Addressing Differentiation

Demonstrating a Commitment to All Learners Every student has had different life experiences, even before the life has begun. Everyone comes from a different home situation or family background, or simply has different innate skills and abilities. This creates difficulties for the teacher that not only has to aid struggling learners, but has to give accelerated students the opportunity to be challenged and continue to grow. I have been able to overcome this difficulty throughout some of my experiences. Read below to find out more about some of these instances.

Examples of Addressing Differentiation

I find it beneficial to incorporate different models of teaching into the classroom. For example, I utilize both small groups and whole group instruction. One of the ways I use these varied methods of teaching is through Readers and Writers Workshop. This allows me to teach the curriculum to the class, but then work in smaller groups of students to confer with them to address their specific needs and monitor their progress.

I also always want to be sure that all families have the opportunity to get involved in student learning regardless of their cultural or socio-economic backgrounds. A time I have addressed the diversity of the families in my classroom is during a unit where I invited parents to be guest readers on Zoom to virtually read a story to the class. I realized that many parents might work during the day and their schedules would not allow for them to read to the class. I also realized that some of my introverted students might not feel comfortable getting online and reading with their families to all of their peers. To ensure that the diverse needs of all these families were met and increase involvement in student learning, I offered alternative options (as demonstrated in this Bloomz post).

Additionally, I always include differentiation in my lesson planning to address students who might be facing learning challenges or for students who are not challenged enough. This might consist of modifying the task for struggling students, or by incorporating video or auditory technology to account for the different types of learners. I also acknowledge that just because a student may be struggling during a specific lesson does not mean that he or she is a poor learner. Every student has the potential to learn and all students expresses their skills and abilities in different ways. To allow equal opportunity for students to showcase their learning, I often offer "choice boards" or create more than one assessment of student learning. Below is an example of a science lesson where students were given the choice of two experiments and were instructed to select one to conduct. Scroll to see the experiment options and the assessment all students were given.

Choice A

Choice B

Ultimately, each student was given similar opportunities to demonstrate that they have met the lesson objectives, regardless of which assessment they chose to complete.

I have also demonstrated a commitment to all learners by conducting theme-oriented lessons that celebrate diversity in the class. For example, I taught an anti-bullying lesson to teach students the importance of being kind to all people. The lesson plan is hyperlinked. One of the ways I did this was by teaching an Anti-Bullying lesson to show students the difference between appropriate and poor behaviors and encourage them to treat all of their peers respectfully.