Differentiation

One size does not fit all

Differentiation by resource

• Extension material: very typically, the ‘extra work’ students can do if they’ve finished the standard work.

• Support material: extra layers of scaffolding and simplification to help students keep up.

• Differentiation by outcome: where the same stimulus leads to open-ended responses

• Completely different tasks: sometimes necessary but complicated to organise.

Impact: Sharing widely used strategies

Differentiation by classroom management

• Outcome (learning objective)• Task• Process (the method of teaching)• Pupil grouping• Tailoring the content of the lesson for the

individual (personalised learning agenda)• Provision (access to support & specialists)• Choice and self-direction• Learning style.

Impact: Great lessons are characterised by T&L where differentiation is integral to the entire process.

How does the spirit of differentiation manifest itself?

1. The teacher knows the students:• As learners• Their needs • Empowering TA’s• Study data – powerful, but irrelevant if it doesn’t

change teacher-student interactions. Look for issues and assimilate it into knowledge.

• Marking is planning• Informal lesson feedback• Feedback from parents

Impact: Teacher knowledge creates opportunities for support, stretch and challenge.

One student’s Deep End is another’s Shallow End

2. The differentiation issue is explicit

• Routines and teaching self help strategies:– ‘What do you do if you don’t know what to do?’

• 3B’s B4 me (brain, book, buddy)

– ‘What do you do if you have finished?’• Ideally, any activity should be set up in advance, so there is no

such thing as finished!• The ‘can do’ spirit – get into the deep end at every opportunity.• Challenge

– Ownership and responsibility for directing their own learning• Groups• Self esteem• Deep end, high challenge

Impact: Well established classroom routines foster self esteem

3. Differentiation strategies

• Self-levelling resources: students able to tackle questions of increasing difficulty, self-checking answers and moving through at different rates.

• Bronze, Silver and Gold questions: questions on cards, at different levels with students able to self-select according to confidence and success.. with teacher prompting some to move on or consolidate.

• Scaffolding frameworks at different levels: essay writing guidance with varying levels of structure. In this example three levels: one with no support; one with paragraph outlines and another with sentence-level starters.

• Homework choices: the overarching project has numerous options for the tasks at different levels.

• Leadership grouping: more able students given leadership responsibility in each of a number of mixed ability groups with a ‘group goal’ that required any group member to report back.

• Inclusive questioning: MWB, think pair share.Impact: Concrete strategies are embedded and habitual

No hands up questioning strategiesThe ‘washing hands’ of learning

Changing something that you do all the time every day has an enormous impact

4. No student is held back by any other

One student’s Deep End is another’s Shallow End

Differentiation

Our goal: all students make excellent progress, regardless of their starting point, without making things too safe, or beyond reach.

Great lessons

• Characterised by teaching and learning where differentiation is integral to the entire process.

• The notion that one size does not fit all and that different learners will be progressing, and different rates is absolutely explicit and embedded.