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These strategies for differentiated instruction will help you reach all students in your classroom.
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As a teacher, you know that each student who walks through your room is unique. Not only are each of those students unique, they all have the equal right to learn — and for information to be presented to them in a way they can understand. That’s where differentiated instruction comes in.
What is Differentiated Instruction?
Differentiated instruction is a teacher’s effort in accommodating the population of diverse learners in his or her classroom. Teachers understand and respect that different children learn in different ways and certain strategies for differentiated instruction allow teachers to reach as many learners as possible.
Sometimes differentiating instruction is easy. Many children enter a classroom with a specific learning profile that gives teachers a road map, but other students can be harder to figure out. For that reason, regularly differentiating instruction is a good practice for any teacher in any classroom.
5 Strategies for Differentiated Instruction
ONE // Thoughtful Lesson Planning
Experienced teachers know that the need for differentiating instruction can sometimes come as a surprise. You spend hours planning what you feel is the perfect lesson only to realize that a third of the class didn’t “get it” and you’re going to switch things up.
Thoughtful lesson planning can help prevent some of that shock. Planning to incorporate different learning strategies from the get-go can help you reach the different learners in your classroom. I have been on campuses before that have required lesson plans to include certain strategies. If you’re worried about the overwhelm, focus on introducing one or two new strategies every couple of weeks and recycle the ones your students respond to the best.
Related: 5 Tips for Planning for a Substitute Teacher
TWO // Small Group Instruction
Sometimes, it’s only a handful of students who don’t latch onto a concept. Small group instruction comes in handy here by allowing you to pull aside a group of three to four students and dig into the “nitty gritty” with them.
THREE // One-on-One Conferences
One-on-one conferences also present a unique opportunity for differentiating instruction. Because conferences occur between just the student and teacher, they give the teacher the chance to get a deeper glimpse into the student and figure out ways to help him/her with the concept at hand. In the math classroom, this could mean pulling out the manipulatives, while in the ELAR classroom it could mean leaving the student with a reading/writing artifact that he/she connects with.
FOUR // Varied Products
Allowing for varied products is beneficial when students understand a concept, but may need to deliver their learning in a different way. When planning for project presentations, it’s a great idea to allow students the option to deliver through the method that connects with them most. This could mean an oral presentation accompanied by an informational tri-fold board or an online presentation. Other options include student-created story boarding, graphic novels, or dioramas.
Related: Grant Ideas & Resources for Teachers
FIVE // Varied Processes
Working in a school that provides 1:1 technology, I see varied processes to include technology. Using programs such as Google Classroom allows students the option to complete assignments through traditional pen and paper, or through Google Docs. This can be especially helpful for the absent minded student. Instead of losing assignments and always requesting a new copy, he/she can work on the assignment from anywhere without risk of losing progress and having to start over.
I remember feeling overwhelmed by differentiated instruction as a new teacher and wondering, “What does this mean?” Even today, with almost five years under my belt, I’m grateful for resources such as this one by Study.com — Differentiated Instruction in the Classroom. It lays out the whats and whys of differentiated instruction while providing a road map for incorporating it in your own classroom as well as a continuing education course, Education 104: Differentiated Instruction.
Study.com has a ton of other resources teachers can use in their classrooms or even to further their own education. Check out the Teacher Plans & Pricing to incorporate this in your instruction right away. As a bonus, Study.com is offering readers of I Am Teacher Fit 20 percent off your first three months through January 31, 2019, with code StudyComTeacherDiffPromo!
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