What is Differentiation?
Differentiated instruction refers to pedagogical strategies implemented to meet the diverse needs of all students. Through differentiation a teacher matches the instructional material and/or techniques to support individualized learning of all students.
There are three primary types of differentiation: differentiating the performance task, differentiating the content and differentiating the instruction.
Note that differentiating is not simply catering to diverse learning styles. It is a good idea to prepare content and instruction that incorporates visual, auditory, kinesthetics, etc in an effort to make content more appealing to students. If content is more engaging for students then the chances of retention are increased. Nor is differentiation simply giving students more or more of the same. The teacher must consider student prior knowledge and current understanding / skill level; then, introduce different approaches to learning that will strengthen their retention of new knowledge and skills or extend their understanding by requiring them to apply their knowledge / skills to a challenging task.
To differentiate a teacher must recognize that students bring a diverse set of experiences, interests, and skills a to class. Then align content to those experiences, interests and skills so that students can access knowledge on their level.
There are three primary types of differentiation: differentiating the performance task, differentiating the content and differentiating the instruction.
Note that differentiating is not simply catering to diverse learning styles. It is a good idea to prepare content and instruction that incorporates visual, auditory, kinesthetics, etc in an effort to make content more appealing to students. If content is more engaging for students then the chances of retention are increased. Nor is differentiation simply giving students more or more of the same. The teacher must consider student prior knowledge and current understanding / skill level; then, introduce different approaches to learning that will strengthen their retention of new knowledge and skills or extend their understanding by requiring them to apply their knowledge / skills to a challenging task.
To differentiate a teacher must recognize that students bring a diverse set of experiences, interests, and skills a to class. Then align content to those experiences, interests and skills so that students can access knowledge on their level.
Why Differentiate?
Planning for differentiation
As you are planning a differentiated lesson, ask yourself:
- Where are choices appropriate?
- What elements of the lesson are non-negotiable?
- How am I addressing the different needs and abilities of my students?
- How can I teach them in an alternate way?
- How am I addressing the needs of students who are ready to advance?
Differentiation Recipe
Lack of time is often the barrier to implementing differentiated lessons. To aide with this common constraint Mr Roncone has designed a blended learning recipe which allows for rapid development of differentiated lesson paths.
This particular recipe pairs well with addressing specific content gaps that can be more easily remediated, such as labeling valence electrons, finding the common denominator, conjugating -ar verbs, or writing thesis statements.
Here is the template for his recipe.
After you click the link above, you will get a button that says Make a Copy. Click the button and edit the template freely as you will be
editing your copy of the document, not the original version.
This particular recipe pairs well with addressing specific content gaps that can be more easily remediated, such as labeling valence electrons, finding the common denominator, conjugating -ar verbs, or writing thesis statements.
Here is the template for his recipe.
After you click the link above, you will get a button that says Make a Copy. Click the button and edit the template freely as you will be
editing your copy of the document, not the original version.
Example Differentiation Recipes
Below is an example of how the differentiation recipe might be used in a Science lesson.
Blended Learning Science Lesson |
Below is an example of how the differentiation recipe might be used in a Math lesson.
Blended Learning Math Lesson |