In this article, Wormeli discussed ten myths that are often associated with differentiated instruction. Many teachers and principals claim that their schools differentiate instruction diverse learners, but when pressed to define differentiated practice, some of them offer contrasting and even misinformed descriptions. If teachers and principals are going to promote differentiated lessons and assessments, then both need to be clear about what they are and are not. 

  

Findings

Many teachers have been misinformed about differentiating instruction. There are many myths surrounding it. It is important that teachers understand what differentiated instruction truly consists of.

Wormeli, R. (2016). Busting Myths about Differentiated Insturuction. Retrieved 6 December  2017, from https://goo.gl/CbkdKT

Davies describes how her idea of differentiation has changed throughout her teaching career.  After researching and experimenting with a range of strategies she discovered ways to help her students make accelerated progress. She states that “key for me is to ensure that every child gets the chance to shine and reach their potential.” She discusses six steps to differentiate among students. 

Findings

Differentiation is like spinning plates in a classroom but she found that the following ideas helped her students: 1) Differentiation by task 2) Differentiation through group work 3)Differentiation by outcome 4) Differentiation by resources 5)Targeted teaching, and 6)Assessment and feedback. 

Davies, E. (2015). 6 Steps to Differentiated Instruction. Retrieved 7 December, 2017 from https://goo.gl/LjRaX7 

In her blog, Weselby discusses exactly what differentiated instruction means, how it works, and the pros and cons. She details four effective ways to differentiate instruction such as content, process, product, and learning environment.

Findings

Some students may be unfamiliar with content so content must be on the individual student’s level.. Each student has a preferred learning style, and successful differentiation includes delivering the material to each style. The end result of the lesson, the product, can be differentiated based on learning style. The conditions for optimal learning include both physical and psychological elements so a flexible classroom environment is the key.

 Welselby, C. (2014). What is Differentiated Instruction? Examples of How to Differentiate Instruction in the Classroom. Retrieved on 6 December 2017, from https://goo.gl/SrG6Qc 

Given the increased diversity of students within the regular, general education classroom, this article explores the importance of differentiated instruction to meet the needs of all learners in this age of Common Core State Standards. Using digital literacies that engage students, the authors showcase apps and web tools they have used in developing learners' literacy. Most of the recommended apps are free and suggestions are included as to how teachers might use these tools with students of the classroom.

Findings 

Preparing students for 21st Century communication requires that they become facile with technology. Certainly, there is support for the inclusion of web tools and apps in the Common Core State Standards (2010), especially the writing anchor standards that discuss electronic communication and research. The use of the web tools and apps recommended in this article provide a solid resource for helping teachers differentiate their instruction and for improving the academic achievement of all of their students.

Gormley, K., & McDermott, P. (2014). Differentiating Literacy Instruction--There's an App for That. Language and Literacy Spectrum,24, 49-75. Retrieved December 5, 2017.

https://goo.gl/FG7VxV 

Today's classrooms are more diverse than ever. In fact, research shows that there will be a steady increase in Hispanic, Asian Americans, and African American students in the coming years. Therefore, many teachers are searching for information on differentiation.This paper begins  with an introduction and then goes into a review of the literature that will elaborate on the following areas: the major principles of differentiated instruction, the essentials necessary for differentiating, ways to implement, the clichés, barriers, and myths surrounding the practice, and the research studies and theories supporting differentiation. The last section explains the results of a survey administered to middle school teachers to determine their level of knowledge in providing differentiated instruction in the classroom.

Findings

94.3% of teachers agreed that they must show respect for thier learners’ commonalities and differences in many ways in the differentiated classroom.

92.1% of teachers agreed that differentiated classrooms should be responsive to individual student differences. 89.3% of teachers agreed that differentiation should focus on essential ideas and skills in each content area. It  is also necessary to denote here that teachers agreed that processes (88.6%), products/assessments (87.2%) and content and materials (85.8%) must constantly be modified in the differentiated classroom. In reference to myths that surround differentiated instruction, teachers disagreed on two important ones. First of all, teachers disagreed at 90.7%  that there is only one way to differentiate instruction. This is indeed significant because this myth is considered to be the most prevalent myth surrounding differentiated instruction.There were other interesting responses to myths. In this question, there were only 79.4% of the participants who disagreed with the myth that differentiated instruction creates unfair workloads among students. On the myth that differentiation is only individualized instruction, 56.0% disagreed, 41.1 agreed, and 2.8% were unsure of the question.

One question  revealed that only 76.5% disagreed, 14.1% agreed, with 9.2% unsure on the mistaken point that differentiated instruction does not use whole group instruction.

