Making a difference with differential instruction

This week I had the pleasure of reading about differential instruction. I believe that as a teacher this should be one of our biggest pet peeves. We often hear other teachers (and ourselves) saying that one of our goals is to connect with students and make what we teach "real" to them, yet we all to often find ourselves making/utilizing a one size fits all lesson plan for our students.

As teachers, it might seem daunting to create lesson plans based solely around the idea of building on individual students interests and learning level. But it doesn't mean that students don't learn the same topic, it just means that the students can put their own spin on the lesson.

Interest approach:
This is the easiest place to incorporate differentiated instruction. Students can draw on their own experiences to answer beginning questions and use their prior knowledge to know what needs covered before getting into the lesson.

Content:
This is where things might get challenging. Sometimes to incorporate differential instruction in a lesson plan is hard when your trying to cover a broad topic and try to incorporate individualized instruction as well. But through the use of groups and cooperative learning or a pre-class exercise to see where students interests lie, teachers can incorporate students into the day's topics. Another idea, that the article doesn't discuss is student led conversation/debate/discussion. This gives students the opportunity to speak their mind and draw on their background for class.

Assessment:
This could be as simple as having open-ended questions or could get deeper depending on the situation. I think by giving students required questions and optional questions, you can challenge them as well as build on their expertise. When I call them optional questions I don't mean that their optional for students to answer, but instead they are a list of question options, and students must choose at least one question to answer. While many people say that this isn't the best option because students will choose whichever question is easiest, I would say that i agree. And why are these questions easiest, because that's what they understand best, and it builds upon the students prior knowledge. This helps make the information learned real, but keeps information learned in the lesson fun.

So, remember, if a student has issues with using the information provided, change things up, and give them some differential instruction time, it might just clear things up.