Instructional Strategies for Differentiating Instruction

Instructional Strategies for Differentiating Instruction

Grade Levels

Detailed Description

Providing a Multitude of Examples

K-12

Lessons with a number of potential explanations for the end result are important. Lessons should always provide examples in different genre categories that encompass a broader number of interests or genres.

Sufficient Exploration of Crucial Features

The primary elements of the lesson plan are clear and concise. No students can move to more complicated understanding without first mastering the basics. Lesson plans need to highlight these features to show their importance and relevance to other core concepts.

Lessons Tailored to Learning Goals

4-12

The method of delivery can be adjusted in order to meet specific learning goals in the class. Introduction activities can help teachers understand individual skills and abilities. Understanding from an individual level can then help teachers to use specific strategies to target these groupings.

Use of Multi-Media Components

K-12

Lessons must incorporate multi-media designs. Working with creative technology helps students express themselves and their own individuality through the learning process. It is also more engaging, leading to greater levels of participation within the learning process.

Proper Practice Provisions

3-12

Students must be given time and support to practice their learning material. Guided support followed by independent practice can help provide students time to practice, and then receive appropriate feedback based on their results.

Flexible Demonstrations

K-12

Lessons need to be able to be flexible to adapt to the learning environment as the learning process is taking place. When certain questions are raised or topics discussed, the teacher needs to stick with that theme and work from different perspectives as they arrive.

Providing or Choice

K-12

Lessons must provide for students to be better able to choose their method of practice and delivery. Having different options for homework assignments can help provide for students to engage and express their learning.

Incremental Challenges

1-12

Once a student has mastered one element, there must be another one to add on to that understanding. This helps keep older topics relevant, and students can feel a sense of accomplishment through meeting the incremental challenges.

Engagement of Individual Feedback

4-12

Students should be able to be active participants in their own learning processes. Having student-oriented content generated throughout the process helps students is able to address their own learning concerns.

Instructional Strategies for Differentiating Instruction

Differentiating instruction is meant to help widen the capability of lessons. It is a strategy commonly used in order to facilitate different types of learning in a widely diverse classroom. The concept is "based one the premise that instructional approaches should vary and be adapted in relation to individual and diverse students in classrooms;" and as such, it "requires a teacher to be flexible in their approach to teaching and adjust the curriculum and presentation of information to learners rather than expecting students to modify themselves for the curriculum" (Hall, Strangman, & Meyer 2011).

One way this can be done is through designing multi-faceted lessons that have a multitude of different learning activities designed to reach out to the different types of intelligences each of the students have within the larger context of the classroom. These lessons will require a wider breadth of materials and elements in order to provide the necessary access to individual comprehension. Keeping the lesson plan and organization flexible is a crucial element of differentiation lesson plan design. This helps the teacher be able to adapt to the differing demands of each student within the context of the class. Grouping and other organization of lesson plans should also be able to be fluid, adapting to new situations as they arise and without interruption of the learning process (Peszler 2006). Access to both materials and participation is crucial to the learning process from within the perspective of differentiation learning. Thus, grouping should allow for the best level of student engagement.

Speaking of engagement, another really promising strategy within the modern teaching context is the use of multi-media methods in increasing the engagement and enjoyment of the learning process. Students today are glued to their very sophisticated media devices. Social media and technology have provided a vast and seemingly endless world. This power can be harnessed according to (Hall, Strangman, & Meyer 2011). The use of multi-media components in lesson structures help make learning fun and thus increases the mental engagement of the student who is participating.