Differentiation is necessary to ensure that you are meeting all your students' needs.
However, the question is…
“How do I differentiate when it’s not explicitly given to me?”
The activities you use in your classroom don’t always tell you how to differentiate for lower or higher students.
Scaffolding your students and using a ticket out the door can really help you understand your students' needs.
You can differentiate in several ways as you learn more about your students’ needs and deficits.
1) Worksheets
Print fewer copies and then cut them into rows or columns. Do students really need to complete 50 problems to prove they can do so? Assign students less problems to complete by choosing only even numbers or odd numbers. (When you think about it, do you really need to correct hundreds or thousands of problems?)
2) Differentiate by need
Create needs-based groups to reteach a concept or skill to small groups of students who need more support.
When you group students for centers and activities in your classroom, you differentiate if you group by need. However, don’t make a habit of grouping in this manner. Students must be with students of all levels because learning from peers is essential!
3) Let students differentiate themselves.
Use the “Show Me Your Fingers” system and ask students who need help to join one side of the room. (After you do this a couple of times, they won’t be embarrassed because they will know that asking for help is beneficial to them.)
4) Differentiate by interest
If you are researching, have students work together on the topic that interests them most.
5) Differentiate by size
Are you working on handwriting? Differentiate by size! Students still needing help with fine motor skills can have activities printed in a larger font size. For students who have it under control, print the activity in a smaller font size to challenge them, as well.
6) Change the assignment
You can often use the exact same activity in different ways for differentiation. Let’s take task cards, for example. You can change the number of task cards for different students to complete. You can have your students who need support only write the answers, such as the letters. Your average student can write the answers, and your higher students can explain or show their answers through steps or pictures. You could also ask those students who finish early to write their own questions and answers for five more task cards.
7) Present the information in different ways
*Visual – Use videos to see and listen to the information for the students.
*Cognitive – Let your students read the information.
*Hands-on – Let your students create something.
8) Student's Choice
For a cumulative assignment, let students choose how they want to present their understanding. It could be through book reports, written assignments, graphic organizers, explaining the information, etc.
You are probably differentiating all day long, but it’s not always conducive to writing it down in your lesson plan book. List ways you differentiate learning throughout the day, type it up, make copies, and staple or glue it in your weekly lesson plan unless your administrator requires you to.
This will show all the many ways you differentiate in your classroom without taking extra time each week to write down every tiny detail because that is time-consuming and detrimental to getting out of your classroom on time each day.
Take action now. Brainstorm a list of the different ways you can differentiate in your classroom.
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Finding simple ways to differentiate and meet students' needs is just...
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