at the literature on expertise, one of the differences between an expert and a novice is that experts see many different aspects of what's going on around them, they know what those elements mean, and they know how to respond to them in targeted ways. They know what to dismiss and what to act on. Differentiation asks for that expert level of discrimination when observing and responding to students in a learning context. So the question becomes, "How do we help teachers develop expertise?"

Where we see differentiation really thrive, we see principals who understand the power of knowing and responding to students and who are willing to lead consistently and persistently in order to help teachers do so.

In any school you'll find some teachers who realize that differentiation makes the classroom work much better for many more students. Those teachers will develop the skills of responsive or differentiated instruction on their own. To change a whole school takes a principal who has vision, understands where teachers are on a continuum toward achieving that vision, knows what to do to help or get help to support each teacher's growth, and in effect, differentiates for the faculty.

Where leadership for differentiation is effective, you have leaders say, "Sure, it's hard, but there's a way to get there and we'll work together to learn how to make all of our classrooms responsive to all of our students." The leaders literally help teachers enact change in their own classrooms. They bring teachers together in teams to share insight and to support one another. It's that sense of intelligent, persistent leadership that signals the difference between a school where a few teachers get better at attending to the learning needs of students and one where everyone is invested in that goal.

We see differentiation catching hold either in individuals or in little clusters of individuals where there is a really strong department chair or a really strong grade-level leader. When the school as a whole is focused on addressing the full range of learner needs, it's inevitably the principal's leadership that makes the difference.

What is the Secret to Managing Differentiation in the Classroom?

Tomlinson: One of the major obstacles for teachers in learning to differentiate instruction is figuring out how to handle a classroom where the teacher is not in front of the kinds all the time pulling the strings like a master puppeteer. We're used to frontal control in classrooms. The differentiation philosophy indicates that students become stronger learners when they can accept more responsibility for their own learning and when they become more proficient in understanding their goals, their status relative to those goals, and how to adjust their approach to learning in order to achieve the goals.

The case that we've tried to make in our new book [ Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom, co-authored with Marcia B. Imbeau] is that there are two elements that teachers need to think through: leading people and managing details. Leading people involves asking students to consider what it feels like when the classroom doesn't work for them or for their friends, to envision what a classroom would be like if it functioned in a way that helped each student grow as far and fast as possible-and to participate in developing that kind of classroom.

When you go into classrooms where teachers lead kids in that way, management is not the problem we tend to think it is, because kids feel empowered and interested and invigorated.

Still, however, there is the need to make sure the room doesn't get too noisy or that the materials aren't all over the place when students leave. There are plenty of details that need managing, but when teachers do that in the context of leading their students to help create a more effective place to learn, handling the details works much more smoothly and naturally.
by Lynn Bell This article was originally published in the spring of 2011.

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Faculty Conversation: Carol Tomlinson on Differentiation

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In education circles, Carol Ann Tomlinson is known as the guru of differentiation. Her research-based work is in such high demand that she has made more than 700 presentations and keynote addresses to school districts and professional associations across the country and abroad since joining the Curry School in 1991.

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Does anyone else get overly excited when they get a new set of Mr. Sketch markers? Colorful markers and highlighters help engage students, but there is so much more to it. There are real, tested benefits of color-coding in the classroom.

Think about all the things we associate with certain colors, like green for go or pink for breast cancer awareness. For years, marketing departments have been associating brands with certain colors so that their messages will stick in consumers' minds (e.g., Twitter , McDonald's , Target , ).

In the classroom, when strategically and systematically implemented, color-coding can have the same effect. It may take a bit more planning and preparation, but it's worth it!

In fact, Pruisner (1993) found that when comparing outcomes of black-and-white versus color-cued presentations and assessments, systematic color-coding improved recall and retention. Dzulkifli and Mustafar (2012) also studied whether adding color could improve memory. They concluded that "color has the potential to increase chances of environmental stimuli to be encoded, stored, and retrieved successfully" because it vividly displays relationships between ideas.

