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Tips & Strategies for Effective Differentiation & Instruction.wmv - YouTube

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Tips & Strategies for Effective Differentiation & Instruction.wmv

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Differentiated Instruction - Gail Bush.pdf

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Differentiated Instruction - Gail Bush.pdf

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Differentiation Lessons - Carolan and Guinn.pdf

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Differentiation Lessons - Carolan and Guinn.pdf

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Creating Lesson Plans for All Learners - Sharon Lynch.pdf

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Creating Lesson Plans for All Learners - Sharon Lynch.pdf

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Orchestrating Multiple Intelligences - Moran.pdf

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Orchestrating Multiple Intelligences - Moran.pdf

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Tips & Strategies for Effective Differentiation & Instruction.wmv - YouTube

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Tips & Strategies for Effective Differentiation & Instruction.wmv

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The Five-by-Five Approach to Differentiation Success - Education Week Teacher

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The Five-by-Five Approach to Differentiation Success - Education Week Teacher

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Two 9th grade boys kept falling asleep while reading. "If you're sleepy," we told them, "you could ask for a hall pass to get a quick drink of water, stand in the back of the room and read, or sit on the desk behind you as long as you are reading." They perked up at the chance to sit on the desks and were soon engrossed in their books.
"What can I do to move this student forward? Is he processing the concepts? Is her thinking being stretched?" As teachers who differentiate, we try to keep these questions in mind at all times. If we didn't, then our "sleepy" students would have wasted valuable reading time. For us (and for many teachers), differentiation is a philosophy. We believe that all students can learn and be productive, and we recognize that our job is to build on what each student brings to the classroom.

The following "Five-by-Five" approach to differentiation contains ideas that we have found effective in our classrooms. It is not a road map: It doesn't offer step-by-step directions. Instead we think of it as a compass: It is a set of strategies that guide our work with students.

Our first five points are about "setting the stage" for effective differentiation, while the other five highlight actions teachers can employ daily.

5 Ways to Set the Stage

* Assessing: At the start of the year (and, in fact, throughout the entire year), we want to find out more about where our students' skills are, a process that informs our differentiation approach. Education researcher Robert Marzano has called formative assessment "one of the more powerful weapons in a teacher's arsenal." The word "assessment" comes from the Latin "assidere," which means "to sit beside." This origin is reflected in the process of formative assessment, as teachers work alongside students, evaluating evidence and making adjustments to teaching and learning.

* Building Relationships: Marzano says positive relationships with students are a "keystone of effective teaching." Plenty of other research concurs, as do we. The knowledge and trust we develop with individual students can make or break our differentiation efforts. For example, if our students are writing persuasive essays, is it necessary for all students to write about the same topic? Instead, if we know a struggling student is a football fan, why not suggest that she write about why her favorite team is better than another one? Or let's say we are working with a reluctant reader who loves video games. When assigning reading, why not identify a challenging book on that topic that he will feel self-motivated to push through and enjoy?

* Keeping Students Moving Forward: This priority drives everything we do with students-even small moves like inviting sleepy readers to sit on top of desks. Studies of "The Progress Principle" have found that a key to intrinsic motivation is feeling that you are making progress in meaningful work. We can reinforce intrinsic motivation by emphasizing small wins (and using catalysts like the ideas we include in this article).

* Teaching Life-Skills Lessons: Along with many of our colleagues, we front-load our school year with what we call "Life-Skills Lessons." These simple, engaging activities can help students see how it is in their interest (in both the short-term and long-term) to try their best at all times. For example, a lesson might highlight how the learning process physically alters the brain. (This particular lesson was eye-opening to a student who had claimed, "We're born smart or dumb and stay that way.") Other lessons might focus on self-control (including examining the famous "Marshmallow Test") or goal-setting. The publisher of Larry's most recent book has made these lessons plans, including hand-outs, available online for free (click on "sample pages"). As important as the lessons themselves are the frequent opportunities throughout the year when teachers and students can refer back to the concepts and reflect on their applicability.

