Dare to Differentiate

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SESSION AGENDA

1. Background discussion
2. Understanding differentiation
3. Strategies for differentiation

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"Equality is giving everyone the same pair of shoes.

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Equity is giving everyone a pair of shoes that fits."

Group Discussion

What do equity and equality have to do with differentiation?

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Choose one or more of the resources to explore in order to understand differentiation.

Interview: Faculty Conversation: Carol Tomlinson on Differentiation

Article: “What is Differentiated Instruction?”

Video: Carol Tomlinson on Differentiation

Individual Practice

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Take notes on and be ready to share:

• what differentiation is and is not,
• situations that might require differentiation,
• how differentiation benefits students and how to differentiate so that students receive the most benefit.

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Guess what?

You just got differentiated!

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Whichever resource you chose, you achieved your learning goal (understanding differentiation). You just chose the best way for you to learn the information.

Group Discussion

• How did differentiation benefit you, the student, in this scenario?
• What have you learned about differentiation?

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Experts say differentiation falls into four main categories:

1. content
2. process
3. product, and
4. learning environment.

Tomlinson, C.A. (2024). What is differentiated instruction? Reading Rockets.

Review the resources on the next slide to see ideas and specifics on how to differentiate for these main categories.

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Resources

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A Practice Guide to Planning for Intentional Differentiation

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6 Strategies for Differentiated Instruction in Project-Based Learning

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Differentiating Instruction: It’s Not as Hard as You Think

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High Impact Teaching Strategies in Action: Differentiated Teaching

Small Groups

Group 1: content

Group 2: process

Group 3: product

Group 4: learning environment

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Review the resources with your small group and make a list of favorite differentiation strategies for your group’s category.

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Time to vote!

How do you want to share your list of favorite strategies?

Option 1: Share out verbally

Option 2: Make small posters with images and some text

Option 3: Add to a group document to make a reference guide

Option 4: Jigsaw (each member represents their first group as the “expert” in a new group)

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Differentiation Inspiration

Student Choice Tic-Tac-Toe

Student Choice Menu

Individual Practice

1. Choose a lesson (ideally one you will facilitate in the near future).
2. Determine the learning goals for the lesson.
3. Choose a piece of the lesson to differentiate. Consider what is going to give students the most benefit.

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1. I used to think, but now I…
2. One question I still have is…
3. I plan to use what I learned by…

Ready to exit?