Differentiating Instruction - An Overview

Differentiating Instruction: Meeting Students Where They Are

I thought as I embark on how to integrate educational technologies into differentiated instruction (DI), I really need to clarify what DI is. After all, it seems that educators carry very different ideas about what DI is. In our last Critical Friends Group (CFG) meeting, we had all participants fill out an "entrance slip".

The entrance slip read: “What does differentiated instruction mean to you?”

The responses that we received:

• Providing instruction at the level of each student.
• Reaching all students, success for all.
• To each according to his ability……
• Instruction that focuses on needs of individual learner needs and strengths and weaknesses.
• Teaching that recognizes individual differences between students. Tries to address different learning styles, levels of background knowledge, motivation, etc.
• It means different ways to teach children. Different levels, different concepts, high level of organization, individualized instruction.
• Having curriculum that meets the needs of every style of learner in the classroom.
• Instruction that meets different learning styles, skills and likes.
• Different levels of challenge within the same classroom.
• Teaching so that students of different abilities/experiences/stuff can learn what they are ready for. Those who have ears, let them hear.

Although the responses varied among our 6-12 teachers, one strand that pervaded all entries was differentiating instruction depends upon a learner's readiness, interest, or learning style.

Now I know that there are many critics of textbook publishers; however, I believe that many products produced by textbook companies do have merit. One publisher, McGraw-Hill, made an excellent online overview of DI. The article was written by Jennipher Willoughby, a freelance writer and former science and technology specialist for Lynchburg City Schools in Lynchburg, Virginia. She has background in both science (my chosen field) and technology.

Ms. Willoughby writes, "Differentiated instruction is an instructional theory that allows teachers to face this challenge (students are expected to master the same concepts, principles, and skills despite the fact that no two students enter a classroom with identical abilities, experiences, and needs) by taking diverse student factors into account when planning and delivering instruction. Based on this theory, teachers can structure learning environments that address the variety of learning styles, interests, and abilities found within a classroom."

Planning for DI requires that teachers look at the individual profiles of their students. These profiles include learning inventories, interests and readiness. Our teachers recognized this aspect of DI.

This article really puts an integral component of DI into perspective - a perspective that many teachers have misconceptions about. What does differentiated instruction mean for teachers? Ms. Willoughby makes a dichotomous table to illustrate:

Teachers DO:

• provide several learning options, or different paths to learning, which help students take in information and make sense of concepts and skills
• provide appropriate levels of challenge for all students, including those who lag behind, those who are advanced, and those right in the middle

Teachers DON'T:

• develop a separate lesson plan for each student in a classroom
• "water down" the curriculum for some students

I point this out because I visualized DI meaning that I would need to develop a separate lesson plan for each student in a classroom. Some of my colleagues too had this misconception. We knew that individualized lessons would be impossible. Yet - that is not what DI is!

To implement DI requires that I know my students, that I look at my curriculum to see what concepts/topics can be differentiated and that I reexamine my role as teacher in the classroom. More on these later...

Presently, my colleagues and I are examining interests of our students based on multiple intelligences' inventories. Based on these inventories, we will develop lessons that appeal to the different strengths of our students.