* Creating a Community of Learners: We do a lesson at the beginning of the year in which students decide if they want to be a "Community Of Learners" or a "Classroom of Students." Working in side-by-side columns on an overhead or whiteboard, a teacher and students work together to outline the differences between the two options. For example, in a "classroom," people might laugh when others make mistakes, but in a "community," people are supported when they take risks. We also discuss the fact that people learn at different speeds, and in different ways, and discuss the meaning of the title of Rick Wormeli's book, Fair Isn't Always Equal. Time after time, our students have always chosen to be a "Community of Learners," and we refer back to this decision as we use differentiation strategies throughout the year.

5 Day-to-Day Actions

* Applying The Zeigarnik Effect: Bluma Zeigarnik, a Russian psychologist, identified what came to be called the Zeigarnik Effect: Once we start doing something, we tend to want to finish it. What can this teach us about differentiation? When we know a task will be challenging for some students, we can present a variety of ways to get started: a menu of questions to answer, the option to create a drawing or visual representation of a concept, the option to begin the assignment working with a partner, etc. We can also encourage students to get started by just answering the first question or the easiest one.

* Differentiating Assignments: Students can complete the same types of mental tasks while producing different end products. Douglas Reeves describes this as "not uniformity of work, but similarity of proficiency." The idea is that students can gain proficiency even when completing different types of assignments or a different number of assignments (one big project vs. five smaller assignments). This happens in our classrooms during free reading time, when students practice using similar reading strategies while reading different books. We have some students reading 300-page books while others read a series of much shorter texts. As long as the level of text is challenging and students are using reading strategies to increase comprehension and drive analysis, then the length/genre/topic of the book doesn't need to be uniform.

* Using Computers: Computers can allow students to work at their own pace and ability level, make mistakes in private, and stay engaged and motivated. Of course we're not suggesting that teachers plop their students in front of a computer and call it differentiation. However, there are many free sites that allow students to work independently at their skill level and let teachers check on their progress. Some sites, such as the Free Rice game and flash card tools even use "adaptive learning" to adjust future questions based on student progress. A word of caution: automated "teaching" on computers should only supplement high quality curriculum and instruction, not serve as a replacement for it.

* Praising Effort and Learning From Mistakes: One way to encourage all students to work at their highest level of productivity and intellectual capacity is to praise effort and not intelligence. Carol Dweck has published research on the benefits of praising students' effort versus their intelligence. She recommends teaching children the difference between a "growth mindset" (the belief that intelligence can be developed through effort and practice) and a "fixed mindset" (the belief that intelligence is innate). One way to develop students' "growth mindset" is to encourage them to risk making (and learning from) mistakes. Some students are afraid of making mistakes and being ridiculed for it. We want to turn that attitude on its head, helping them learn that, as Dweck says, we should instead "celebrate mistakes."

* Flexible Grouping: Some confuse differentiation with the practice of grouping students by ability levels and teaching those small groups. While this is sometimes necessary and valuable, it is also important that students have the opportunity to participate in interest-based groups, mixed ability level groups, student-choice groups, and other variations. As Carol Ann Tomlinson explains, "In a sense, the teacher is continually auditioning kids in different settings-and the students get to see how they can contribute in a variety of contexts."

We've found that keeping this "Five-by-Five" strategy in mind has helped keep our students and us moving in the right direction-forward!

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Katie Hull-Sypnieski and Larry Ferlazzo  

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Five-by-Five Approach to Differentiation Success

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Two 9th grade boys kept falling asleep while reading. "If you're sleepy," we told them, "you could ask for a hall pass to get a quick drink of water, stand in the back of the room and read, or sit on the desk behind you as long as you are reading."

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50+ Tools for Differentiating Instruction Through Social Media | Edutopia

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50+ Tools for Differentiating Instruction Through Social Media | Edutopia

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If you experienced none of these scenarios, then you live in a world of possibility because you grew up with the many social media tools available to support all learners. If any of these scenarios bring back memories as a teacher or student, then you understand that we have many more tools today to ensure that learners succeed despite struggles, because students and teachers have so much more available to meet every learner's needs.

