Often, just relabeling the columns will be adequate. In a science class where all students complete a nondifferentiated and graded piece of work on a given day, the heading over the grade column would be dated and then might say, for example, “Voc.Test SS” to reflect that the grades below are for a vocabulary test on the solar system. In a class where students of varied readiness levels completed a differentiated and graded assessment on fractions, the head- ing might read “Fract S1D,” indicating that the grades below came from the first summative assessment on fractions, and that the assessment was differentiated. A quick survey of assignments, students working with them, and dates and labels would enable you, for instance, to look at the April 9 heading and reference which assignment Jackson worked with on that day.

Too often, grading is a “gotcha” game in which students spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out what they’re supposed to know on a test. Where there is shared clarity about learning goals (called KUDs in this model of differentiation) and these goals are the clear focus of instruction and of formative and summative assessment, success is in reach for far more students. That statement is not an affirmation of “teaching to the test.” Students should be learning meaningful ideas with the expectation that they will be able to apply and transfer what they are learning—not just memorize something and be able to repeat it on test day.

Learning is difficult—especially if our goal is to stretch each learner regularly. Students need time to practice what they are trying to learn, safely and without judgment; we should provide that time. A good analogy is a sports team that practices for an upcoming game for a number of days in advance of the game. Practices aren’t graded or scored. Instead, the coaches observe, provide some practice for the team as a whole, ensure that individual players practice in ways that will benefit them as individual players and benefit the team, and provide focused feedback to individuals and the team.

Be sure the product assignments require struggling learners to apply and extend all the essential understandings and skills for the unit or learn- ing period in question. If applicable, integrate the skills and other goals from students’ IEPs into relevant, interesting, and meaning-rich product assignments.

A teacher crafts a top-rate product assignment with thought and care, and with explicit reference to the knowledge, understand- ings, and skills students work to develop over a particular learning span. As noted, a good product is not just something students do for enjoyment to wrap up a unit or semester; it must cause students to think about, apply, transform, and even expand on the identified KUDs.

Products are important not only because they represent your students’ extensive knowledge, skills, and understandings—as well as the applications and transfer of those KUDs—but also because they are the element of the curriculum that students can most directly and fully “own.” Students need to experience the reality that what they learn in school transcends the confines of classroom walls, the borders of worksheets, and the bubble sheets of standardized tests. They need to see ideas and skills having utility in the broader world. One of the most significant draws of product assignments, then, is the opportunity they give students to do work that feels significant and important and has ties to real life. They are often created to be shared with a meaningful audience.

Sense-making strategies help students process and “own” ideas and informa- tion in ways that work best for them. The next chapter, on differentiating products, describes strategies that allow students to demonstrate what they know, understand, and can do as a result of all that processing—again, in ways that help each of them move forward as much as possible from their varied entry points.

All students in the class use interactive journals and have a task designed to kick-start consideration of and insight into a powerful and central concept in the book they are about to begin reading. The processes required to complete the three interactive journal assignments, when plotted on the Equalizer, move from foundational to transformational and from concrete to abstract.

Differentiating process according to interest means giving students choices about which facet of a topic they wish to specialize in or helping them link a personal interest to a sense-making goal. During a high school government unit examining how the U.S. Constitution has evolved over time, for example, students might opt to explore how the Constitution and associated laws have defined the rights of women, of African Americans, of young people, or of another group of their choosing.

You can make content of varying complexity levels more accessible to your students by using a variety of support systems, including apps that introduce skills, apps and websites that provide text at different levels of reading complexity, reading partners, audio and video recordings, and peer and adult mentors. Incorporate these strategies to help many students stretch as learners.

Based on persistent formative assessment of student understanding, the teacher may reteach one subgroup of students using a different approach than the one initially used, meet with another subgroup to extend their understanding and skill, and assemble still another subgroup to review content they missed during absences over the last few days. Minilessons can be quite effective in targeting content to students’ interests and learning profiles as well as to their readiness.

Learning contracts between teachers and students come in several varieties, including learning menus, learning agendas, and Think-Tac-Toes. Most formats share a basic assumption: given the expectation that they will do responsible and effective work and be provided the necessary structures to support that work, students will rise to the challenge and enjoy a greater degree of freedom in their use of class time. Contracts can contain both skill and content components, and they are well suited to a differentiated classroom because the components and terms of a contract can vary with a student’s needs.

There’s certainly whole-class instruction in Mrs. Chen’s room, but chances are that whole-class instruction will be followed by opportunities for students to come to grips with ideas and skills on their own terms. Chances are also good that there is flexibility built into much of what goes on so that each student feels the classroom “belongs” to him or her.

Gender also influences how we learn (e.g., Gilligan, 1982). As is the case with culture, there are learning patterns within each gender but great vari- ance as well. More males than females might prefer competitive learning, for example, or more females than males might prefer collaboration. However, many males will prefer collaborative learning and many females will prefer competition. Whereas females might tend to process ideas more intuitively and males more logically, those preferences will also vary considerably within a gender, and the numbers will change with time and in response to context. Since gender norms and preferences are culturally constructed and reinforced, it makes sense that some of the same behaviors we think of as culturally influenced can also be influenced by gender—expressiveness versus reserve, for example, or a group orientation versus an individual orientation, or analytic versus creative or practical thinking.

“Intelligence preference” refers to the sorts of brain-based predispositions people have for learning. Two theorist/researchers have proposed ways of thinking about intelligence preferences. Howard Gardner (1983, 1993) sug- gests that we each have varying strengths in combinations of intelligences he calls verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, musical-rhythmic, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, and existential. Robert Sternberg (1985) suggests that we all have varying strengths in com- binations of intelligences he refers to as analytic

One of the great pleasures of teaching is the chance to introduce students to a world full of ideas and opportunities. Interest-based instruction not only draws on interests students have but can also help them discover new passions. Once again, there are many approaches available to teachers. Here are a couple of examples.

