Differentiation
When we think of differentiation, we think in terms of providing our students a variety of teaching styles so each and every student has an opportunity to learn. Typically it is hard for a teacher to break out of her teaching style and think about a variety of learning styles to deliver instruction to meet the needs of the individual learner. Differentiation may look differently in each teachers classroom and may even look differently from one year to the next depending on the students in each classroom.
It is important for the teacher to build relationships with each child so that she learns how each student learns best. Then she can plan accordingly to the varying learning styles in her classroom. Teachers who practice differentiation in the classroom may:
- Design lessons based on students’ learning styles.
- Group students by shared interest, topic or ability for assignments.
- Assess students’ learning using formative assessment.
- Manage the classroom to create a safe and supportive environment.
- Continually assess and adjust lesson content to meet students’ needs.
While the teacher must meet grade level standards and specific objectives, delivery may look different based on eight styles of learning: visual, verbal, logical, auditory, social, intrapersonal, physical, naturalistic. One popular theory, the VARK model, identifies four primary types of learners: visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetic. Each learning type responds best to a different method of teaching.
Carol Ann Tomlinson has been a leader in the area of differentiated learning and professor of educational leadership, foundations and policy at the University of Virginia. Tomlinson describes differentiated instruction as factoring students’ individual learning styles and levels of readiness first before designing a lesson plan. Research on the effectiveness of differentiation shows this method benefits a wide range of students, from those with learning disabilities to those who are considered high ability.
When the teacher plans for a variety of learning styles in her classroom, she will likely help students be more successful rather than treating her students as “cookie cutter” learners with a one-size fits all lesson plan. Unfortunately, many teachers get overwhelmed when they hear the word differentiation. But educators should remember that when scheduling their day, every thing is NOT expected to be differentiated. Rather building a schedule that incorporates time for differentiation is indeed paramount to helping scaffold instruction and help meet the needs of individual learners.
Digital Literacy Posts
Match Fish Tank (FREE Lesson Plan Repository)
I absolutely love this site. Match Fish Tank ha...Common Lit
Common Lit is one of my new all time favorite R...Word Hippo
Word Hippo is an online dictionary/thesaurus wh...VisualThesaurus
What is the Visual Thesaurus? The Visual Thesau...Lexipedia
Lexipedia is an online visual semantic network ...Wordnik
What is Wordnik? Wordnik is the world’s b...MyVocabulary.com
WHAT IS MYVOCABULARY.COM? A free site that allo...VocabSushi
The VocabSushi Method When you learned English,...Spellcity.com
VocabularySpellingCity.com is dedicated to help...Vocabulary.com
Vocabulary.com Look up a word, learn it forever...What if public schools fail?
Both of my parents are 80 this year and both ar...100 People: A World Portrait
100 People: A World Portrait Global Studies les...Yummy Math
Yummy Math provides teachers with an easy way t...The Beginning of Time
There is an entire page of this website dedicat...“Snow Days” turn into “Know Days” in Rowan-Salisbury, Orange and Transylvania Schools (in N.C.)
There is a little county in North Carolina that...Happy New Year 2017
Greetings to each of you as we embark on a fres...Frontier
eSpark Learning is enabling students to succeed...LessonCast
LessonCast is teacher founded & classroom ...Prodigy Game
Prodigy Teacher Overview Presentation from Prod...Classcraft.com
Don’t change what you teach, supercharge how yo...
Some of our favorites…
Match Fish Tank (FREE Lesson Plan Repository)
I absolutely love this site. Match Fish Tank ha...Common Lit
Common Lit is one of my new all time favorite R...Word Hippo
Word Hippo is an online dictionary/thesaurus wh...VisualThesaurus
What is the Visual Thesaurus? The Visual Thesau...Lexipedia
Lexipedia is an online visual semantic network ...Wordnik
What is Wordnik? Wordnik is the world’s b...MyVocabulary.com
WHAT IS MYVOCABULARY.COM? A free site that allo...VocabSushi
The VocabSushi Method When you learned English,...Spellcity.com
VocabularySpellingCity.com is dedicated to help...Vocabulary.com
Vocabulary.com Look up a word, learn it forever...What if public schools fail?
Both of my parents are 80 this year and both ar...100 People: A World Portrait
100 People: A World Portrait Global Studies les...Yummy Math
Yummy Math provides teachers with an easy way t...The Beginning of Time
There is an entire page of this website dedicat...“Snow Days” turn into “Know Days” in Rowan-Salisbury, Orange and Transylvania Schools (in N.C.)
There is a little county in North Carolina that...