Why differentiate instruction

The roots of differentiated instruction go all the way back to the days of the one-room schoolhouse, where one teacher had students of all ages in one classroom.

As the educational system transitioned to grading schools, it was assumed that children of the same age learned similarly. To reach this student population, many educators used differentiated instruction strategies. Research by educator Leslie Owen Wilson supports differentiating instruction within the classroom, finding that lecture is the least effective instructional strategy, with only 5 to 10 percent retention after 24 hours.

Engaging in a discussion, practicing after exposure to content, and teaching others are much more effective ways to ensure learning retention. According to Tomlinson, teachers can differentiate instruction through four ways: 1 content, 2 process, 3 product, and 4 learning environment. As you already know, fundamental lesson content should cover the standards of learning set by the school district or state educational standards.

But some students in your class may be completely unfamiliar with the concepts in a lesson, some students may have partial mastery, and some students may already be familiar with the content before the lesson begins. The six levels are: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. Students who are unfamiliar with a lesson could be required to complete tasks on the lower levels: remembering and understanding.

Students with some mastery could be asked to apply and analyze the content, and students who have high levels of mastery could be asked to complete tasks in the areas of evaluating and creating. Each student has a preferred learning style, and successful differentiation includes delivering the material to each style: visual, auditory and kinesthetic, and through words.

This process-related method also addresses the fact that not all students require the same amount of support from the teacher, and students could choose to work in pairs, small groups, or individually.

And while some students may benefit from one-on-one interaction with you or the classroom aide, others may be able to progress by themselves. Universities cannot continue to rely on the passive, one-size-fits-all instructional strategies of the past. Colleges will need to bring the techniques and benefits of differentiated instruction to guide the students of the future. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

December 17, There are numerous advantages to implementing differentiated instruction - which colleges and universities are beginning to readily embrace What Is Differentiated Instruction? People forget more easily than they remember.

Researchers call this trend the "forgetting curve. Students progress at different paces. Some students learn fast, while others learn more slowly. The advantages of differentiated instruction strategies include addressing learner deficiencies in both speed and depth.

Active learning promotes faster growth than passive learning. Many studies have shown that active learning promotes greater knowledge retention than passive learning. Differentiated instruction allows students to actively practice what they've learned from course lecture components.

Prompting the application of recently covered material helps students understand their studies more proficiently. Team-based learning isn't trivial. Healthy, team-based learning environments are just one of the many benefits of differentiated instruction. Collaborative learning, peer mentoring, and conflict resolution skills all boost a student's overall ability to learn. Your primary role as an instructor is to design educational experiences. Effective educators don't just inform and assess students.

Rather, the best teachers guide students toward and cleverly evaluate mastery. The Advantages of Differentiated Instruction What are the benefits of differentiated instruction for students and teachers?

Differentiated instruction is proactive. In a differentiated instruction model, the teacher does not wait for students to fall behind before employing new learning strategies. Instead, with differentiated instruction, the instructor is proactive and takes a motivational and positive approach.

Teachers prepare differentiated instructional techniques before the course begins, which helps prevent many students from ever falling behind. Instructors assume varied learning needs to accommodate for the various ways students master course material. Differentiated instruction is qualitative. Differentiated instruction doesn't mean that teachers give more work to advanced students and less work to students that might struggle.

Each student completes the same amount of work. However, the quality of the work required may vary according to ability, interest, or previous content knowledge. Differentiated instruction is rooted in assessment. Educators using differentiated instruction begin the class with an assessment. Throughout the course, teachers continue to assess student learning through one-on-one conversations, student work, classroom observations, and formal assessments. Teachers then iteratively design course content and instructional strategies based on the results of each assessment.

With differentiated instruction, assessments not only help evaluate student mastery, but also gauge teaching effectiveness. Differentiated instruction takes multiple approaches. With differentiation in the classroom, instructors can manage what students learn, how students learn, and how students are assessed. With its flexibility, differentiated instruction allows teachers to maximize individual growth in the course content. Differentiated instruction is student-centered.

Differentiated instruction presupposes that students learn in different ways and at different paces. Teachers using this instructional model cultivate and facilitate diverse educational experiences designed to advance each student's learning, regardless of their learning style and background. Differentiated instruction blends individual, small group, and whole-group strategies.

A common misconception about differentiated learning is that the approach only works for individuals or small groups. However, the advantages of differentiated instruction extend to larger groups of students. University instructors can bring the benefits of differentiated instruction to classrooms of various sizes—from individual students to large groups of students. In all classrooms, teachers deal with at least three curricular elements: 1 content—input, what students learn; 2 process—how students go about making sense of ideas and information; and 3 product—output, or how students demonstrate what they have learned.

Differentiated classrooms operate on the premise that learning experiences are most effective when they are engaging, relevant, and interesting to students.

A corollary to that premise is that all students will not always find the same avenues to learning equally engaging, relevant, and interesting. Further, differentiated instruction acknowledges that later knowledge, skill, and understandings must be built on previous knowledge, skill, and understandings—and that not all students possess the same learning foundations at the outset of a given investigation.

Teachers who differentiate instruction in academically diverse classrooms seek to provide appropriately challenging learning experiences for all their students. These teachers realize that sometimes a task that lacks challenge for some learners is frustratingly complex to others. There are times in all classrooms when whole-class instruction is an effective and efficient choice.

A differentiated classroom is marked by a repeated rhythm of whole-class preparation, review, and sharing, followed by opportunity for individual or small-group exploration, extension, and production. In a differentiated classroom, teaching is evolutionary. Students and teachers are learners together. While teachers may know more about the subject matter at hand, they are continuously learning about how their students learn.

Teachers monitor the match between learner and learning and make adjustments as warranted. All rights reserved. Carol Ann Tomlinson works with educators to create classrooms that are more responsive to a broad range of learners. She is William Clay Parrish, Jr.