Key Elements of Differentiated Instruction

Differentiation can be accurately described as classroom practice with a balanced emphasis on individual students
and course content. In other words, in an effectively differentiated classroom, it is understood that
 Students differ as learners in terms of background experience, culture, language, gender, interests,
readiness to learn, modes of learning, speed of learning, support systems for learning, self-awareness as a learner,
confidence as a learner, independence as a learner, and a host of other ways.
 Differences profoundly impact how students learn and the nature of scaffolding they will need at
various points in the learning process.
 Teachers have a responsibility to ensure that all of their students master important content.
 Teachers have to make specific and continually evolving plans to connect each learner with key
content.
 Teachers are required to understand the nature of each of their students, in addition to the nature of
the content they teach.
 A flexible approach to teaching "makes room" for student variance.
 Teachers should continually ask, "What does this student need at this moment in order to be able to
progress with this key content, and what do I need to do to make that happen?"
At the core of the classroom practice of differentiation is the modification of four curriculum-related elements—
content, process, product, and affect—which are based on three categories of student need and variance—
readiness, interest, and learning profile.

Content
The knowledge, understanding, and skills we want students to learn.
During differentiation, we emphasize the methods that students use to access key content (e.g., independent
reading, partner reading, text on tape, text with images, listening comprehension, online research, communication
with experts, group demonstrations, small group instruction) rather than change the content itself (Tomlinson &
McTighe, 2006). There are instances, however, when some students need to go back to prerequisite content in order
to move ahead, when advanced learners need to move ahead before their classmates are ready to do so, and when
student Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) direct the teacher to change the content itself.

Process
How students come to understand or make sense of the content.
Real learning—of the sort that enables students to retain, apply, and transfer content—has to happen instudents,
not to them (National Research Council, 2000; Wiggins & McTighe, 1998). The word process is often used as a
synonym for activities. However, activities can be misaligned with content goals and fail to require students to think
through, grapple with, or use essential knowledge, understanding, and skills. Therefore, it is wise to substitute the
term sense-making activities to emphasize that what we ask students to do in the name of learning or practice should
help them "own" the content, see how it makes sense, and realize how it is useful in the world outside the classroom.

Product
How students demonstrate what they have come to know, understand, and are able to do after an extended period of
learning.
A product is not something students generate in a single lesson or as a result of an activity or two. Rather, it is a rich
culminating assessment that calls on students to apply and extend what they have learned over a period of time.
Tests have these characteristics when they present students with complex problems to solve or issues to address in
ways that require understanding of key ideas, transfer of knowledge, and application of skills. Effectively designed
authentic assessments inevitably have these characteristics.
Differentiate according to students;

Readiness
A student's current proximity to specified knowledge, understanding, and skills.
It is important to keep in mind that readiness is not a synonym for ability, and the two terms should not be used
interchangeably. The term ability connotes what we sometimes believe to be a more or less fixed and inborn
trait. Readiness suggests a temporary condition that should change regularly as a result of high-quality teaching.
You'll see, as this chapter continues, that thinking in terms of "student readiness" rather than "student ability" is
beneficial to both student and teacher. To grow academically, students must work consistently with tasks that are
sharply focused on essential knowledge, understanding, or skills and that are a bit too difficult for their current level of
readiness. In addition, students must have a support system in the form of peers and/or teachers who will help them
surmount this difficulty and emerge from the task (or sequence of tasks) at a new and more advanced level of
readiness (Sousa, 2001; Vygotsky, 1978, 1986; Wolfe, 2010).

Interest
That which engages the attention, curiosity, and involvement of a student.
Student interest is tied directly to student motivation to learn (Collins & Amabile, 1999; Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).
When student interest is engaged, motivation to learn is heightened, and learning is enhanced. Personal interests
are typically linked to a student's strengths, cultural context, personal experiences, questions, or sense of need.

Learning profile
A preference for taking in, exploring, or expressing content.
A student's learning profile is shaped by four elements and the interactions among them:
1. Learning style—A preferred contextual approach to learning. Learning styles include working alone or with a
partner, in a quiet place or with music playing, in a bright room or a darkened environment, while sitting still or
moving around (Dunn & Dunn, 1992, 1993; Gregorc, 1979).
2. Intelligence preference—A hard-wired or neurologically shaped preference for learning or thinking. For
example, intelligence preferences include verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, kinesthetic, interpersonal,
intrapersonal, musical-rhythmic, spatial, analytical, practical, creative (Gardner, 1985; Sternberg, 1985).
3. Gender—Approaches to learning that may be shaped genetically or socially for males versus females. While
not all males (or females) learn in the same ways, there are gender-based patterns of learning, and it may be
advantageous to utilize teaching and learning options that reflect a range of gender-based preferences while we
continue to enhance our understanding of ways in which gender and learning are interrelated (Gilligan, 1982;
Gurian, 2001; Tannen, 1990).
4. Culture—Approaches to learning that may be strongly shaped by the context in which an individual lives and
by the unique ways in which people in that context make sense of and live their lives. For example, how people
communicate, relate to one another across generations, envision power structures, celebrate and mourn, and
show respect are shaped by culture. As they do between genders, patterns of learning vary somewhat across
cultures, but it is not the case that all individuals from a given culture approach learning in the same way. Thus,
it is likely advantageous to student learning for a teacher to provide a range of teaching and learning
approaches that, in turn, reflect a range of culture-based learning preferences. In order to do this, it is essential
that teachers study the diverse cultures of the students they teach so they can achieve a more multidimensional
understanding of the relationship between culture and learning (Delpit, 1995; Heath, 1983; Lasley, Matczynski,
& Rowley, 1997).

A teacher in an effectively differentiated classroom seeks to develop increasing insight into students' readiness
levels, interests, and learning profiles. In order to develop instruction that maximizes each student's opportunity for
academic growth, the teacher then modifies content, process, product, and affect. Figure 1.1 provides specific
examples of how this can play out in the classroom for content, process, and product. By contrast, attending to
students' affective needs generally occurs when a teacher adapts the learning environment rather than the other
three classroom elements.
Figure 1.1. Examples of Differentiation Based on Student Need

Readiness Interest Learning Profile

Content materials at varied  range of materials that apply key  varied teaching modes
readability levels ideas and skills to a variety of real-world (e.g., verbal, visual, rhythmic,
 spelling assigned by situations practical)
proficiency  teacher presentations designed  video or audio notes for
 alternate presentation to link to student interests students who learn better with
methods repeated listening
 targeted small group
instruction
 front-loading vocabulary
 highlighted texts

Proces  tiered activities  expert groups  choice of working

s  mini-workshops  interest centers conditions (e.g., alone or with a
 flexible use of time  supplementary materials based partner)
 learning contracts on student interests  tasks designed around
 varied homework  jigsaw intelligence preferences
assignments  independent studies  RAFT options
 RAFT options  interest-based application options blogs and vlogs to share
 RAFT options ideas

Product tiered products  use of student interests in  Complex Instruction

 personal goal-setting designing products  varied formats for
 varied resource options  Design a Day options expressing key content
 check-in requirements  use of contemporary  varied working
based on student independence technologies for student expression arrangements
 providing samples of good  varied modes of
student work at varied levels of expressing learning
complexity