The psychology of color is fascinating. Shift eLearning says that "using the right color, and the correct selection and placement can seriously affect feelings, attention, and behavior when learning." Color can help students differentiate, retain, and transfer knowledge and, according to Ozelike (2009) , pay attention to critical information for meaningful learning. It's time that we leveraged that to our advantage. Plus, color just makes everything more exciting and appealing, right? The question is how can we, as teachers, take this and apply it to our instruction? Here are just a few ideas:

1. Distinguishing between new ideas and concepts

Color-coding can assist students in distinguishing between concepts and ideas. Below is an example of how color-coding can be used for main idea and details, but it can also be used for compare and contrast, author's purpose, fact versus opinion, you name it! In this example, main idea is always while key details are . green

Here is another example of using color to distinguish between concepts in math. Color-coding can support mathematical thinking in that it can help students organize their thinking, make their thinking visible to others, and make connections. It can also strengthen visual representation to aid students in internalizing their learning.

2. Selective highlighting

Another color-coding strategy is selective highlighting. This strategy requires explicit teaching, extensive modeling and support, as well as clear student directions. However, when implemented correctly, it can help students organize their learning and deepen their comprehension.

In the example above, the instructions for students were:

3. Color-coded graphic organizers

Ewoldt and Morgan (2017) noted that "color-coding visual organizers provides another layer of support for writing development," and "using color-coding in combination with strategy instruction has the potential to improve overall understanding." Sentence and paragraph frames are great writing supports, but not if students don't know how and when to use them. Color-coding these frames as well as graphic organizers (or having the students do it themselves) is a simple step that can make all the difference.

4. Supporting student discourse

We all know how important it is to get our students talking, and providing a dialogue frame can be a great way to scaffold speaking activities. Color-coding these frames can make them more user-friendly because it makes it easier for students to identify their part(s). Don't forget to have students switch roles at some point so they get to practice all roles!

Warning: Don't overdo it!

Although color-coding can be extremely effective, too much can overcomplicate things. Try to stick to three colors (or fewer) per lesson and keep it consistent! Any color can be used for any topic but, once introduced, the color should remain consistent in order to avoid confusion. For example, i f students used blue when comparing at the beginning of the year, make sure you use that same color for every comparing lesson.

There are a multitude of ways to use color in the classroom. How do you use color-coding as a teaching strategy? Share your ideas in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.
Plus, check out 25 ways to use sticky notes in the classroom.

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Color-Coding: The Differentiation Strategy You Never Knew You Needed

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Does anyone else get overly excited when they get a new set of Mr. Sketch markers? Colorful markers and highlighters help engage students, but there is so much more to it. There are real, tested benefits of color-coding in the classroom.

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What if taking notes could put a smile on your students' faces? Just imagine if you could get your kids excited about an exercise in higher-order thinking. Picture your students begging to take notes because it involves gel pens and doodles. Enter, sketchnotes in the classroom.

The sketchnotes phenomenon is the brainchild of designer Mike Rohde, and it is rapidly spreading beyond the design world. Now we're seeing sketchnotes in the classroom on a regular basis. For instance, a student might use it to process information visually, use bold lettering for key points, making containers or boxes for special points-the list can go on and on. Basically, you can use it for anything that makes the information pop off the page and stick to the brain. Here are 8 examples from Instagram with ideas of how you can use sketchnotes in the classroom. Give it a try.

1. Sketch an event.

You'll see a whole new level of engagement if you assign students to take sketchnotes when you have a guest speaker or your class attends an event.

Source: @overflowstorylab

2. Sketch without boundaries.

Sketchnotes can be any size, so invite your students to cover your whiteboards with everything they've learned in a unit as a form of pre-assessment review. Then let them walk around and study the gallery of learning.

3. Sketch to organize.

This professor has used sketchnotes to organize her own thoughts before a lecture, and you could do the same by sharing the idea with your students before they give oral presentations.