Selecting the Right Tool

For educators differentiating instruction, social media tools embrace collaboration and global access to people and other resources. We give students a variety of learning experiences that incorporate the capability to:

Exchange ideas

Provide positive, constructive, and kind feedback

Provide avenues to connect content with our learners' many different interests

The list of social media tools to differentiate for learning is increasing. This updated post explores more tools. At the end, I've included a link to twice as many tools that have become available in the year and a half since original publication: 100+ resources. First, let's consider the important framework to successfully use these tools for and by the learners.

Differentiating with social media is most effective when we plan learning experiences based on content, process, and product (our lesson structure) and incorporate readiness, interests, and learning profiles (student voice). The following guidelines can help any classroom teacher ensure that the tool used will address students' needs:

1. Be clear about the academic learning outcomes.

2. Assess what students know and don't know.

3. Identify related student background connections.

4. Utilize social networks that can:

Address needs for struggling learners

Ensure that advanced learners are growing.

Connect content to authentic purposes in the world beyond school.

5. Use fog-free assessments that track learner progress.

While the collaboration capabilities of many social media tools can overlap, some may be more effective than others depending on how they're customized for student voice.

Readiness

Readiness focuses on a student's current academic skill level. Work is structured to help them address any gaps or needs for enrichment. Students work in like-skill groups for specific, targeted support to address a common need, such as guided reading or tiered (leveled) activities. They also collaborate in mixed-skill groups to support struggling students with needed skill development. Additionally, experiences can stretch the advanced students in a mixed-skill group -- they may have the core skills, yet the critical thinking challenges them and their teammates.

Consider these tools to assist with readiness:

Interests

Allowing students to tackle work based on the option that makes the most sense to them is crucial for cognitive connections. Seeing a concept in context of a topic in which the learner has great interest -- and possibly expertise -- can help him or her turn abstract ideas into concrete purpose. For example, a young lady's vlog series about her visit to a different country or maintaining and marketing a personal gaming channel opens up many possibilities for demonstration of skills in several content areas.

Here are some tools to help focus on student interests:

Youtube Playlists: There are many videos that address content from different perspectives, including the one way that a particular student or teacher needs to see it. Create playlists (like this one) to provide that variety.

Screencastify, Jing, and Snagit are tools that enable students to capture video of their screen. Video capture software allows students to use their resources such as gaming, coding, or productivity software, and capture it for video uploads. Here's an example using Minecraft: Building a Fusion Reactor from my Minecraft for Learning playlist.

Zoom, Skype, and Google Hangouts are video conferencing tools that include recording. They enable students to connect with field experts on relating content to the world outside of school. Experts are more likely to participate in mentoring and sharing their knowledge when they save time by not having to travel to the school.

Learning Profiles

When students address concepts from diverse perspectives, especially in collaborative groups, it can lead to in-depth understanding. Learning profiles are about providing each student with experiences that incorporate a variety of learning style elements, not just one. Such activities help students find deeper connections, especially if they share points of view via peer reflection and dialog.

Try these tools:

Thinglink uses pictures to place links in different locations where viewers can click to learn more. Here's an example.

Piktochart lets you create infographics to offer a visual explanation of a concept or idea.

Tackk lets you create small interactive pages or build a portfolio of work using different media tools.

Moovly, MindMup, PowToon, and Dipity are tools that provide students with different ways to express their ideas, such as mindmaps, timelines, and video presentations. Give students a mix of tools and they will find what works best for them.

And the List Keeps Growing

Here is the complete list of 100+ social media tools for exploration. Consider which will best fit the current needs of your diverse learners. More will be added on a regular basis. What tools do you use? Please share in the comments section below. They'll get added to the 100+ list.

Endless Possibilities

We truly are in a brave new world -- the good kind -- where differentiation opportunities evolve due to the variety of social media tools available. No longer are students and teachers limited to resources purchased for the classroom. For example, 1:1 computing grows as schools understand the value of student contact with outside resources. As more schools allow students to use their "internet devices" (i.e. phones), learning options increase with access to social media apps and other online tools such as those mentioned above.

