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Differentiated instruction (sometimes referred to as
differentiated learning) is a way of thinking about teaching
and learning. It involves teachers using a variety of
instructional strategies that address diverse student
learning needs.
In differentiated instruction students are placed at the
center of teaching and learning and student needs drive
instructional planning, as opposed to more traditional
education methods of teachers, text materials, or curriculum
determining what students should be learning. Differentiated
instruction is a way to enhance learning for all students by
engaging them in activities that respond to particular
learning needs, strengths, and preferences and is effective
in addressing the needs of gifted or high-achieving
students, students with special needs, as well as second
language learners who are in the same classroom.
Often referred to as an educational philosophy,
differentiated instruction is viewed as a proactive approach
to instruction and an idea that has as many faces as
practitioners. The model of differentiated instruction
requires teachers to tailor their instruction and adjust the
curriculum to students’ needs rather than expecting students
to modify themselves for the curriculum. Teachers who are
committed to this approach believe that who they teach
shapes how they teach because who the students are shapes
how they learn.
The first and most important step in differentiated
instruction is determining what students already know so as
not to cover material students have mastered, or use methods
that would be ineffective for students. A reassessment can
be a quiz, game, discussion, or other activity that asks
students to answer some of the questions that would be used
to evaluate their performance at the end of an upcoming unit
or lesson. It may also be in the form of a learning
inventory, such as a Multiple Intelligences inventory (still
regarded with skepticism by many researchers), so the
teacher will be able to determine how students within the
class prefer to learn.
The goals of differentiated instruction are to develop
challenging and engaging tasks for each learner (from
low-end learner to high-end learner). Instructional
activities are flexible and based and evaluated on content,
process and product. This instructional approach and choice
of content are driven by the data from students’ assessment
results and the outcomes other screening tools. Meaningful
pre- and post-assessment leads to successful differentiation
by producing the results that communicate the students’
needs.
The process of how the material in a lesson is learned
may be differentiated for students based on their learning
styles, taking into account what standards of performance
are required for the age level. This stage of
differentiation allows students to learn based either on
what method is easiest for them to acquire knowledge, or
what may challenge them most: some students may prefer to
read about a topic (or may require practice in reading), and
others may prefer to listen (or require practice in
listening), or acquire knowledge by manipulating objects
associated with the content. Information may be presented in
multiple ways by the teacher, and may be based on any
available methods or materials. Many teachers use areas of
Multiple Intelligences to provide learning opportunities.
Commonalities in the assessment results lead to grouping
practices that are planned designed to meet the students’
needs. The ‘how’ a teacher plans to deliver the instruction
is based on assessment results that show the needs, learning
styles, interests, and levels of prior knowledge. The
grouping practices must be flexible, as groups will change
with regard to the need that will be addressed. Regardless
of whether the differentiation of instruction is based upon
student readiness, interests, or needs, the dynamic flow of
grouping and regrouping is one of the foundations of
differentiated instruction.
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