Differentiated Instruction

"Fair doesn’t mean giving every child the same thing, it means giving every child what they need."

Rick Lavoie

Differentiated instruction is a responsive teaching method that is based on data and continual assessment. By finding out what the student's strengths are and what their needs are, teachers can plan instruction accordingly. Differentiated instruction requires the teacher to have a wide repetoire of teaching strategies, so if one method fails to reach a student or group of students, a teacher can draw on other strategies rather than overlooking the students' needs or expecting the student to change to meet the strategy offered. 

Teachers can differentiate in several key areas:

Content     

Process      

Product      

Affect           

Learning Environment

Some suggestions for differentiation in reading instruction include chunking information, the use of graphic and visual organizers, daily use of technology seamlessly woven into the class, resources such as books that appeal to different genders, resources that reflect different socio-economic backgrounds, as well as ethnic and religious considerations. 

Unlike Calvin in the comic strip, differentiated instruction focuses on learning processes rather than explicit content or rote memorization. 

Therefore, teachers can have different groups or students working on learning the same processes while differentiating texts. Some students can work with chapter books, others with picture books and others with graphic novels. In a classroom where a teacher wishes to look at the construct of societies and communities while teaching visualization, the teacher may choose to have some students work with Lois Lowry's distopic novel The Giver, while other readers may work with the Utopian picture book or early chapter book series Dinotopia. 


A beautiful website with maps made for exploration and to enhance the beautiful picture book.

Dinotopia

Explore a Utopian world where dinosaurs and people coexist harmoniously.