Differentiation – Meeting student needs, not teacher needs.

Differentiation is a bit of a buzz word at the moment, but the more it is talked about, the more we are expected to do it, and why shouldn’t we?

Differentiation really is key to ensuring your students are getting the learning your students need, at their level and with the support or extension they need.

So what exactly is differentiation?

Differentiation means tailoring instruction to meet individual needs. Whether teachers differentiate content, process, products, or the learning environment, the use of ongoing assessment and flexible grouping makes this a successful approach to instruction. – Carol Ann Tomlinson (http://www.readingrockets.org/article/what-differentiated-instruction).

Differentiation is all about making sure we are continually teaching students at their point of need. Yet for some reason, there are still many of us who just don’t get this.

When working with teachers on differentiation, I often find myself having to explain that differentiation does not mean just doing a different activity. Differentiation is not just having the more able students work by themselves or having the struggling students taken out for support.

Differentiation is something we consciously plan for by making informed decisions using summative data. Not something we do ad-hoc because a student can’t complete what we have planned or because a child finished early. It is something we plan for.

This means, as teachers, we need to be considering in advance what our students can currently do, what we want our students to know, what we want them to be learning and what we need to teach to make that happen.

Now not every student will be at the same place, with the same interests, or learn in the same way. This is where differentiation comes in.

So how do we do this? Well it is all linked to the learning.

Take 2 digit addition in year 3 for example, some students will know this already, some will still be using concrete materials and some are working on using a written method – so this is how you differentiate. You give the students what they need. Teach the addition lesson, but differentiate. Those who want or need counters can use them, those who are using a number line can do that, and maybe some are ready to move onto more efficient mental strategies.

Give students what they need – not what you want them to need.