Source: @profdiberjones

4. Sketch for research.

This could relate to many lessons and classroom ideas. Invite students to do research sketchnotes before writing a paper or creating a video.

5. Sketch with a different focus.

You can help students explore a variety of tools by asking them to focus on sketches, symbols, containers or unique text. This example shows just how much someone can convey visually through drawn elements.

6. Sketch a book.

Students can do sketchnotes on text, taking note of the main ideas and essential quotations before writing a paper or doing a project on it.

7. Sketch for fun.

This teacher simply explored meaning with color. Do something similar by having your students create performance posters, book displays, bulletin boards, or event programs.

8. Sketch complex thinking.

As students get more comfortable in the medium, you can show them more and more complex examples to inspire them to improve. This creative person skillfully mixes and matches all the layers of visual meaning with her words, incorporating symbols, connecters, containers, sketches, and varied forms of text.

Introduce students to sketchnotes with one of these activities and see what happens. You just might be surprised by what they come up with.
Have you tried using sketchnotes in the classroom? How did it go? We'd love to hear in the comments.

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Sketchnotes in the Classroom: 8 Ideas to Get Started

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What if taking notes could put a smile on your students' faces? Just imagine if you could get your kids excited about an exercise in higher-order thinking. Picture your students begging to take notes because it involves gel pens and doodles. Enter, sketchnotes in the classroom.

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As a teacher, you already know that every student in your classroom is different. They have their own personalities, their own likes and dislikes, and their own ways of learning best. Differentiated instruction strategies give every kid a chance to succeed by adapting the learning to fit their needs. Add these examples of differentiated instruction strategies to your teacher toolkit so you can use them all year long.

What is differentiated instruction?

Differentiated instruction strategies mean tailoring your teaching so all students engage with the curriculum in meaningful ways. The result of differentiated instruction strategies is that all students learn. Carol Ann Tomlinson introduced the concept of differentiation in the 1990s, and now it's just part of teaching. Tomlinson identified four ways that teachers differentiate:

Content: What is taught

Process: How it's taught

Product: How students show what they have learned

Learning environment: The classroom and learning environment

Tomlinson's differentiation model created new ways for teachers to think about how they provide and shape opportunities for students to engage with content, from flexible seating to choice boards.

Learn more: What Is Differentiated Instruction?

Here are our favorite differentiation strategies to make the aspects of learning work for every student.

Strategies To Differentiate Content

Differentiating content means adjusting lessons and materials based on what students are ready for and depending on students' strengths and needs. This may mean providing support with vocabulary before students start writing, or helping students build background knowledge before heading into a history unit.

Give pre-assessments

Before you present a new topic, take a few minutes to find out what kids already know. Their responses might change what you decide to teach. If they already know all about area and perimeter of 2D shapes, for example, you may spend less time teaching 2D shapes and move on to 3D shapes.

Use leveled readers

Especially as students learn to read, providing students with books that have sound patterns and words they can read is an important differentiation strategy. As they get older and are reading to learn, provide students with texts that they are familiar with or that you are confident they can access with the reading skills they know. For older students who struggle with reading, using hi-lo books is a great way to give them an engaging experience with text.

Read more: How to use leveled books with the Science of Reading

Use vocabulary lists

When students are writing or working on projects, offer shorter or longer word lists depending on the students' background knowledge. Vocabulary lists are a great way to build students' vocabulary whether they're learning English or they excel in vocabulary.

Use our word lists for summer, winter, and seasonal events like Halloween and Valentine's Day to start differentiating.

Pre-teach knowledge and vocabulary

Pre-teach the vocabulary and concepts that students need to know before they engage with a lesson. This could be math concepts (perimeter, area), history terms, or science vocabulary. This strategy is especially important for students who are learning English and those who struggle with reading comprehension because of low vocabulary.

Get it: Vocabulary worksheets

Pre-teach a group of experts

Another way to pre-teach is to teach a small group of students. Then, rely on these students to be your "experts" during whole-group learning. Use this strategy regularly, but switch up the student experts.

