Description
Differentiated instruction is a teaching approach in which educational content, process, and product are adapted according to student readiness, interest, and learning profile. Unlike individualized instruction, in which teaching must be directed to the specific needs and skills of each individual student, differentiated instruction addresses the needs of student clusters.
What Is Differentiated Instruction?
The aim of differentiating instruction is to maximize each student's growth by meeting each student where he or she is and helping the student to progress. In practice, it involves offering several different learning experiences in response to students' varied needs.
Differentiating Instruction
At its most basic level, differentiating instruction means shaking up what goes on in the classroom so students have multiple options for taking in information, making sense of ideas, and expressing what they learn. In other words, a differentiated classroom provides different avenues to acquiring content, processing or making sense of ideas, and developing products.
It Begins with Good Instruction
Effective differentiation is based on the foundation of good instructional principles. Without good instruction there won't be effective differentiation. Recent research has expanded our knowledge of what makes for good instruction. One significant finding is that the brain cannot effectively retain lots of unconnected facts.
How to Differentiate Instruction
Effective teachers have been differentiating instruction for as long as teaching has been a profession. It has to do with being sensitive to the needs of your students and finding ways to help students make the necessary connections for learning to occur in the best possible way.