What is Differentiated Instruction?

In my belief, every learner is different; therefore, I strive to incorporate various learning styles to ensure a quality learning experience. How can I do this? By differentiating my instruction!

To begin, I want to clearly state what it means to differentiate instruction. I have been discussing differentiation in my previous posts but have not clearly defined what it is. Differentiation is “’a philosophy that enables teachers to plan strategically in order to reach the needs of the diverse learners in classrooms today’” (Parsons, Dodman, & Burrowbridge, 2013, p. 39). In plain and simple English, it means to provide your students with the resources to meet their needs! Although the thought of this may seem impossible, as teachers have up to 30 students with unique personalities and learning styles, it is quite simple! How many teachers have provided students with a choice? How many teachers have allowed some students more time to complete their work? “Each teacher who has entered a classroom has differentiated instruction in one way or another. Teachers differentiate when they give a student more to finish an assignment, allow children choice . . . give different types of assessments” (Levy, 2008, p. 162). This is the simplest form of differentiating instruction for your students. However, to go above this is to provide your students an experience in which school becomes enjoyable.

To go above the basic form of differentiation, there are three words that teachers must understand: content, process, and product. Content is the material that is being taught to the students “Each child is taught the same curriculum but the content may be quantitatively or qualitatively different” (Levy, 2008, p. 162). The process is how the students learn the subject material. “The activities we provide for students learning must address different student abilities, learning styles, and interests” (Levy, 2008, p. 162). Finally, the product is how students are able to demonstrate their learning. This component of differentiated instruction may be formative or summative assessment but must reflect the students learning ability (Levy, 2008, p. 162). Refer to below to figure 1 for a more concise understanding of content, process, and product.

Figure 1:

(Baecher, Artigliere, Patterson, & Spatzer, 2012, p. 17)

Having understood content, process, and product, teachers are able to begin differentiation. Similar to the example above, I will try to incorporate differentiation when working with students. I think it is crucial for teachers to begin implementing differentiated instruction slowly. Having to integrate differentiation in 7 elementary school subjects may be overwhelming. Therefore, I will begin practising differentiation in Math and English. Once I become comfortable in differentiating the content, process, and product, I will begin integrating more subjects in. Sooner or later, my entire practice will be differentiated.

 References:

Baecher, L., Artigliere, M., Patterson, D., & Spatzer, A. (2012). Differentiated instruction for English language learners as “variations on a theme”. Middle School Journal, 43 (3), 14-21.

Levy, H. M. (2008). Meeting the Needs of All Students through Differentiated Instruction: Helping Every Child Reach and Exceed Standards. Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, 81 (4), 161-164.

Parsons, S., Dodman, S., & Burrowbridge, S. (2013). Broadening the view of differentiated instruction. The Phi Delta Kappan, 38-42.

Taylor, B. (2015). Content, Process, and Product: Modeling Differentiated Instruction. Learning to Teach, 13-17.