Use diverse content

Ensure your reading choices include diverse and multicultural characters, settings, and authors. Having diverse books allows students to connect with content, either by seeing themselves in text or by learning about others' experiences.

Learn more: What Are Windows, Mirrors, and Sliding Glass Doors?

Strategies To Differentiate Process

When we differentiate process, we're differentiating how students engage in the learning. The way we ask questions, how we teach students to collaborate, and how we organize the learning experience all impact how students learn.

Be strategic with questions

Create ways for students to answer more difficult questions as they learn more about a topic. That could mean that students engage with open-ended questions as they read more about a science event, or that students think through how a math concept applies to real-world scenarios.

Teach color-coding

Color-coding can work in all sorts of classroom applications, including organization, routines, and organizing and highlighting content and notes. The idea is to help students use color-coding to bring organization and focus as students are learning.

Learn more: Color-Coding in the Classroom

Implement a stoplight system

As students are working, it's important to have a system to ensure they're learning what you want them to. A stoplight system is an easy, nonverbal (read: quiet) way to check for understanding. Each student has three cups-one green, one yellow, and one red. The color of the cup corresponds with how they feel about what they're learning. Green means they're good to go, yellow means they're struggling, and red means they're stuck entirely. If you don't have cups, try this with sticky notes or folded desk tents.

Plan cooperative learning

Cooperative learning describes a strategy where students work together in small groups under supervision to accomplish a goal. Create groups based on student needs and abilities. Once you know your students, you can put groups together quickly, and adjust them based on the activity and goal.

Assign must-dos and may-dos

Not all students need extra time; in fact, some finish everything up too quickly! That's where the ability to provide enrichment activities comes in handy. For any lesson, be prepared with "must-do" and "may-do" activities. This helps kids prioritize the most important items and gives fast finishers meaningful work to do too.

Learn more: The Case for Must-Dos and May-Dos

Use graphic organizers

Graphic organizers are a way to organize information using a visual. There are standard graphic organizers, like a timeline or this free Venn diagram printable. Or students can create their own graphic organizers to organize what they're learning.

Learn more: Graphic Organizers and How To Use Them

Have students lead lessons

Assign students a topic or let them pick their own, then ask them each to become an expert and plan a lesson to share with the class. Encourage them to think of creative ways to share the information, planning interactive activities they themselves would like to do in the classroom. You're bound to get a lot of new teaching strategies yourself!

Give real-life examples

Whenever possible, use real examples to show kids how a topic applies to real life. In math, money activities can be especially effective. In reading, connect assignments to topics that students are genuinely interested in. The more students see the connection to real life, the more engaged they'll be.

Let students sketch

Give students the option of using sketchnotes to keep track of their thoughts and learning about a topic. Teach students the process and how to decide what to capture in their sketchnotes, then provide the option for students that love this type of note-taking.

Learn more: Creative Ways To Use Sketchnotes in Your Classroom

Wait ...

This one is all about teacher patience. When you ask your class a question, don't immediately call on the first person to raise their hand. Instead, wait a few more seconds, and call on someone whose hand came up a little later. This allows students who need more time to process a chance to get their ideas out too.

Listen to audiobooks

Unless reading itself is key to the topic you're presenting, consider letting students listen to an audiobook instead. This lets them focus on the content, rather than just the words and sentences.

Learn more: Places Kids Can Listen to Free Audiobooks

Provide writing supports

If handwriting is a challenge, explore options like special pencil grips or try one of these easy hacks. When handwriting isn't the learning goal, offer kids options like oral responses or typing instead.

Teach with manipulatives

These aren't just for little kids! Make math manipulatives available to older students too. Having hands-on materials to work with, whether it's counting out change or showing how many hundreds are in a thousand, helps make concepts more concrete.

Chunk and scaffold

Provide support for students by breaking down learning into manageable chunks and providing teaching opportunities that move students from one small skill to the next.

