Differentiation
Nyree Wilson - Learning Specialist
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What is differentiation?
What is differentiation?
Quite simply, differentiation is knowing what your students already know and can do, then using this information to provide diversified opportunities for students to engage with their learning and how they take their next steps to build on this existing knowledge and skills.
Sometimes it is referred to as providing multiple entry points to engage with learning, and exit points to demonstrate learning.
Differentiation is also about finding different ways for students to engage with their learning, and ways to motivate their interest, commitment and effort.
It is also about providing the right supports for students' thinking and development of skills, and then developing scaffolded and open-ended spaces for students to explore their thinking and rehearse or apply their skills.
Basic Ways to Differentiate
Basic Ways to Differentiate
Diversify Content: How do students engage with and access the information they need to learn in different ways?
Diversify Process: How are students given different opportunities to take in, and make sense of the content they engage with and access?
Diversify Products: What opportunities do students have to show what they know, understand can do, say, make or write in different ways?
Consider Environment: How does the classroom learning environment create a positive climate for learning and motivate student engagement with the activity of learning?
Why should I think about differentiating my classroom practices in response to student needs?
Why should I think about differentiating my classroom practices in response to student needs?
Students need more than one way to access learning, they also need more than one way to demonstrate what they have learned.
Differentiating the way you present content, participate in the processes of learning, and the products students create to evidence their learning can help improve student engagement with their learning, and also build their positive identities as learning capable.
When you also consider different ways of using the classroom environment for students to connect with each other, engage in discussion, and interact with their learning experiences, students experience more positive connection to their learning. Which in turn creates more engaged and motivated students.
Three effects of differentiation on learners:
Three effects of differentiation on learners:
When we diversify our teaching and learning practices within predictable lesson structures we contribute to creating cognitively stimulating experiences for our students.
When we build relationships, promote trust, and connection among peers and between teachers and students, we contribute to the creation of emotionally engaging learning.
When we use knowledge of our students to help build their confidence to take on challenges in their learning, we support their effort regulation.
Connell & Wellborn (1990), Richardson, Abraham and Bond (2012), & Fredricks Blumenfeld and Paris (2004)
Graphic organisers provide differentiated support by helping to focus and guide student thinking. They do this by providing a way to organise and transfer information and ideas into a sequence, group, relationship, etc. They also help to make learning visible and to evidence student understanding.
How can I differentiate my classroom practices to respond to my knowledge of the learners I support?
How can I differentiate my classroom practices to respond to my knowledge of the learners I support?
Providing choice is powerful, students have to take responsibility for the choices they make and they are more likely to take ownership of their learning. Click the link above to explore more about developing student voice and agency.
Differentiated Collaborative Reading Strategies
Differentiated Collaborative Reading Strategies
The above resource is an example of how a group with different literacy needs can engage with a reading task by differentiating the process and product of learning required for each group member.
Collaborative groups work best with 3 - 4 members. Students are given a piece of reading material to analyse. Teachers may allocate roles or invites students to choose.
Differentiation is about responding to the learning needs of students by diversifying the way they access, undertake, and demonstrate learning.
You can also develop activities that give students opportunities to achieve a base level of skills and to then build upon these with increasing levels of challenge.
To plan for differentiation, it helps to think about learning as a progression of skills and knowledge. However, it is important to also keep in mind that students can make significant leaps in their learning.
READINGS
READINGS
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