What do teachers need to consider when differentiating in the classroom? (i.e. supporting all students of all abilities reach their potential)
- Dr Marc Skelton
- Oct 29, 2021
- 2 min read
What do you think? Discuss these statements
Teachers don’t need to differentiate in same ability classes. If a lesson is well differentiated all students will achieve the same.
All tasks should be differentiated. Students should be allowed to decide which task (if there are multiple) is most suited to their needs.
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What do others think?
Below are four different sources that have written about the important considerations of differentiation.
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1) Differentiation is just, or much, not about making resources with different levels of challenge, where different students attempt completely different tasks.
Teachers don’t have enough time to make elaborate individualised resources. And even if they did these couldn’t be supported properly in a class of 30.
Generic “differentiated” tasks/materials which do not meet the needs of individual students, don’t help learning that much. They are certainly not beneficial given the time required to create them properly.
One of the biggest barriers to proper “differentiation” is when teachers don’t know their students well enough.
2) Differentiation involved considering various teaching strategies which can include:
Seating Plans
Marking books with love and attention
Using data
Verbal feedback
Classroom displays
Scaffolding / writing frame
Choice of task
Forming and framing questioning
Students taking the lead
Students teaching their peers
3) In a broader sense differentiation might involve:
Using the ‘Pygmalion Effect’ (set high standards because if you expect more, you get more)
Constructing meaning within content and providing tiered levels of problem-solving
Creating a mastery curriculum
Give regular high quality formative feedback
Effective modelling - Exemplars of excellence to emulate
4) The Great Teaching Toolkit suggest the following are most important when considering how to differentiate teaching:
Differentiation of teaching
• Appropriately differentiated and high-quality use of structuring, time management, questioning, application, assessment, teaching modelling and orientation
• Differentiation of teaching (teachers adapting their approach to student characteristics, readiness and needs, in their questioning, feedback, assignment of application tasks and follow-up)
• Orientation of students to the learning goals (strategies for engaging students in identifying learning
Achieving quality and differentiation in teaching using different approaches
• Use of differentiated and high-quality practices in relation to teacher-student and student relations
• Appropriately differentiated, appropriate and high quality use of orientation and teaching modelling
Great Teacher Toolkit (2021, p59) Five stages of teaching skills (based on Creemers et al., 2013, pp. 163, 179)
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Bringing clarity to differentiation
Differentiation is all about relationships with students. However it is also helpful to think about how different stages and approaches may be considered. Below is a tool I created building on ideas I have seen in various places to help think about differentiation.
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What should the differentiation help students do?
Suggestions created based on the EEF's Metacognition report.
* Self-identify learning needs
* Plan for the task (or series of tasks)
* Gather and organise resources
* Monitor mistakes
* Evaluate task success
* Adjust for future improvement
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