Learn more: Ways to scaffold instruction

Assign evens or odds

When giving homework assignments or practice worksheets, give students who need extra time the option to complete only the even or odd questions. This gives them effective practice but keeps them motivated.

Self-paced learning

Use computer programs to help students progress at their own pace. Of course, you'll need to ensure students stay on task when they're working independently. Also, remember that a computer program may only have the ability to explain things one way, so be ready to step in and give kids information in other ways when needed.

Get moving

Many students learn best when their bodies are involved. Active math games, like fishing for numbers, stomping on a number line, or jumping to practice math facts, are great ways to practice learning with students' whole bodies.

Learn more: Active Math Games and Activities

Think-pair-share

Before students share out in a whole group, have them turn to a partner and share their ideas. This way every student can share in a way that feels more comfortable. And you'll know that every student has had a chance to participate whether they love sharing in the spotlight or not.

Learn more: Fun Alternatives to Think-Pair-Share to get students talking

Jigsaw

In a Jigsaw, students are divided into groups. Each group has a text to read and each student is assigned to become an expert on one portion of the text. This breaks a longer text into manageable chunks and allows each student to become an expert. For students who require more support, assign the introduction or conclusion, where information is typically more explicit.

Strategies To Differentiate Product

Differentiating product means letting students have voice and choice in how they present what they learned.

Choice boards

Choice boards are, well, boards, with a few different choices for students to show what they know. Being allowed to pick and choose encourages kids to take responsibility for their choices. To make this work, determine what goals all students need to achieve. Then, let them come up with ways to demonstrate those goals, or give them a few options that appeal to different types of learners.

Learn more: How I Use Choice Boards To Increase Student Engagement

Book reports with choices

When all students have to read a book and need to report on what they read, differentiate the product with multiple report options. Students can show what they learned through a skit, poster, presentation, and more.

Get it: Free Book Report Printables for Grades 3-5

Alternate assessments

Alternative assessments provide ways to differentiate in your classroom by giving students multiple ways to show what they know. For students who struggle with writing, consider a discussion instead (unless you're specifically working on writing skills). Instead of a traditional book report, have students turn the story into their own graphic novel. Find ways to help students shine!

Learn more: Alternative Assessment Ideas

Make a game

Students in a high school business class create a game to show the role of Human Resource professionals in a company. We love this idea to turn content into a game! It challenges students to use their creativity to explain concepts that, let's face it, can be a bit dry.

Strategies To Differentiate the Learning Environment

A differentiated learning environment is one where every student has equal access to learning. It's about routines and procedures and how you set up and use the space every day.

Small groups

Small groups, whether organized by skill level, interest, or randomly assigned, give students a way to learn together.

Learn more: Small Group Instruction Strategies and Tips for Success

Create different learning spaces

Allow students to choose how they sit (or sprawl) while they're working. Use pillows, varied lighting, and different types of seating to create spaces for small group collaboration, quiet contemplation, reading, and project work. Provide noise-canceling headphones, fidgets, or other tools to help them concentrate.

Learn more: Types of Learning Spaces To Include in Your Elementary Classroom

Hang anchor charts

Good news! Those anchor charts hanging all over your walls are a popular differentiation strategy. They give students a reference for important information, and allow them to access information after the lesson is over.

Learn more: Anchor Charts 101

Start peer buddies

Pairing students of varying levels as buddies benefits all kids. Some schools pair those with disabilities with a buddy to help them as needed. Others pair older students with younger ones. Whatever you choose, plan your program carefully and monitor pairings to ensure they're working out.

Get a co-teacher

Just as students have different learning styles, teachers have different instructional styles as well. Use this to your advantage! You don't necessarily need to co-teach full-time. Work as a team with your fellow teachers to learn what their styles are like, and consider switching things up from time to time by trading duties for certain lessons or subjects.

Learn more: Things Successful Co-Teachers Do

Flexible grouping

Instead of leaving students in the same-leveled reading groups at all times, mix up your groupings by interest, readiness, or learning styles.

