Differentiated instruction

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Differentiated instruction (sometimes referred to as differentiated learning) is a way of thinking about teaching and learning. It involves teachers using a variety of instructional strategies that address diverse student learning needs.

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[edit] About

In differentiated instruction students are placed at the center of teaching and learning and student needs drive instructional planning, as opposed to more traditional education methods of teachers, text materials, or curriculum determining what students should be learning. Differentiated instruction is a way to enhance learning for all students by engaging them in activities that respond to particular learning needs, strengths, and preferences and is effective in addressing the needs of gifted or high-achieving students, students with special needs, as well as second language learners who are in the same classroom.

Often referred to as an educational philosophy, differentiated instruction is viewed as a proactive approach to instruction and an idea that has as many faces as practitioners. The model of differentiated instruction requires teachers to tailor their instruction and adjust the curriculum to students’ needs rather than expecting students to modify themselves for the curriculum. Teachers who are committed to this approach believe that who they teach shapes how they teach because who the students are shapes how they learn.

[edit] Pre-assessment

The first and most important step in differentiated instruction is determining what students already know so as not to cover material students have mastered, or use methods that would be ineffective for students. A preassessment can be a quiz, game, discussion, or other activity that asks students to answer some of the questions that would be used to evaluate their performance at the end of an upcoming unit or lesson. It may also be in the form of a learning inventory, such as a Multiple Intelligences inventory (still regarded with skepticism by many researchers[1]), so the teacher will be able to determine how students within the class prefer to learn.

The goals of differentiated instruction are to develop challenging and engaging tasks for each learner (from low-end learner to high-end learner). Instructional activities are flexible and based and evaluated on content, process and product. This instructional approach and choice of content are driven by the data from students’ assessment results and the outcomes other screening tools. Meaningful pre- and post-assessment leads to successful differentiation by producing the results that communicate the students’ needs.

[edit] Content

The content of lessons may be differentiated based on what students already know. The most basic content of a lesson should cover the standards of learning set by the district or state. Some students in a class may be completely unfamiliar with the concepts in a lesson, some students may have partial mastery of the content - or display mistaken ideas about the content, and some students may show mastery of the content before the lesson begins. The teacher may differentiate the content by designing activities for groups of students that cover different areas of Bloom's Taxonomy. For example, students who are unfamiliar with the concepts may be required to complete tasks on the lower levels of Bloom's Taxonomy: knowledge, comprehension, and application. Students with partial mastery may be asked to complete tasks in the application, analysis and evaluation areas, and students who have high levels of mastery may be asked to complete tasks in evaluation and synthesis.


[edit] Process

The process of how the material in a lesson is learned may be differentiated for students based on their learning styles, taking into account what standards of performance are required for the age level. This stage of differentiation allows students to learn based either on what method is easiest for them to acquire knowledge, or what may challenge them most: some students may prefer to read about a topic (or may require practice in reading), and others may prefer to listen (or require practice in listening), or acquire knowledge by manipulating objects associated with the content. Information may be presented in multiple ways by the teacher, and may be based on any available methods or materials. Many teachers use areas of Multiple Intelligences to provide learning opportunities.

Commonalities in the assessment results lead to grouping practices that are planned designed to meet the students’ needs. The ‘how’ a teacher plans to deliver the instruction is based on assessment results that show the needs, learning styles, interests, and levels of prior knowledge. The grouping practices must be flexible, as groups will change with regard to the need that will be addressed. Regardless of whether the differentiation of instruction is based upon student readiness, interests, or needs, the dynamic flow of grouping and regrouping is one of the foundations of differentiated instruction.

[edit] Product

The product is essentially what the student produces at the end of the lesson to demonstrate the mastery of the content: tests, evaluations, projects, reports, or other activities. Based on students' skill levels and educational standards, teachers may assign students to complete activities that demonstrate mastery of an educational concept (writing a report), or in a method the student prefers (composing an original song about the content, or building a 3-dimensional object that explains mastery of concepts in the lesson or unit). The product is an integral component of the differentiated model, as the outcomes of the assessments will primarily determine both the ‘what’ and ‘how’ instruction will be delivered.

Examples of differentiated structures include tiered lessons, tic-tac-toe extension menus, Curry / Samara grids, RAFT (Role, audience, format, topic) writing activities, and similar designs.

In differentiated instruction, teachers respond to students’ readiness, instructional needs, interests and learning preferences and provide opportunities for students to work in varied instructional formats. A classroom that utilizes differentiated instruction is a learner-responsive, teacher-facilitated classroom where all students have the opportunity to meet curriculum foundational objectives. Lessons should be on inquiry based, problem based and project based instruction.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Morgan, H. (1996). An analysis of Gardner's theory of multiple intelligence. Roeper Review 18, 263-270.
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[edit] External links