1. Qualities of a supportive classroom environment for differentiation Promotes acceptance of differences Affirms that all students have learning strengths Acknowledges that students learn at different rates and in different ways Recognises that for work to be fair, it must sometimes be different Acknowledges that success means different things to different people Allows students to work with various people for various purposes Recognises the key to motivation is interest, and all students have different interests

2. Qualities of a supportive classroom environment for differentiation (cont’d) Promotes personal responsibility for learning Builds feelings of personal competence & confidence in learning Values effort and ‘personal best’ Nurtures skills of independence Supports and celebrates student success in challenging work Encourages exploration of each student’s interests, strengths, and learning preferences Nurtures the creative spirit in all students Honours everyone’s work

3. Teacher questions when designing a tiered assignment Are there points when some students need more time to work on content or a skill and other students are ready for more advanced work? - Tier by challenge or complexity Is there an activity in which varied resources could be matched with student needs and readiness? - Tier by resources

4. Teacher questions when designing a tiered assignment (cont’d) Is there an activity in which the same materials could be used to work on both basic and more advanced outcomes? - Tier by outcome Is there an experience in which students benefit from doing different types of work to achieve the same outcome? - Tier by process Is there an experience that could result in more than one way for students to show what they’ve learned? - Tier by product