Flexible seating

Provide different seating options for students. Wobble chairs, pillows, beanbags, and old-fashioned desks and chairs allow students to choose how they work best.

Learn more: How To Make a Pool Noodle Sensory Chair

Centers

Center work allows kids to go at their own pace and work however they want, without feeling the need to keep up with others.

Check out the big list of K-2 literacy centers to get started.

Student surveys

An important way to improve your differentiation is by asking students. Surveying students in conversation or with a formal question-and-answer format, like our printable end-of-class survey, can help you reflect on which aspects of differentiation had the most impact on students and where you can add or adjust differentiation in the future.

Get it: End-of-Class Survey Printable

Differentiated Instruction Strategies Books

What are your go-to differentiated instruction strategies? Come share your ideas and ask for advice in the We Are Teachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.

Plus, if you enjoyed these differentiated instruction strategies, check out What Is Scaffolding in Education?

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Samantha Cleaver, PhD, Special Ed & Reading Intervention

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35+ Differentiated Instruction Strategies Every Teacher Can Use

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Use these examples of differentiated instruction strategies in your classroom to ensure every student has a chance to succeed each day.

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8 Types of Learning Spaces to Consider Including in Your Elementary Classroom

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A meeting space, a library space, and more.

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

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Differentiated Instruction Strategies and Examples for Teacher and Student Success

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Here we provide differentiated instruction strategies and examples that teachers can use to ensure students have choices for the way that they learn new information, practice skills, and demonstrate understanding.

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100+ Tools for Differentiating Instruction Through Social Media

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Social media can enhance differentiated instruction if the tools are selected with a careful eye on individual students’ readiness, interests, and learning profiles.

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This list maintains classroom examples of differentiated in action, as well as notable educators who talk about key elements of pedagogy and practice. For mo…

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Shelley Moore: Transforming Inclusive Education

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C.A.P.S. - Celebrating All Persevering Students

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C.J. Luckey (@cjluckeydope) - The Power of Yet - Offical Music Video - Directed by Andre Kahmeyer

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Looking for ways to help students transfer what they learn in direct instruction to collaborative and independent practice? Graphic organizers are one of my favorite teaching resources because of their versatility. Plus, they provide access points for all students to participate in critical thinking and discussion, regardless of their readiness levels. In essence, they often differentiate themselves.

1. Reading Strategies

Whether you're teaching students to analyze point of view or bias...or you're working on developing reading strategies like inferring and visualizing, graphic organizers can help. Through direct instruction, model thinking for students using excerpts of high interest texts. Then, provide students with the scaffolding they need to begin working a small group format by using a graphic organizer.

I like to keep copies of this set of reading graphic organizers handy so that I can pull them out when students need some guidance. Differentiate by targeting specific skills with the students who need to develop them.

2. Root Words

What's better than teaching students to identify root words? Helping them to form a visual association! I create anchor charts to help students understand the concept of a root word, which is complex for many students. I love anchor charts, but I want students to be able to play with words in the same way.

So, I give them a handout version of a root words anchor chart, and we come back to it as we discuss root words and related words. The connections? With this brain-based approach, they stick better!

3. Literary Analysis

Literary analysis is such a large part of standards learning. I've noticed that in order to promote metacognition about analysis, they need some explicit instruction about what it is, why we use it, and the vast range of texts it can apply to. So, I began incorporating a literary analysis unit.

We explore a variety of genres of literature, and with each type (commercials, songs, fiction, nonfiction, poems, movies, and paired texts), we use a graphic organizer that prompts students to think from certain angles about what they are reading. Teaching students to learn ask these questions themselves is part of teaching literary analysis!

4. Book Fit

Levels don't work with helping most older students find "Just Right" books. Graphic organizers have a much more positive association with reading than levels anyway. Try using a reading ladder visual with students to help them track what they are reading. I use a ladder to explain that the "right" book for them really is the one they want to read. After all, if they realize they reached a shelf too high and are frustrated or a couple shelves too low and are bored, they can always reshelve the book and pick another!

