Mapping a Route Toward Differentiated Instruction

"Mapping a Route Toward Differentiated Instruction" by Carol Ann Tomlinson

     Differentiated instruction takes place when students work at different speeds and levels. Tomlinson suggest that the traditional method of teaching all students the same thing, at the same pace is not necessarily helpful for all student to learn. Her first step to differentiated instruction is to have the end goal in mind. To have successful teaching, students need to have new understanding and be engaged in what they are learning. Just because a teacher gives students different amounts of time to finish an activity or uses different activities that allow movement, creativity and choice, does not mean the teacher is creating differentiated lessons. The lesson must always have the end goal in mind and the students should know what that goal is so they can link their activities to long term learning. Just because the students are engaged or having fun does not mean that they are gaining deeper understanding. I worry about this in my future classroom. I believe teachers need to find creative ways to engage students and provide them with different strategies to learn. One way to do that is use games. If I am not careful, I will use games or fun projects because I want my students to be happy, but they will not further student learning.

      The differentiated lessons begin with key concepts students should know by the end of the unit like "culture". Then teachers use principles like "how cultures are shaped." Next the teacher defines facts and terms students should know by the end of the unit and the skills they should have such as interpreting historical data. Finally, teachers use essential questions to engage student interest in their learning. These questions can be about how the topic is related to their lives. Teachers can differentiate instruction in different ways. One is that student work can be directed by their personal interests. Another is that differentiation depends on the students' readiness. Teachers can give different resources and levels of support depend on their level of understanding and skill. Finally, the instruction depends on the teacher's assessment of student progress. Throughout instruction, the teacher can introduce different strategies like differentiated groups or differentiated graphic organizers to assist in learning at different levels of readiness. I had not previously thought of differentiation this way. I thought of it more as giving the students who work faster another task to work on when they were done. Instead, departments work together to set the key concepts, terms and skills students need to have in order to move on. The teacher creates lessons that engage different levels of skills and understanding, not speeds and not just different activities keep students from calling the class boring.