Teaching is differentiated
What is differentiation?
“If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.” (Ignacio Estrada)
In this mini-workshop we will develop an understanding of what differentiation means and why it is important for our day-to-day teaching.
The next page will explore how we can differentiate. It will introduce you to the concept of 'zone of proximal development' and help you to apply this to students in your class. It is a way of understanding why and how we differentiate work to meet the needs of all learners.
Introduction
Discuss:
Which of the following metaphors most resembles what it is like teaching students in your class?
- Conducting a choir to a major performance
- Designing a festival to celebrate a major anniversary
- Assembling a picnic across a group of friends with different levels of culinary skill
- Curating an opening ceremony
- Working with family and friends to throw a surprise birthday party
- Editing a journal with different contributors
The context:
Each person is different which means that our classrooms are diverse and complex places. Look inside almost any classroom today and you will find students with advanced learning skills working alongside students who struggle with one or more school subjects. Some students will have a vast amount of life experiences to draw on whilst others will have come from more limited backgrounds. Many of our classrooms also include students from multiple cultures, some of whom are trying to bridge language and cultural worlds. All students deserve personal attention to meet their learning needs. Classrooms and schools need to be organized to respond well to variations in student readiness, interest, or learning profile.
The challenge
Our challenge is clearly expressed in the following quote: “Most educators appear even to lack images of how a classroom might look—how we would “do school”—if our intent was to respond to individual learner needs. In fact, the challenge of addressing academic diversity in today's complex classrooms is as important and difficult a challenge as we have before us.” (Tomlinson & Allan)
We are going to take a trip out of our school and into a different school - the animal school. You are going to meet ducks, an eagle, fish, a polar bear, a zebra, a squirrel, a kangaroo and a bumble bee. Pay attention to these learners and jot one or two notes down about what the learners' needs might be. Identify with one of those learners that resonated with you? What do you think that learner needs?
This video, adapted from R. Z. Greenwald's "Preparing our Children for Success", highlights the absolute truth that every child is unique and why differentiation is so important. It is an eye-opening reflection on how we view children and how we teach children in our current education system.
PLEASE STAND - connect with one of these 'animals | learners' - get into groups of ducks, eagles, fish etc. Chew on the following question - consider the animal how do you provide meaningful, respectful and challenging work for this learner?
We have to know our students - their needs, passions and areas for growth. Differentiation is not just a strategy but a way of doing things. For that we have to know our learners and their needs every time we sit down and plan what to do next.
WHAT is differentiation?
Activator:
How would you define 'differentiation'?
The section on differentiation in the IB document Approaches to teaching and learning in the Diploma Programme starts with the following quote:
“Differentiation is more than a strategy or series of strategies … it is a way of thinking about teaching and learning.” (Tomlinson, 2000). Differentiation is “an approach to teaching that advocates active planning for student differences in classrooms” (Tomlinson and Allan 2000).
"How well do you know the children? What flavour of crisps do they like?" (Tim Brighouse, quoted by Dr. Ger Graus)
Here's how one teacher describes their role in a differentiated classroom:
"The teacher is not a meddler in the middle, but a foreman (or woman) who is helping the construction workers build their own palace of wisdom. She or he knows that the workers have to do the thinking and building themselves, taking different paths, using different tool kits; some will talk collaboratively; some will find scaffolding helpful. They will probably travel at different speeds. Along the path of their education they might change tools, or drop a few bricks whilst having the odd stumble. The building will often only look half-completed, and they will have to re-fit component parts; they will have to try again, and maybe again, and put them back properly, with feedback from the forewoman (or man). Despite different paths and individual journeys, they can all make it to the Palace of Wisdom, a building they have constructed themselves. The whole wonderful set of different journeys can take place inside one classroom."
Whilst there may not be one single definition of differentiation the following four ideas are at the heart of most commonly quoted definitions: ensuring access to learning | providing high challenge, low threat in a way all learners can succeed | scaffolding without reducing expectations | inclusive teaching for inclusive learning. You could contain these four ideas under the central idea of knowing your learners, and enabling them to access learning and be successful.
Discuss:
"Differentiation is all of the strategies, techniques and activities teachers use to help pupils to make good progress, irrespective of their starting points." (The Key CPD Toolkit)
This opening activity helps colleagues to think through what they think the concept of differentiation is. By asking them to picture this in visual format we provide them with a tool to think through the meaning of this concept.
- Brainstorm key words associated with differentiation.
- Use an on-line collaborative sharing tool such as a Padlet.
- Ask everyone to use an online image search engine such as 'google images' to choose a visual metaphor for the concept of differentiation. Use some of the key words you brainstormed in order to open up the search.
- Place the image on the on-line platform and give it a title, explaining how the image links to the concept of differentiation.
- Collate key meanings and questions that arise.
Differentiation is sometimes put under the umbrella of 'personalising learning'.
A good primer on differentiatied instruction was published by Education Week. Click HERE to access it. This article references “Carol Ann Tomlinson, the author of The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners, 2nd Edition (ASCD, 2014) and Assessment and Student Success in a Differentiated Classroom (ASCD, 2013) who argues that differentiation is, at its base, not an approach but a basic tenet of good instruction, in which a teacher develops relationships with his or her students and presents materials and assignments in ways that respond to the student’s interests and needs.”
The IB document Approaches to teaching and learning in the Diploma Programme quotes UDL (Universal Design for Learning) as an example of a differentiated approach. As you watch the following video consider key issues for you and your school.
If you wish to learn more about UDL visit their website by clicking HERE.
WHY is differentiation important?
Differentiation:
- seeks to identify what individual students already know and what they still need to learn.
- allows students to demonstrate what they know through multiple methods.
- encourages students and teachers to add appropriate depth and complexity to the learning/teaching process at the point of need. In other words, lessons are adapted to meet learners needs.
- is focused on fulfilling each students' potential.
In her TED Talk The world needs all kinds of mind, Temple Grandin, diagnosed with autism as a child, talks about how her mind works — sharing her ability to "think in pictures," which helps her solve problems that neuro-typical brains might miss. She makes the case that the world needs people on the autism spectrum: visual thinkers, pattern thinkers, verbal thinkers, and all kinds of smart geeky kids.
