What Is Differentiated Instruction?

In my average day I deal with a mix of adults and children, helping them to understand the best way for them to process information, helping them undo mental blocks and gain the confidence and self-esteem they need to move forward and bloom into assured, positive adults. A lot of the problems I see cropping up in adults are due to negative experiences at school, which have created mental blocks and insecurity in certain areas. For them, schools may have acknowledged that all children learn in a different way, but they did not actively try to provide the information in a variety of ways to support that. Today, schools are getting much better at recognising this fundamental truth, and are instead embracing the idea of differentiated instruction in classrooms – the idea that one size doesn’t fit all.

At its most basic level, differentiated instruction consists of the efforts of teachers and educators responding to variation among learners in the classroom. Whenever a teacher reaches out to an individual or small group to vary their teaching, they are trying to create the best learning experience possible for them. This is differentiated instruction. Teachers can differentiate at least 4 classroom elements based on each individual student’s readiness, interest level or learning profile. These elements include the content used to teach, the process of teaching, examining the products of the learning and their outcomes, and the way the learning environment feels.

 Content

You might be thinking, ‘surely you can’t change what you teach for each child – some might miss out on important things!’. Well rest assured, we don’t mean that the topics of study should be changed based on a child’s learning style, but rather the content used to help them learn that topic should be different. For example, a teacher could use a selection of reading materials at varying readability levels to cater for those who find reading a challenge, or provide such materials on tape for tonal learners. Spelling or vocabulary tests could be set at the readiness of students, rather than at pre-set times of the term. Ideas can be presented through both visual and auditory means, and teachers can hold meetings with smaller groups to re-teach an idea or skill for those struggling, or to extend the skills of more advanced students. By showing this level of attention to what the student needs in order to learn, teachers can help students access the information at their own pace and level without excluding anybody.

Process

The process element of differentiated instruction covers the activities students engage in to make sense of and master the content they need to learn. To do this, teachers could provide students with a series of interest centres around each topic, encouraging each child to explore and engage with subsets of the topic that interest them. Tiered activities could be developed, through which all learners work with the same important understandings and skills, but proceed through the subject matter with differing levels of support, challenge or complexity based on their abilities. Teachers can develop personal agendas – detailed task lists that contain general work for the whole class and work that addresses the individual needs of each learner. For example, when teaching literacy, each student must submit a book report, but groups can also act out the story, write rhymes to read to the class or draw a storyboard of the plot. This can be achieved by varying the length of time taken to complete tasks in order to help struggling learners or encourage greater exploration of the subject.

Products

The products of differentiated learning are the culminating projects that ask the student to rehearse, apply and extend what they have learnt about that subject. So instead of a standardised test, students can be given options or how to express the required learning. Would they prefer to write a letter, perform a puppet show or draw a mural with labels? Teachers can allow students to work alone or in small groups on their projects and encourage them to work on their own interpretation of the assignments, as long as it contains all of the required elements to demonstrate proper understanding of the material. Not every student performs well in tests, and the differentiated learning approach embraces that by giving students the chance to demonstrate their understanding in a more applicable way.

Learning Environment

The learning environment is perhaps one of the easiest for a teacher to control. They can make sure there are places within the room to work quietly without distraction, as well as places that invite collaboration. Providing materials within the room that reflect a variety of home settings and a developing routines that allow students to get help when teachers are busy and other students cannot help them immediately. This includes encouraging students to understand that some people need to move around to learn, while others do better sitting quietly, and how to be respectful of each others learning differences.

All children are brilliant in their own way, and it is our job as adults, teachers and parents to help them discover and understand that brilliance. All teachers should be encouraged to perform some basic levels of differentiated learning in order to provide the best experience for each child, and this in turn would help them achieve their ruthless targets. Learning should always be a diverse and enjoyable experience, and only by embracing the diversity in people can we embrace the joy of learning and teaching fully. For more information on differentiated instruction or if your child (or you!) needs help understanding and learning, get in touch today for your consultation.