In the past, limited access placed a hardship on teachers to meet the diverse needs of their students, especially when school resources were limited. In this brave new world, we are fortunate to live and work in an environment where the possibilities are endless for getting students what they need when they need it, and in a format that works best for them. How are you tapping possibilities to meet learner needs?

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100+ Tools for Differentiating Instruction Through Social Media | Edutopia

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If you experienced none of these scenarios, then you live in a world of possibility because you grew up with the many social media tools available to support all learners.

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An Updated Digital Differentiation Model | Cool Tools for 21st Century Learners

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An Updated Digital Differentiation Model | Cool Tools for 21st Century Learners

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This is part of a Digital Differentiation model, my way i of weaving a web of flexible tools together for teaching and learning. To keep the model relevant, frequent updates are required, as new tools and trends emerge.
To access the most current resources, please click on the tab at the top of this blog:

Ten months ago I published a Digital Differentiation model on this blog. I've been using the model to guide the work I do each day and I've been sharing it via webinars and hands-on training sessions.
Of course, ten months is a long time in the world of edtech, and I've added some new tools and resources to my personal teaching toolkit, so I decided it was time to update the model and tweak it just a bit. The original article and interactive graphic can still be found on this blog. Here is the new post:

Technology is a tool that can be used to help teachers facilitate learning experiences that address the diverse learning needs of all students and help them develop 21st Century Skills, an idea supported by the Common Core.

At it's most basic level, digital tools can be used to help students find, understand and use information. When combined with student-driven learning experiences fueled by Essential Questions offering flexible learning paths, it can be the ticket to success. Here is a closer look at three components of effectively using technology as a tool for digital differentiation.

The goal is to design student-driven learning experiences that are fueled by standards-based Essential Questions and facilitated by digital tools to provide students with flexible learning paths.

3 Components:

Essential Questions

Student-driven learning experiences should be driven by standards-based Essential Questions. These questions should be open-ended to allow for flexible learning paths. Devise question by looking at the standards that determine what we teach.
Click on the tiny circles in the graphic for more information.

Flexible Learning Paths

Teacher as Facilitator

The role of the teacher shifts to facilitate student-driven learning experiences. This new role allows teachers to maximize instructional time because the classroom structure provides opportunities for frequent interaction with individual students for assessment, modification, reteaching and enrichment.

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An Updated Digital Differentiation Model

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This is part of a Digital Differentiation model, my way i of weaving a web of flexible tools together for teaching and learning. To keep the model relevant, frequent updates are required, as new tools and trends emerge.

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Cybrary Man's Educational Web Sites The internet catalogue for students, teachers, administrators & parents. Over 20,000 relevant links personally selected by an educator/author with over 30 years of experience.

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What Is Differentiated Instruction? | ASCD Inservice

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What Is Differentiated Instruction? | ASCD Inservice

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Differentiation is adjusting and modifying what skills and concepts students learn, what materials they use, and/or how their learning is assessed based on the needs of the students.

Our students are not all the same, so we cannot expect that teaching a lesson in one way will reach every student. Our students are unique individuals with their own prior learning and their own learning preferences.

An effective teacher makes the changes needed to reach every student where they are and to guide them to an understanding of the skills and concepts we want them to learn.

Differentiation can take place at several points during a lesson:

Each of these can be further differentiated by student readiness (their academic level) and/or their personal interests and learning styles.

Not every lesson needs to be differentiated, and certainly not in all of the possible ways. When determining the most effect way to differentiate, consider the size of the class, the needs and personalities of the students, the range of skills, the availability of materials, time available and even time of day. The possibilities are endless!

Printable version of Differentiation Planning diagram

Material from the Learning Continuum is provided by courtesy of NWEA and may not be republished, rewritten, or redistributed. All rights reserved.

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Differentiation is adjusting and modifying what skills and concepts students learn, what materials they use, and/or how their learning is assessed based on the needs of the students. Our students are not all the same, so we cannot expect that teaching a lesson in one way will reach every student.

