Differentiation Strategies for Multi-Grade, And Multi-Ability Classrooms By: Linda Miller Baker

What is Differentiated Instruction? 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.

Teachers can differentiate at least four classroom elements based on student readiness, interest, or learning profile Content - What the student needs to learn or how the student will get access to the information. Process - Activities in which the student engages in order to make sense of or master the content. Products – Culminating projects that ask the student to rehearse, apply, and extend what he or she has learned in a unit. Learning environment – The way the classroom works and feels.

Examples of differentiating content for Multi-Level Classrooms include the following: Using reading materials at varying readability levels. Putting text materials on tape and audio. Using spelling or vocabulary lists at readiness levels of students. Presenting ideas through both auditory and visual means.

Examples of differentiating process for Multi-Level Classrooms include the following: Using tiered activities through which all learners work with the same important understandings and skills, but proceed with different levels of support, challenge, or complexity. Providing interest centers that encourage students to explore subsets of the class topic of particular interest to them. Developing personal agendas (task lists written by the teacher and containing both in-common work for the whole class and work that addresses individual needs of learners) to be completed either during specified agenda time or as students complete other work early. Varying the length of time a student may take to complete a task in order to provide additional support for a struggling learner or to encourage an advanced learner to pursue a topic in greater depth.

Examples of differentiating products for Multi-Level Classrooms Giving students options of how to express required learning. Using rubrics that match and extend students’ varied skills levels. Allowing students to work alone or in a small groups on their products. Encouraging students to create their own product assignments as long as the assignments contain required elements.

Examples of differentiating learning environment for Multi-Level Classrooms Making sure there are places in the room to work quietly and without distraction, as well as places that invite student collaboration. Providing materials that reflect a variety of cultures and home settings. Setting out clear guidelines for independent work that matches individual needs. Developing routines that allow students to get help when teachers are busy with other students and cannot help them immediately.

Good readers Top Five Make sense of the information they read by using graphic organizers. Know how to draw inferences from the facts they read. Use strategies such as “Save the Last Word for Me” to determine the main idea of a passage. Use context clues to figure out the meanings of unknown words. Visualize the storyline in their minds to improve understanding.

Fluency Probes- One Minute Reader What is Fluency? Reading fluency is the ability to read as easily as you speak. Why is it important? Fluency is a key to comprehension and reading enjoyment. The stories should be challenging enough to improve the reader’s skill but not so difficult that they frustrate the reader. One Minute Reader provides the audio support and practice necessary for the reader to read challenging stories.

Poetry Box Write all your favorite poems or raps, on note cards. Keep the poems in a box for students to read and re-read, this is a great way to build fluency.

Summarizing/Synthesizing Summary Summaries provide a general frame of reference for the detailed content of reading. Readers can more easily understand and recall information about subjects when they have prior knowledge. Summaries can help provide this prior knowledge.

Five Defensible Strategies Read-Aloud 1. A read-aloud-or shared reading-is one of the most effective ways for students to hear every day in every class for at least five minutes. Students listen; other teachers read the text aloud while students read along. K-W-L Charts 2. With the question, “What do you know about the topic?” Following this discussion, students are asked, “What do you still want to know about the topic” question, “What did you learn about the topic”. Graphic Organizers 3. Graphic organizers provide students with visual information that complements the class discussion or text. Vocabulary Instruction 4. Transportable vocabulary skills-that is, skills that students could use across content areas. We studied word families, prefixes, suffixes, word roots, vocabulary journals, and word sorts. Structured Note Taking 5. Teachers have remarked that note taking is not simply a way to record facts; it also leads to deeper student engagement and reflection.

The Benefits Differentiated instructions are very necessary to help students learn and succeed. There are so many ways to differentiate, how do you choose which one? Learning style, preference, reading level, background, behavior, strengths, and the list goes on. It is my belief that because of the differences in acquired skills, ability levels and interest among students, it is very important that teachers make necessary adaptation to the learning environment to accommodate all learners. As a result, all students benefit and learning is the ultimate outcome.