Differentiation in middle and high school doesn’t need to involve designing eight different assignments, orchestrating complex group work, or turning the physical space into a kindergarten room. At its core, differentiation simply moves all students toward and beyond common and important learning goals. Sometimes, students share a route toward those goals. Other times, ongoing assessment compels teachers to plan different routes that v....
Teachers have many “entry points” to planning and implementing lessons and tasks that anticipate and respond to students’ needs. Here are five:
Experiment with various groupings. Differentiation refers to adjustments that teachers make in response to student performance—not the way students are grouped, per se. In a differentiated classroom, students work in a variety of configurations—from whole-group to individual to pairs to other small groups—for different reasons. Before giving students customized assignments that are aligned with the same goals, get them used to collaborating with others—even if it’s only for a few minutes to discuss a question or two. Consider having not one seating chart, but rather various seating arrangements that differ by your purpose for the day (e.g., a small-group discussion seating chart, a Socratic seminar seating chart). Another quick strategy is to have students quickly line up according to a preference (say, how much they like hot dogs, with haters at one end and lovers at the other) or characteristic (birth month and day). Put students into groups of your desired size, or “fold” the line and group students from there. Various groupings, from more random to more purposeful, build classroom community and set the stage for targeted differentiation.