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How to Plan Lessons to Engage 21st Century Students - EdTechReview™ (ETR)

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How to Plan Lessons to Engage 21st Century Students - EdTechReview™ (ETR)

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We are living in the age where constant entertainment and stimulation is necessary to keep student going on. Educators today carry huge responsibility to keep their students engaged and interested in the classroom. It is also because, today, distraction can be easily caused.

But there are a lot of ways teachers can combat distraction and engage their students in healthy learning. One of the most productive ways to combat distraction is to create engaging lesson plans; clutching student's interest meanwhile providing valuable content is a win-win situation.

We took this question to social media platform and asked a number of educators on how they plan their lessons to keep their student interested as well as provide valuable content.

"I would say, we need a variation of activities to meet the students' different needs (visuals, audios, writing, and reading on paper or on tablet). I use songs and podcasts from YouTube, Kagan activities (Group activities, moving around the class, partner work on paper), I make them create Videos, Audios, Podcasts, do practical exercises and research on Internet, games(real ones and online), Projects are also very popular among my students." Says one of the educator.

21st century teaching involves integrating technology. Today a number of educators are including technology in their lesson plans to help student to develop 21st century skills like critical thinking, collaboration, team work, etc.

Other says, "I use Camtasia to create my short videos that allow students to work at their own pace as I walk around assisting those who might have trouble. I also walk around and provide more depth as they work. The lessons usually involve tapping into their creativity. I use Google Apps for many of my classroom projects: Website building; creating surveys; collaborating with stories with Google Docs, etc."

Not every educator believes that integrating technology in their 21st century lesson plans is the only way to make it engaging, they believe in keeping the right balance with the technology in their lesson plans.

Randy Matusky, a secondary school educator explains, "I like to construct my lesson plans based on a layer template. What I mean is that the first layer of the lesson is for when I'm completely cut-off of any technology in the classroom. Hopefully this doesn't occur often, but it still can and we need to be prepared or else it'll just be a waste of a lesson.

Each additional layer of the lesson is for when I have access to another form of technology, be it a projector, wifi access or a laptop/iPad cart for the students. I know this sounds complicated, and it takes time, which is a resource most teachers don't really have, but over time it becomes second nature and you don't really need to think about it. I like thinking about it as if a carpenter was asked to build a piece of furniture.

In scenario one the carpenter only has access to basic tools, such as a hammer and a handsaw. In scenario two the carpenter has access to his entire work tools. The carpenter's design plan will drastically change depending on which of these two scenarios he/she's facing. It's the same for educators and technology."

Being an educator and preparing lesson plan for a number of students with different mental level, background and intellectually ability is really a challenging task. Here are some tips that may assist you in this.
Identify Learning Objective
The first thing you need to do is to determine the leaning objective for your class. To help to identify the learning objectives answer these questions:

Topic of the lesson?

What do you want your students to learn?

What do you want your student to do at the end of class?

What do to help them to learn after the particular lesson?

More importantly

What are the crucial ideas, skills and concepts you want to your students to learn and apply?

If out of time then which topics to be left and which not?

Introduction
Now when you have identified the learning objectives, it's time to develop the introduction. Consider these questions while writing introduction of the learning objectives.

What/How will I introduce the topic

How do I check if the students have any knowledge about the topic or not?

What are the common ideas about the topic that students might know?

Plan to explain the body of the topic in detail
These important questions will help you to write effective body of you lesson plan.

What will you do to illustrate and explain the topic in a distinct way?

How will you engage the student in the topic?

What are the relevant real-life instances and situation, you will use to explain topic better?

Check the Student's Understanding
It is important to check the understanding of the student about a topic right after explain the topic. Form the questions that you will ask to your students to check their understanding.
Summarize and Preview
You can do this in a number of ways:

Revise the main points by yourself

Ask any one or two student to summarize it

Or ask students to write what they think the important point of the lesson was.

Always conclude the lesson by summarizing the current lesson as well as previewing the next chapter.

You can do all these things by using various apps available over the Internet. These apps have amazing features that will let you to organize everything. Some of the apps are listed here:

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how to plan lesson for 21st century kids

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How to Plan Lessons to Engage 21st Century Students

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We are living in the age where constant entertainment and stimulation is necessary to keep student going on. Educators today carry huge responsibility to keep their students engaged and interested in the classroom. It is also because, today, distraction can be easily caused.

