Lesson planning 3: Differentiation - what is it and how can I do it?

We all learn in different ways, and from different starting points.

Differentiation simply means a way of teaching to ensure that all the different learners in your class can access the lesson, and learn what they need to learn.

You do not need to plan a different lesson for 30 students! But you do need to be aware of what the differences are, so that you can ensure ‘progress for all’ (Ofsted ‘speak’!)
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​Consider what national research has found:

• Learners are too dependent on their teachers
• Lessons are taught to the middle (ignoring students at either end of the ability range)
• More able students are often overlooked and under-developed due to a lack of challenge (consider how often some students have to wait until the end of the lesson before they can be stretched)
• Teachers are caught up in specification coverage (we have to finish this topic because we have little time to complete the course – regardless of who is being left behind...)
• The large majority of questions asked by teachers relate to factual recall and comprehension (no stretching higher-order thinking questions)

​Remember – the purpose of differentiation is to make sure that all students can access the information and move forward in their learning of new material. 

​There are a variety of ways you can differentiate for your students:

1. Scaffold their learning. This means exactly how it sounds – like a scaffold tower supports the building, your learners may need additional support. They can get this through
   1. a writing frame
   2. a list of key terms they could use, with their spellings
   3. another person – peer support
   4. a set of questions to answer to enable a more extended writing activity

Your mentor will have many more suggestions of scaffolding learning that you could use - and there will be a further post detailing some of these.

2. ​You may differentiate through task. This means setting slightly different tasks, based on ability. You could do this through

1. Having a support sheet available should they struggle with the initial task – but only handed out if they need it. 
2. If they are working through an exercise, you may suggest that certain students start at a later number in the book – not having to go through the early, easier questions if they are already proving their understanding.
3. In group work - seat them in ability groups, setting a slightly different task for different groups. For example:
   
   1. Higher ability students can find information from a selection of sources without additional guidance; lower ability students may need a list of page numbers or highlighted texts to find the information
      
   2. Higher ability students should be able to answer the higher order questions like – why does this behave in this way?
      
   3. Or they should be asked to complete a task to analyse or evaluate a piece of information.

Have a look at the Bloom's Taxonomy diagram below.

The higher order tasks are those at the top of the pyramid. These are harder tasks such as evaluation and analysis.

Those tasks which most students should be able to access are those at the base, such as comprehension and knowledge.

Look at one of your lesson plans, and see if there is a range of expectations - to challenge the higher ability students! Or do most of your tasks ask them to prove understanding and most of your questions ask for recall of facts?

3. Target your questioning so you are stretching, challenging and supporting depending on who you ask your questions to. Questioning is one of the most successful ways to ensure all students are stretched. (Later blog posts on questioning).

Things to avoid:

Giving more of the same to those who finish early!

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​Consider the different types of learner you may have (even in ‘sets’!):

• Intellectual
• Emotional
• Physical
• Social

And how may this be seen:

• Speed of mastery
• Confidence levels
• Willingness to participate
• Outcomes of learning 

​Remember, differentiation is - an intervention that ensures every student makes progress

​Additional activities to support the lower ability students may include:  

• Display words plus images
• Card games to practice key words
• Question and answer cards – find the pair
• Link cards
• Loop cards

Think also about differentiating your learning outcomes. 

This doesn’t mean that the students will be learning different things – but that they will be achieving different levels of expertise.

Consider the following outcome starter terms:  

Must
Should
Could
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For example:  
Learners must:

• Identify a range of ways in which coasts are used by humans and the natural world

Learners should:

• Describe and explain a number of reasons why these uses are important to humans and the natural world

Learners could:

• Be able to evaluate the importance of coasts to the life of humans and the natural world
• Be able to explore conflicts that can occur over the use of coasts 

Take one of your lesson plans, and re-think your learning outcomes with this in mind.

Reflect on this for portfolio evidence!

Next week we will look further at scaffolding task instructions to support all learners.