Differentiation

Differentiation of Content- This is what you expect the students to learn. How can what you expect students to learn be presented in a variety of ways? Will presenting the information in this way help meet the needs of the student?

Differentiation of Process- This is how you expect students to learn it. How can the process students learn be presented in a variety of ways? When the students manipulate the information in this way, does it help meet thier needs?

Differentiation of Product- This is how you expect students to demonstrate what they have learned. Do you provie a variety of assessments, projects, and evaluations to meet the diverse needs of your students?

Differentiation of Learning Environment- Do you take into consideration how your classroom environment might maximize the learning of your students? For more information on the differentiation of environment go here. 

Tiered instruction is a common strategy. This occurs when the teacher creates activities on varying levels of performance and difficulty for their class. The goal is to present the content in ways that meet the diverse needs of your students. Davis, Rimm, and Siegle (2011) state, "The tiering strategy involves creating the best possible lesson and then making it more or less challenging for given learners... Most teachers will create three levels based on student readiness" (p 156).  This is an effective and functional way to differentiate for content in your class.  

Interest surveys are a good way for students to understand their strengths and interests. It also provides vital information for the teacher. It allows teachers to better understand how to differentiate instruction. You will gain insight into how they learn best, what type of process they might enjoy, and what type of products they make produce in your classroom. 

What do we do when we have bored students? This strategy is often used when you have a student who has mastered the content before taking your class or will learn it at much faster pace than the majority of your other students. Typically, this is due to a specific interest in the topic that existed prior to your class. Students might score high on a pre-test or formative assessment. Teachers need to make the standard curriculum more concise and allow for enrichment opportunities. For more information bout Curriculum Compacting, please go here. 

Learning Menus are a great way to incorporate choice into your classroom. They are commonly called choice boards or tic-tac-toe boards, and they can be used to differentiate for the process of learning as well as the choice of product. For my teaching style, after students have completed an interest survey or Multiple Intelligence survey (sometimes both), they have a conservation about what their strengths, weaknesses, and interests are. They can be more informed about what products they might choose. 

​These checklists are a great way for students to raise awareness about their own intelligences. It can also serve as a formative assessment about the individual characteristics of your students. It is a great tool for learning about what your students brings to the classroom setting, and how to differentiate for the learning process. According to Toy (2015), "Differentiating for gifted students requires coming to an understanding what the unique makeup of the individual is and how the intelligences within the individual interact" (p 146). Multiple Intelligence checklists are a good way for teachers to come to the understanding of how their students' multiple intelligences interact. 

 RAFT activities are an easily differentiated literacy strategy. RAFT strategies lend themselves to creative learning through writing because students have to address different points of view. “Product development helps to individualize learning experiences so students can express themselves in ways that are most relevant to their own style of information processing” (Karnes & Bean, 2015, p 171). Students can be incorporated into the project by providing their own ideas for RAFT activities. When students have to produce a RAFT activity, they are forced to keep background knowledge relevant, as well as, integrate new information when it is presented.