5. Stop and Jots

Transitions are hard for some students...and some classes in general. We have to be creative with how we build thinking into those transitions so that students don't even realize they are transitioning! For example, I love using stop and jots. They're the perfect opportunity to get students either reflecting on what they just did or anticipating what they will be learning next.

Have some graphic organizers handy to make your stop and jots visually appealing and so that students can doodle, sketch, or color if they finish before others. Stop and jots are incredibly helpful at providing formative feedback for the teacher as well. ( Grab a couple of these for free in my resource library by signing up here.)

6. Poetry Analysis

When we read poetry, I want students to study the diction, to visualize the figurative language, to feel the tone and mood. Poets craft their work stylistically for effect, so it's fun to study author's craft in poetry analysis. In order to put all of the analytical pieces of the puzzle together, why not use an organizer?

A poetry graphic organizer can help break down the analysis into chunks so students can focus on each element separately. Then, they can synthesize their thinking using symbolic color and scaffolding to create a poetry one pager.

7. Essay Acronyms

In order to let students fly with their creativity as writers, we need to provide a solid foundation of knowledge they can draw from. Not all students need the same type or amount of scaffolding, but I've noticed almost all students appreciate having a general idea of what is expected. If we just say, Go write an essay!, they have certain ideas already in mind based upon what they have written in previous years.

My writers who need more step-by-step instruction benefit from paragraph acronyms organizers. Acronyms help ground them. They have an idea of what type of information to include where. We might be tempted to think that students who excel at writing can just go do, and maybe they can! Yet, it helps to reduce their stress and anxiety if we give them a guideline that they can build off of, refer to, and even deviate from to make their writing unique.

8. Literature Standards

I haven't met a teacher who doesn't love reading short stories with students. But, the short story isn't dong any teaching if all we are doing is reading it. When I design a lesson involving a short story (or even a novel), I begin by identifying what standard I'm teaching. Then, I deconstruct it and create a graphic organizerthat will help scaffold the analysis process for that standard.

When used with literature like short stories and novels, graphic organizers help to ground students' thinking, build confidence, and save time. Plus, they make for great discussion prep!

9. One Pagers

It's always helpful to use graphic organizers when students need some scaffolding with an abstract task, like the ever-popular alternative to the essay: one pagers! Use graphic organizers to help students brainstorm ideas to include in their one pager as well as how they want to structure and display that information.

Often, students learn to enjoy creating both informational text and literature one pagers when they have a graphic organizer to get them started.

10. Thesis Statements

Thesis statements, specifically, can get sticky. Graphic organizers can help students to narrow their topics (yes, technology is probably too broad!), write a thesis statement, draft topic sentences that support the thesis statement, and brainstorm support. In doing so, students have an idea of what research they need to find.

I don't let them actually start writing the essay until they've conferred with me about their graphic organizers. You'll find the ones I use in this thesis statement mini lesson.

And that's ten of my essential graphic organizers. I have used them regularly, and along with modeling and conferring with students, they are one of my favorite differentiation tools.

If you'd like to grab the two graphic organizers pictured below, join us in our ELA Today Facebook group! They will be waiting for you on the inside.

Further Reading:

You're probably reading this post because you love graphic organizers as much as I do; if so, you may also find Lauralee's post about task cards is right up your alley!

Author Note

Melissa Kruse is a former middle and high school English teacher and current instructional coach. You can find her on her blog, Reading and Writing Haven.

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10 Essential Graphic Organizers for Differentiation in ELA

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Looking for ways to help students transfer what they learn in direct instruction to collaborative and independent practice? Graphic organizers are one of my favorite teaching resources because of their versatility. Plus, they provide access points for all students to participate in critical thinking and discussion, regardless of their readiness levels.

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Novel Study Tic-Tac-Toe Menu Choice Board by Kasey Bell

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Start creating your screens here, no account needed.

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Stackables, Purposeful Puzzles, and other differentiation activity ideas Video