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List of Great Tools for Different Kinds of Learners - EdTechReview™ (ETR)

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List of Great Tools for Different Kinds of Learners - EdTechReview™ (ETR)

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Every learner has got his own distinctive style of learning. A learning style is a way that a learner adopts to approach his learning, which is most comfortable to him and suits his learning needs best.

Everyone has a characteristic learning style which they use in their everyday lives, even if they're unaware of it. Some people would understand a concept better when it is presented in an audio whereas, some would prefer to learn by its video presentation, and others just by the text. It is beneficial for you if you discover what learning style suits you, so that you can learn by choosing the appropriate material catering to your style, making your learning experience easier and more effective to help you learn at your best.
Here's a list of 100 best tools for different kinds of learners which can help them learn in their own distinctive styles:

Like what we do?

The Latest EdTech News To Your Inbox

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List of Great Tools for Different Kinds of Learners

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Every learner has got his own distinctive style of learning. A learning style is a way that a learner adopts to approach his learning, which is most comfortable to him and suits his learning needs best. Everyone has a characteristic learning style which they use in their everyday lives, even if they're unaware of it.

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6 Differentiation Strategies For New Teachers

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6 Differentiation Strategies For New Teachers

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As a new teacher, I remember feeling overwhelmed by the wide range of abilities in my classroom. How was I supposed to meet all of my students' needs while simultaneously covering grade level content? As I learned more about differentiation, this became easier, but it still remained one of the most challenging aspects of teaching.

Now that I coach teachers in their first and second years, I can safely say that differentiation remains a huge challenge. I went out and asked the members of Teaching Channel's Coaching Think Tank to share their top differentiation strategies for new teachers. Check out these six tips for meeting the needs of diverse learners.

Equity Sticks

Autumn Bell, a math coach for Fresno Unified School District, recommends using equity sticks to randomly call on students during direct instruction. Autumn suggests that teachers plan a variety of different questions to ask. When calling on specific students, teachers can then ask them a question at their level. Autumn stresses that it's important to have high expectations for all students, but starting with leveled questions can help to build students' confidence in sharing their thoughts.

Sentence Frames

When supporting students to participate in discussions, Autumn shares how sentence frames can help students in answering questions. Michelle Rooks, an instructional coach for Teton County School District, also emphasizes the value of using sentence frames in both speaking and writing. The frames can give students a way to begin or access the task, and support all students' participation in the discussions and/or writing. Sentence frames also extend language skills and support organized thinking.

Multiple Ways to Express Understanding

All students are different, so why require them to all work on the same tasks? Stacy Davidson, an instructional mentor for Bellevue Public Schools, shares the importance of giving students different ways to respond to a task. Depending on their needs, students can respond verbally, through sketching, or by writing. When you're hoping to assess students' content rather than process knowledge, multiple ways of expressing understanding is key. Watch Learning Menus.

Share Air Time

During small group work, Stacy shares how teachers can use a colored cotton ball system to encourage equitable participation. Each student gets a set of colored cotton balls or cubes (one color per student), and put one of their balls in the center of the table every time they add to the discussion. Teachers can encourage groups to pay attention to the colors in the center, and to support each other in order to have a balance of colors. If a student hasn't contributed or has contributed very little, students can be supported to encourage their peer to join in. For example, they might say something like, "Amanda, do you have something to add?"

Excerpt Texts

According to Shelia Banks, an instructional coach for Jefferson Parish School District, excerpting texts can be a great way to meet the needs of diverse readers. Shelia shares how an excerpt from a complex text can be sufficient to give students access to the text. Struggling learners can work with shorter excerpts as long as the excerpt conveys the ideas and claims of the whole text. Shelia also shares how advanced learners can read longer texts, and suggests pairing those texts with additional texts representing contrary or similar information, expanding the students' access to claims and details.

