Differentiated Teaching Instructions

Differentiation is catering for students individual differences. It is the belief that individual differences are respected and appreciated in a learning environment. It is the faith in the abilities and capabilities of every individual student. Differentiated teaching instructions(DTI) is the strategy that we adapt to motivate each student to reach the best that he could reach within his available potential abilities.

Below is a set of strategies for DTI:

Anchor Activities: are on-going assignments tied to the curriculum and for which students are accountable that can be worked on independently throughout a grading period or longer.
Allowing for multiple right answers: are open-ended assignments that focus on the process of solving the problem and/or critical thinking. Such assignments allows for different responses to be correct as long as their is a convincing logic behind the plan.
Adjusting questions: In class discussions, tests, and homework, teachers adjust the sorts of questions posed to learners based on their readiness, interests, and learning profiles.
Attention to social issues, real world experiences, and community projects: a good question to ask ourselves is related to performance assessment tasks, role-plays, simulations, etc. Are those based on authentic situations of interest to students?
Learning Stations and Learning centers: are flexible areas in the classroom that address variable learning needs. Centers differ from stations in that centers are distinct. Stations work in concert with one another. Two kinds of centers are particularly useful for differentiated instruction: learning centers and interest centers. Those centers are different spots in the classroom where students work on various tasks simultaneously. Stations work in concert with one another. Stations allow different students to work with different tasks. They invite flexible grouping because not all students need to go to all stations all the time or spend the same amount of time in each station.Learning centers are classroom areas that contain a collection of activities or materials designed to teach, reinforce, or extend a particular skill or concept.
Chunking: is breaking assignments and activities into smaller, more manageable parts and providing more structured directions for each part. This strategy is called tiered assignment.
Compacting: is a process that involves pre-assessing students, giving them credit for what they already know and allowing them to move ahead in the curriculum. Compressing the required curriculum into a shorter period of time so students who master it ahead of their classmates can use the time to do other activities.
Emphasis on Thinking skills: giving students the opportunity to think aloud, discuss their thinking with their peers, and reflect on their thinking in journals.
Developing student responsibility: giving the students opportunity to help develop the evaluation rubrics, write project proposals, and complete self and group evaluations.
Flexible grouping: matching students to skill work by virtue of readiness, not with the assumption that all need the same task, computation skill, writing assignment, etc. Movement among groups is common, based on readiness on a given skill and growth in that skill.
Flexible pacing: allowing for differences in the students’ ability to master the curricula.
Goal setting and planning: involving students in their individual goal setting and the planning of learning activities, one to one with the teacher.
Group investigation: working in cooperative mixed-ability groups on open-ended tasks or in like-ability groups working on appropriately challenging tasks. Usually the focus is on the process and thinking skills.
Hands-on projects/activities: using manipulative to motivate instructions.
High-level questions: questioning that draw on advanced levels of information, requiring leaps of understanding and challenging thinking.
Independent study: providing students with the opportunity to work independently to investigate topics of interest to them.
Interdisciplinary/integrated curricula around a theme: thematic units, which make connections across multiple curricular areas.
Interest centers: are designed to motivate students’ exploration of topics for which they have a particular interest.
Learning contract: is a proposal made prior to beginning a project or unit in which the resources, steps toward completion, and evaluation criteria are agreed upon with the teacher.
Portfolios: provide a means for helping teachers and parents reflect on student growth over time. These are collections of student work are excellent for helping children set appropriate learning goals and evaluating their own growth.
Problem-Based learning: placing students in the active role of solving problems in much the same way adult professionals perform their jobs. The teacher presents students with an unclear, complex problem. Students must seek additional information, define the problem, locate resources, make decisions about solutions, pose solution, communicate that solution to others, and assess the solution’s effectiveness.

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Differentiated Teaching Instructions

Below is a set of strategies for DTI:

Anchor Activities: are on-going assignments tied to the curriculum and for which students are accountable that can be worked on independently throughout a grading period or longer.

Allowing for multiple right answers: are open-ended assignments that focus on the process of solving the problem and/or critical thinking. Such assignments allows for different responses to be correct as long as their is a convincing logic behind the plan.

Adjusting questions: In class discussions, tests, and homework, teachers adjust the sorts of questions posed to learners based on their readiness, interests, and learning profiles.

Attention to social issues, real world experiences, and community projects: a good question to ask ourselves is related to performance assessment tasks, role-plays, simulations, etc. Are those based on authentic situations of interest to students?

Chunking: is breaking assignments and activities into smaller, more manageable parts and providing more structured directions for each part. This strategy is called tiered assignment.

Emphasis on Thinking skills: giving students the opportunity to think aloud, discuss their thinking with their peers, and reflect on their thinking in journals.

Developing student responsibility: giving the students opportunity to help develop the evaluation rubrics, write project proposals, and complete self and group evaluations.

Flexible grouping: matching students to skill work by virtue of readiness, not with the assumption that all need the same task, computation skill, writing assignment, etc. Movement among groups is common, based on readiness on a given skill and growth in that skill.

Flexible pacing: allowing for differences in the students’ ability to master the curricula.

Goal setting and planning: involving students in their individual goal setting and the planning of learning activities, one to one with the teacher.

Group investigation: working in cooperative mixed-ability groups on open-ended tasks or in like-ability groups working on appropriately challenging tasks. Usually the focus is on the process and thinking skills.

Hands-on projects/activities: using manipulative to motivate instructions.

High-level questions: questioning that draw on advanced levels of information, requiring leaps of understanding and challenging thinking.

Independent study: providing students with the opportunity to work independently to investigate topics of interest to them.

Interdisciplinary/integrated curricula around a theme: thematic units, which make connections across multiple curricular areas.

Interest centers: are designed to motivate students’ exploration of topics for which they have a particular interest.

Learning contract: is a proposal made prior to beginning a project or unit in which the resources, steps toward completion, and evaluation criteria are agreed upon with the teacher.

Portfolios: provide a means for helping teachers and parents reflect on student growth over time. These are collections of student work are excellent for helping children set appropriate learning goals and evaluating their own growth.