What is differentiation? What might it look like?
Differentiation in the classroom can come in multiple forms. At the heart of the matter, differentiation is how a responding to student needs. Those needs may be in relation to the what they are learning (content), how they are learning (process), or how they show what they have learned (product). Teaching and learning can be differentiated according to student readiness, interests, and/or learning profile. Differentiation is not extra work, but instead showing what the learner knows about a subject in a way that is most aligned to the student's learning needs.
According to Carol Ann Tomlinson, differentiation is
a teacher reacting responsively to a student's needs. A teacher who is differentiating understands a student's needs to express humor, or work with a group, or have additional teaching on a particular skill, or delve more deeply into a particular topic, or have guided help with a reading passage—and the teacher responds actively and positively to that need. Differentiation is simply attending to the learning needs of a particular student or small group of students rather than the more typical pattern of teaching the class as though all individuals in it were basically alike (Tomlinson and Allen, 2000).
In an elementary classroom, differentiation may look a variety of ways. For some students, working independently is their preferred way of learning. For others, working in small groups is best. This can vary from subject to subject, or task to task. The use of pre-assessments and formative assessments of student learning profiles, interest levels, and readiness will help teachers to adjust lessons accordingly. There is no one way for differentiation to occur in a classroom, nor is it always predictable. Continual assessment and adjustment of instruction is necessary, as well as the flexibility of all involved (students and teachers).
Please see the graph below for another way of understanding differentiated instruction:
Differentiation in the classroom can come in multiple forms. At the heart of the matter, differentiation is how a responding to student needs. Those needs may be in relation to the what they are learning (content), how they are learning (process), or how they show what they have learned (product). Teaching and learning can be differentiated according to student readiness, interests, and/or learning profile. Differentiation is not extra work, but instead showing what the learner knows about a subject in a way that is most aligned to the student's learning needs.
According to Carol Ann Tomlinson, differentiation is
a teacher reacting responsively to a student's needs. A teacher who is differentiating understands a student's needs to express humor, or work with a group, or have additional teaching on a particular skill, or delve more deeply into a particular topic, or have guided help with a reading passage—and the teacher responds actively and positively to that need. Differentiation is simply attending to the learning needs of a particular student or small group of students rather than the more typical pattern of teaching the class as though all individuals in it were basically alike (Tomlinson and Allen, 2000).
In an elementary classroom, differentiation may look a variety of ways. For some students, working independently is their preferred way of learning. For others, working in small groups is best. This can vary from subject to subject, or task to task. The use of pre-assessments and formative assessments of student learning profiles, interest levels, and readiness will help teachers to adjust lessons accordingly. There is no one way for differentiation to occur in a classroom, nor is it always predictable. Continual assessment and adjustment of instruction is necessary, as well as the flexibility of all involved (students and teachers).
Please see the graph below for another way of understanding differentiated instruction: