Differentiation is a word that is used a lot in teaching. We know a good teacher uses differentiation strategies daily to meet the needs of all their students. In a classroom, there are so many diverse students and each one needs something different. By differentiating instruction, a teacher is trying to meet the needs of each student. This can be extremely challenging in a classroom full of diverse students.
So, are you meeting the needs of your diverse students by differentiating instruction? Do you even know where to begin? Or maybe it seems too hard to implement? Or it is to time consuming?
I realize that as teachers, we have a million different things we have to do during the day. Lesson planning and preparing lessons can take a lot of time. Add in trying to differentiate and you basically have no time to do anything else.
Differentiation should not be super hard or time consuming though! We definitely need to differentiate our instruction, but it should not take us that much more time than regular lesson planning or it won’t get done and we are not doing what is best for our students.
In this article, I hope to share with you some easy ways I differentiate in my classroom. These ideas are simple to implement. My advice is to only try to implement one at a time at first, but eventually you can have a classroom that is full of differentiation in all different areas!
1.Small Group
The number one way I implement differentiation in my classroom is by grouping my students in a small group setting. I currently have two small group times built into my classroom schedule. I have a small group time for reading and one for math. I teach these small groups every single day!
I find this as the best way to differentiate your instruction. I put students together that need similar skills. These groups are also flexible and can change based on needs. Each group gets a different lesson that is tailored to their exact needs. Sometimes, it is based on what I am teaching that week and sometimes it is reteaching basic skills. Also, teaching in small groups brings down the teacher to student ratio, so I am more able to help more students this way.
To learn more about how I schedule and plan for small groups, read my posts on how I teach reading here and how I teach math here. These posts are geared towards elementary teachers, but the same principles apply to any grade level.
2. Cooperative Learning
Another way that I easily implement differentiation in every lesson is by using Cooperative Learning. Cooperative Learning is a great tool to use everyday. Once you implement Cooperative Learning in your classroom, you can easily differentiate by grouping students differently or using different structures to teach differently.
One aspect of Cooperative Learning is seating arrangements. I seat my students in groups of 4 that are leveled. So, student 1 is high, student 4 is low, and 3 and 4 are average. This way, I can easily group students by numbers based on what I want to accomplish. Do I want all highs working on something together? Or do I want some higher students to group with lower students to help them? I can easily do this without a lot of prep!
Another aspect of Cooperative Learning is structures. Structures are content free activities that you can do during a lesson. It allows students to communicate and process information differently, which is a great way to differentiate your instruction. Also, once you explicitly teach a structure, you can easily add it to any lesson you are teaching or even on the fly if you think it will help your students!
If you are unsure of Cooperative Learning, check out my article on how to implement it here. I also have a list of my favorite structures that I use most often here.
3. Teaching Strategies
Sometimes, students respond to our lessons in different ways. Some students need information presented differently than others. Sometimes the way we teach can be a differentiating strategy. Think of the different teaching strategies you use. Are there many strategies or just a few? Sometimes switching up the way we present the lesson is all the differentiation that some students need.
Keep students engaged in your lesson by using different teaching strategies. You may also find that this increases involvement as well, which increases the likelihood of student learning!
We recently wrote an article on 20 different teaching strategies for sharing information, processing information, checking for understanding, and strategies for pairing students up. Check out the article here to add in some different teaching strategies to your teaching!
4. Different Learning Styles
Students learn in different ways. Some students are more visual learners, some are auditory learners, and then some are tactile learners. Then, some students may be a mixture of all three. I try to keep this in mind when I am teaching. Each lesson, I try to incorporate a visual (PowerPoint, Poster, Video, etc.), auditory (usually just reading everything aloud), and a way for involvement through touch (manipulatives).
This may seem simple, but think about your lessons to make sure you are meeting the needs of everyone in your classroom. Something as simple as writing the words you are speaking may help individual students!
5. Other Teachers
If you have a co teacher or specialized teachers in your building, take advantage of them! I love sending students who need help with specific skills to a specialized reading teacher, Title 1 teacher, or math tutor. When you send your students to another teacher, let that teacher know exactly what those students need. This is an easy way to differentiate their learning and do the best for those students.
