Content, Process, and Product: Strategies for Differentiation
Content, Process, and Product: Strategies for Differentiation
Kenya Weary
Kaplan University
Every classroom is readily stocked with a differentiated clientele of students. There are students whose performance indicate that they struggle with learning, there are others to whom learning comes naturally and can soar and excel far above their counterparts and grade-level material, and there are those who are living examples of the students that we’ve read about in education textbooks and perform right in the middle, on grade level. To go even further, within each of these groups of learners, are groups of learners that learn in various ways. Regardless of the many blankets of diversity, the needs of ALL learners must be met, and this is done with differentiated instruction.
Differentiated instruction is responding to and focusing on the differences and academic success of individuals or small groups of learners (Borich, 2011, p. 42). Successful differentiation requires that the classroom teachers attend to what students are ready to learn, what they are interested in learning, and how they learn best. The learning day is filled with assessment to gather information about students. These assessments should be meaningful so that they will provide the platform upon which the students’ needs are met. Research has shown that “uniformity in teaching fails many learners” and that the three main areas of student variance are their readiness, interest, and learning profile (Tomlinson et al., 2003).
As teachers prepare for instruction, what the students are ready to learn should be a guiding force. Teachers should make certain that instruction is catered to the students’ level of performance. Tomlinson et al. (2003) cites Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development (ZPD), or the “point of required mastery when a child cannot function alone, but can succeed with scaffolding or support”, as the premise for instruction based on student readiness. It is
Kenya Weary
Kaplan University
Every classroom is readily stocked with a differentiated clientele of students. There are students whose performance indicate that they struggle with learning, there are others to whom learning comes naturally and can soar and excel far above their counterparts and grade-level material, and there are those who are living examples of the students that we’ve read about in education textbooks and perform right in the middle, on grade level. To go even further, within each of these groups of learners, are groups of learners that learn in various ways. Regardless of the many blankets of diversity, the needs of ALL learners must be met, and this is done with differentiated instruction.
Differentiated instruction is responding to and focusing on the differences and academic success of individuals or small groups of learners (Borich, 2011, p. 42). Successful differentiation requires that the classroom teachers attend to what students are ready to learn, what they are interested in learning, and how they learn best. The learning day is filled with assessment to gather information about students. These assessments should be meaningful so that they will provide the platform upon which the students’ needs are met. Research has shown that “uniformity in teaching fails many learners” and that the three main areas of student variance are their readiness, interest, and learning profile (Tomlinson et al., 2003).
As teachers prepare for instruction, what the students are ready to learn should be a guiding force. Teachers should make certain that instruction is catered to the students’ level of performance. Tomlinson et al. (2003) cites Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development (ZPD), or the “point of required mastery when a child cannot function alone, but can succeed with scaffolding or support”, as the premise for instruction based on student readiness. It is
References: Borich, G. D. (2011). Effective Teaching Methods. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc. Tomlinson, C. (2005). Differentiating instruction: Why bother? Middle Ground: The Magazine of Middle Level Education, 9(1), 12-14. Retrieved from ERIC Database (ED4097093) Tomlinson, C. (2000). Differentiation of instruction in the elementary grades. Retrieved from ERIC Database. (ED443572) Tomlinson, C., Brighton, C., Hertberg, H., Callahan, C., Moon, T., Brimijoin, K., et al. (2003). Differentiating instruction in response to student readiness, interest, and learning profile in academically diverse classrooms: A review of literature. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 27(2-3), 119-145. Retrieved from ERIC database