Differentiate Rubrics

When creating rubrics to evaluate student performance, Shelia suggests differentiating rubric elements to meet the needs of all students. In one classroom, there will be a diverse mix of elements that need to be targeted for improvement. Some students may have mastered focusing on the task, but struggle with organizing their writing. Others may write well-developed papers, but lack focus. After identifying which rubrics elements certain students should focus on, Shelia suggests arranging students into homogeneous groups. These groups can work together to revise their papers using common rubric elements, and teachers can conduct mini writer's workshops based on what the groups need to grow.
What differentiation strategies have been working well for you? Comment below to share and learn from each other. Lily Jones taught K/1 for seven years in Northern California. She has experience as a curriculum developer, instructional coach, teacher trainer, and is also a contributing writer for Teaching Channel.

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6 Differentiation Strategies For New Teachers

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As a new teacher, I remember feeling overwhelmed by the wide range of abilities in my classroom. How was I supposed to meet all of my students' needs while simultaneously covering grade level content? As I learned more about differentiation, this became easier, but it still remained one of the most challenging aspects of teaching.

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Historical Meets Hysterical

In a unit on late 19th-century nationalism, and at the suggestion of a student, we decided as a class to put on our version of The Colbert Report under the guise of different European countries going through nationalist development at that time. Students broke up into different country groups and planned their versions of The Colbert Report, incorporating appropriate and relevant content with interesting twists and segments akin to Colbert's flow and structure, which at that time was extremely popular with students.

The level of engagement was high, the desire for performance was evident, and collaboration was a necessity. Each group surged ahead with preparation and had loads of fun putting together their own version of the show.

The student that I mentioned above performed regularly in school drama productions and was a talented performer. He was passionate about production and had an uncanny ability to mimic TV personalities. Sure enough, when his time arrived with his group, he showed up to class dressed in full Stephen Colbert character. He took the stage, had memorized all of his lines, and nailed the delivery with polished dramatic style. He absolutely wowed his classmates, not only with his thespian skills, but also with his deep mastery of the content.

In a less traditional and more experiential format, he demonstrated mastery of content and concepts, and his peers loved his stellar performance. He felt a renewed sense of competence, and from that point forward, his in-class performance flourished on both traditional and nontraditional assessments.

I tell this story because I spent a lot of time figuring out how to reach this student, and I was only sorry that it took until the late 19th-century part of the course to come up with a different and more effective mode of instruction to help him feel successful.

Plan, Plan, Plan

From that point on, I vowed to incorporate at least one experiential learning exercise into each unit of study: debates, press conferences, mock murder mysteries, dinner parties, salons, general assembly meetings, or TV shows like The Colbert Report and Survivor.

I had learned that to meet the needs of diverse learners, it is critical to examine and be precise in our planning to ensure that we design instruction that will grab the attention and expertise of each student. For planning purposes, I developed a chart for the course and for each unit of study that hit on these (and more) elements:

Lecture

Discussion

Experiential learning

Games

Student presentations

Document analysis via paintings and primary sources

Technology integration

Free response writing

As I mapped each week of the course, I broke each day into different component parts, to make sure that I was diversifying delivery and keeping the approach fresh and engaging. Lectures never ran more than 12 minutes, class often started generatively with a painting of or excerpt from a primary source, and we often finished with the exit strategy of a quick game so that students left feeling energized and reflective. And, in this chart, I listed the students whose needs I felt I was best meeting with each learning activity.

Initially, this proved to be a time-consuming exercise, but as I became more proficient and efficient with organization and planning, I found that the exercise of charting everything actually saved me time and improved instruction for each student. I had listened more carefully to the needs of my students and shifted from teaching content to teaching students. And, not surprisingly, students retained the material at a far deeper and more meaningful level.

The student who performed that spot-on mimicry of Stephen Colbert taught me something valuable about engagement and lesson design. He learned differently than the majority of his peers.

And I had to adjust.

How do you see the difference between teaching students and teaching curriculum? What valuable lessons have you learned from your students? Please tell us about it below in the comments section.

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In a unit on late 19th-century nationalism, and at the suggestion of a student, we decided as a class to put on our version of The Colbert Report under the guise of different European countries going through nationalist development at that time.