FOUR STRATEGIES FOR

DIFFERENTIATING INSTRUCTION TO
MEET THE NEEDS OF ALL STUDENTS,
WITHIN THE CONSTRAINTS OF A
CURRICULUM.

1. BREAK DOWN REQUIRED SKILLS

We can use a mind map. List the main goals of the curriculum in the center.
Above these goals, we may branch out to a list of other skills that students need
to have mastered in order to achieve the current curriculum goals.

For struggling students, the map serves as a point of guidance for the skills they
need to master before working toward the curriculum goals – they can see what
they need to work on.

For the students who can already reach a goal, activities that can extend their
learning may include additional lessons that bring students to higher level skills,
or open-ended activities or projects related to the topic.

2. FIND OUT WHERE THE STUDENTS ARE

Once the map is created, a pre-assessment for the entire class may now be
administered. It is advised to avoid multiple-choice tests and instead try to offer
engaging alternatives, such as an escape room, in which players work through a
series of puzzles to receive keys that allow them to escape from a locked room.
These puzzles are based on the skills they’ll cover in an upcoming unit. We may
now observe to note which students are struggling with different skills.

The interactivity and collaboration disguise the assessment feature to keep

students engaged while still giving us information about their need for an
upcoming unit. These assessments do not come from the curriculum but it can
offer insight into how to pair the required lessons with differentiated lessons.

3. PLAN SMALL-GROUP LESSONS

We may create mini-lessons for different small groups. We may call it “readiness
groups” to avoid labeling students by ability – there’s no low or high group, just
different groups ready to tackle skills in different ways.

We may prepare topic of a mini-lesson and split it into three small-group lessons:
one targeted toward students ready to meet that goal, another for students who
need more support in that area, and another for students who are ready to expand
on that skill.

For example, if we are working on a narrative unit and the skill of focus is
collecting information, students ready for that skill work on an activity focused on
that. A group that needs more support may work on an activity that helps them
develop descriptive details to add to their story, including sketching elements of
the story to create a visual to assist them in adding details as they compose a
draft. Students who have already mastered collecting information to add details to
a narrative can expand their skills by considering how their story could change if it
was told from someone else’s perspective.

The key to small-group lessons is to make them flexible and fluid, so students are
working with different peers on building and reinforcing the skills they need to
master in the unit. The groups should rotate based on the readiness level of the
individual students.

4. EMBED VOICE AND CHOICE

We may consider opportunities for student choice. They too can make a decision
with regard to their learning. These choices can range from large decisions, like
how students will demonstrate their learning, to smaller tasks, like selecting a
partner for collaboration. Even deciding between handwriting an assignment or
typing it is a version of a differentiated choice.

While we are required to give a periodical test which all students should complete,
a second assessment which is choice-based may be conducted to show what they
know in a way that makes them feel most confident.