I also like having a co teacher or any other teacher that comes into my classroom. I usually love to do small groups with another teacher or even just split the class in half and I will teach one half while they teach the other half. This really does help with individual needs of students. I even sometimes will have a co teacher pull individual students that have a specific need.
If you do not have other teachers available in your building, maybe team up with a grade level teacher for co teaching!
6. Leveled Materials
Another great way to easily implement differentiation into your classroom is by using leveled materials. A lot of curriculums come with multiple level readers. The current science curriculum I use comes with magazines that look exactly the same, but are different reading levels. I can easily use these and every students thinks they are getting the same thing, but it is actually tailored to their needs.
I know some reading websites online also have passages that are on the same topic, just on different reading levels.
This is an easy way to differentiate without having to take a lot of time to plan different activities.
7. Use Technology
Technology is another great way to differentiate. Most computer programs that we use in school are automatically tailored to individual needs. Students work at their own pace and on topics that they need to work on. This is so great because everyone has a tailored lesson, while I can add assistance and help as needed. I also don’t have to spend a lot of prep time on this, so it is great for both students and teachers!
There are a lot of different types of technology that can help you differentiate instruction in the classroom. I personally like using Xtra Math for learning math facts. This program allows students to work through math facts from addition to multiplication at their own pace. This allows each child to receive the practice they need to learn their math facts.
8. Preassessment Data
If you are not sure on how to differentiate or where to start, getting preassessment data will help! Maybe you are unsure of the levels of your students or not sure how much of a skill they have mastered. Give students a preassessment before you start teaching to see what each student knows. From this data, you will know which students have mastered the skill or are close to mastering the skill and also which students are struggling. This way, you can easily tailor your lessons to meet individual needs and you will get a better outcome at the end.
An easy way to get preassessment data without a big formal test is to use technology. I love to use Plickers to ask a few questions to my class to get some quick data. I use this for planning my lessons and quickly assessing what each student needs. Using Plickers lets me ask a question with a multiple choice answer and I will know how each student answers. If you want to know more about Plickers and how to use it in your classroom, click here!
Another fun way to get preassessment data is by using Kahoot. This is another technology that allows students to answer multiple choice questions and the teacher can see how each student answered. This allows me to see what students still need help with, but in a fun way for the students. If you want to know more about Kahoot and how to use it in your classroom, click here!
9. QR Codes
QR Codes are a great technology to use in the classroom. You, as the teacher, go to the QR code website and can put any content, links, videos, and much more behind the code. You set up the QR code so when the students scan it, they can see the content you want them to see. If you want to learn more about QR Codes and how to use them in your classroom, click here!
A great way to use QR Codes for differentiation is to color code QR Codes for specific students in your classroom. I already have my class split into 3 to 4 groups for my small group rotation. I also color code these groups. So, while students are rotating through stations, they know which color group they are and can do tasks according to that. I like to put leveled math tasks or leveled questions behind QR Codes. Each group scans their specific color and then works on a tailored task that is specific to them!
Just print your QR Codes on colored paper or card stock. When you make the QR Code on the website, you can color the actual code and even add the frame pictured below before you download it!
10. Self Pace Activities
Another way I like to differentiate in my classroom is to have as many self pace activities as possible. This way, students can work at their own pace to learn. Some students take longer to learn things than others and this allows all students to succeed at their own pace! This doesn’t work with everything I teach, but I like to do this with math facts, spelling words, sight words, writing numbers to 1,000, etc.
In my classroom, I have a set list of spelling words. There are 30 spelling lists that students need to complete throughout the year. Students have to get a certain correct score to be able to move to the next list. I recorded all the lessons beforehand, so students just listen to the list they are on and then turn in their test. This saves so much time and I don’t have to read off ten different lists every week!
I hope you can take some of these differentiation strategies and use them in your classroom. Remember to start out with just a few and then implement more as you can. Any type of differentiation will help all the different students in your classroom!
Thank you for Continually Learning with us!
Kyle and Sarah
