1. Methods such as scaffolding, group work, hands-on activities, and learning profiles are just a few ways a teacher can engage their students through differentiated instruction.
2. Knowing your students is key to improving engagement and outcomes in the classroom and differentiated instruction can help with that.
3. I also believe that just as teachers should offer differentiated instruction, they too should offer a variety of different assessment methods throughout their unit plans.
3.1. One that has worked really well for my grade four students last year was exit cards. I used exit cards at the end of a lesson where I asked students a key question that they would answer on a sheet a paper and submit before they could leave the class. This was a way for me as a teacher to assess the students’ daily learning, and to see what key concepts I needed to review with the students before progressing.
3.2. Anecdotal notes, self and peer-evaluations, kahoots, oral one-on-one assessments, success criteria and rubrics are just a few other examples of differentiated assessment that provides students with many opportunities to succeed in the class!
4. In our classrooms we teach our students that they are all unique and encourage them to embrace and share their differences. Therefore, if our students are all different they cannot all learn the same way. This is why differentiated instruction is so important in the classroom if we want all students to be engaged and to succeed, which is every teachers main goal.
5. I believe that differentiated instruction will help all students as it will allow them to be exposed to different ways of learning, and in that way allows them all a better chance to succeed.
6. According to Carol Ann Tomlinson, there are four elements of the classroom that can be differentiated to support all learners. Content, process, products, and the learning environment are the four elements that can be adjusted based on, “student readiness, interest, or learning profile”
6.1. Content discusses what the student needs to learn, and the student access to the learning material. Content in the classroom can be differentiated based off of student needs.
6.2. Process is how the student learns, what they do in order to practice and master a skill or concept. Not all students are the same and therefore, they learn differently.
6.3. Product refers to the summative assessment, the product that students produce to demonstrate, apply, or extend their learning within a unit.
6.4. The learning environment can be differentiated by ensuring that there is a space for quite independent work as well as inquiry based learning.
6.5. Tomlinson, Carol Ann. "What Is Differentiated Instruction?" 2009. Reading Rockets. WEB. 12