Finally, it must be noted that only 73.0% disagreed, with 21.9% agreeing, and 4.9% unsure of the myth in the the question that said differentiated instruction does not prepare students to compete in the real world.

Logan, B. (2011). Examining Differentiated Instruction: Teachers Respond. Research in Higher Education Journal, 13, 1-14. Retrieved December 5, 2017.

https://goo.gl/JJYVT8 

This article provides a review of the literature on differentiated instruction and describes interventions that have been implemented in the context of the author's two intensive one-year master's programs that lead to teacher certification in elementary and secondary education. 

Findings

By asking preservice teachers to focus their instructional imagination and lesson planning on students within the safety of the role-play, they are able to puzzle, make attempts, reflect on, and experience for themselves what effective and ineffective instruction look like and their consequences. The use of the simulation activity allowed researchers to place the teacher’s obligation to address individual needs front-and-center and made the design of differentiation strategies an urgent concern. The activity provides a model for how we can expose future teachers to real-life needs and instructional approaches that schools are still unevenly tackling and, thus, allow teachers to be true agents of change.

Martin, P. (2013). Role-Playing in an Inclusive Classroom: Using Realistic Simulation to Explore Differentiated Instruction. Issues in Teacher Education, 22(2), 93-06. Retrieved December 5, 2017.

https://goo.gl/P7ZTsd 

Hassan maximizes the Extended Learning Time (ELT) using individualized instruction. He implements “Readers Writers Workshop” and several other strategies in order to effectively reach each student where they are.

Findings

Hassan found that his approaches/strategies were very helpful in optimizing ELT.

He aslo found that the workshop model for English instruction combined with an extended 60 minutes of ELT support for his  struggling students provided an excellent springboard to plan and implement individualized instruction in his class. 

 Mansaray, H. (2013). Nine Strategies for Reaching All Learners in English Language Arts.  Retrieved 6 December 2017, from https://goo.gl/Hh6KDW 

In this article Muthler discusses how the “One-Size-Fits-All” approach has been unsuccessul. A range of educators agree that differentiation works best when the whole school uses the same methods. However, the article gives suggesstions of tools to ito use in order to introduce differentiated instruction to classrooms for those who are ready to start now.

Findings

Although teachers see a need for individualized instruction, they are not all implementing it in their classrooms. Students benefit from the social aspect of school when they are all engaged in disscussion and questioning. In the past, differentiation has been done on lexile level, which hasn’t proven to be the most effective. Buckley concludes that technology is one way to effectively differentiate among students. However, not the way technology has been used in the past. Some other tools to introduce differentiated instruction to a class. 1) Look for ways to build intrinsic motivation with differentiation. 2)Give students different ways to process a lesson. 3)Go all-in with Thin CERCA or another program that provides a full curriculum. 4)Use Power My Learning or other online sites that provide free customization for academic games and content. 5) Look for new ways to scaffold a lesson. 6) Use  technology apps for differentiation. 

Muthler, S. (2015). Differentiation Isn’t Perfect but It Can Work. Retrieved 7 December 2017, from https://goo.gl/ktvWXz .

The short answer to how to effectively implement differentiation is: one step at a time. Teachers at Forest Lake Elementary School in Columbia, South Carolina, have made it their mission for the past decade to differentiate instruction for their diverse students. They started small, and they've grown and honed their strategies each year. This article discusses their tips -- combined with some advice from Edutopia bloggers and members of the Edutopia community -- on how you can get started. 

Findings

This article addressed the “how” aspect and differentiation and concluded that starting simple is a great strategy to get you going. There are many things that we can do in 5 min, 5 days, 5 weeks, and 5 years in order to effectively implement diffentiated instruction in the classroom.
 Rubenstein, G. (2010). What Works for Differentiating Instruction in Elementary Schools. Retrieved 7 December 2017, from https://goo.gl/Tp736s 

Along with discussing other aspects of differentiated instruction, this article discusses several research studies that support the use of differentiated instruction. 

Findings

One study revealed that the use of differentiated techniques proved to be engaging, stimulated student interest and providing a gratifying experience for the undergraduate teachers. A case study of one middle school’s experience with differentiated instruction revealed initial teacher opposition toward modifying instruction to suit learner variance.  Another study found that students who were prepared for tests using differentiated techniques showed a gain in their mathematics scores, but there were no comparable gains in reading scores. The final study that was discussed in this article reported significant improvement in the test scores of low-scoring students in the Rockwood School District (Missouri), following the use of differentiated instruction. 

Subban, P. (2006). Differentiated instruction: A research basis. International Education Journal, 7(7), 935-947. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ854351.pdf