Students who want to do so can also form an interest group with one or more peers to create a new interest center focused on a different habitat. When the interest center is complete, it’s open for their peers to explore. In these interest groups, students sometimes read together, sometimes have book discussions, and sometimes share what they are finding out from their own research. They plan, design, and do the work necessary to create their new interest center. Meanwhile, the whole class continues its study of habitats.

Teachers who care about their students as individuals make it a priority to find out about the interests students bring to the classroom with them, and teachers who care about differentiation find a way to use these insights to inform their planning. Dynamic teachers also try to create new interests in their students. When a teacher is passionate about a topic and shares the passion with his or her classes, similar interests often emerge in some of the learners. A teacher who raises intriguing questions, introduces ideas that make content vibrant, and supports students in learning more about those elements also helps to generate new student interests.

Just as a sound engineer might need to move just one slider on the sound board to achieve the optimal balance, it’s possible for the teacher to design an effective lesson or task for a student by adjusting just one of the factors we’ve discussed to address that student’s particular needs. For example, a student may be a very competent thinker but also be pretty disorganized. That student should be able to handle a complex, abstract, multifaceted task (sliders over toward the right on Figure 9.1) as long as the teacher adjusts the task directions to keep the “independence” slider toward the left— perhaps, for instance, setting more “check-in” dates for that student than is necessary for more self-guided students working on the same assignment

Sometimes students need to complete tasks that are fairly well laid out for them, so they are guided or coached through a process. They don’t have too many decisions to make or unknowns to deal with. Novice drivers begin by managing the car on prescribed driving ranges or delineated routes. Students new to creating computer animations may benefit from using an animation app that presents choices to students and creates an animation based on those choices. In time, many students will enjoy the challenge of creating an animation on a more open-ended and less guided platform.

Students usually need to become familiar with the key information or material about an area of study before they can successfully look at its implications, meanings, or interrelationships. However, once they grasp the information in a concrete way, it’s important that they move on to meanings and implications. Working with concrete information should open a door for meaningful abstraction later on. For example, grasping the idea of plot (more concrete) typically has to precede investigations of theme (more abstract). But ultimately, all students need to delve into the meanings of stories, not just the events. Likewise, it’s generally a more concrete task

There are many reasons why parents stay away from school. In some cases, parental absence may not create a problem for a student. In other cases, however, the parents who stay away are the ones we most need to invite into the child’s world at school. Some of these parents stay away because school was alienating for them and returning is too difficult. Some stay away because they do not speak the language spoken in parent conferences, or because their cultural norm is that parents should not try to usurp the role of the teacher. Some stay away because their lives are too burdened to add one more thing. We err as teachers in assuming that these parents don’t care about their children’s education. That is rare indeed.

It is also useful if you can help these students find a voice to express their tension and unhappiness. The message to parents may be clearer from their child than from a teacher. Also, in a situation where parents are unduly controlling, young people often feel mute. Regaining a voice and becoming a self-advocate can be important in helping these students gain a greater sense of power in their own world.

Helping parents develop a clear understanding of differentiated instruc- tion and how it benefits their children opens the way for you to partner with them to maximize their children’s growth. It’s useful for parents to understand the following:

Giving multiple sets of directions to the class as a whole can be confusing and can call too much attention to who is doing what. A better alternative is creating and giving task cards or assignment sheets to individuals or groups. Another option is going over an assignment with a few responsible students today so that they can share directions with their groups tomorrow. Similarly, each group may have a designated “directions reader” whose job includes answering peers’ questions about directions. It can also be helpful to record direc- tions, especially when they are complex, so students can replay them as needed. Students who are learning English might benefit from directions that are written more simply, with bulleted steps and more white space on the page—or from directions written in their first language, when that

If you teach multiple subjects, you may want to try your hand first in the subject you enjoy most. If you teach different groups of students each day, you might find it advantageous to begin differentiating instruction for the group you find easiest to work with. All this is to say that finding your point of readiness and beginning there is key. Not beginning at all is a guaranteed way to avoid progress. Biting off too much invites discour- agement and failure. Begin where you can, and chart a timeline for your own progress.

Study your students. No teacher will ever have full knowledge of his or her students, but a teacher who studies students from day one, with the intent to continue developing insights about each child throughout the year, will be in a far better position to teach them well than a teacher who does not have that priority or a teacher who concludes that there are too many students to know them as individuals. There’s no explicit formula for learning about students, but there are a number of good approaches to try.

Sometimes he assigns differentiated homework. Sometimes he asks students to select one of two or three homework assignments they feel will most likely help with their continuing growth in the ideas and skills they are working with in class. Sometimes students all do the same home- work assignment.

As students conduct their in-class or library research, Ms. Jeffries encourages them to share with one another in a round-robin discussion both sources and ideas they find interesting. Students also keep a running class list of topics that they might explore for their investigations, such as medical practice in their town during the Civil War, disease patterns, the local Civil War economy, the architecture and buildings in the town then and now, roles of local citizens in the military, local politics during that period, and schooling or education during the Civil War. Within two to four days, students decide on a first and second choice for their investigation, which they submit to their teacher.

Mrs. Riley also sets up a rotating series of interest centers, which allow students to explore topics like acting, how to make storyboards, and how to use an app to create an animation, in addition to science- and math-related topics. She’s careful to stock these with content reflecting the contributions from varied cultures, races, and economic backgrounds. Interest centers are available at various times during the week. Students select which interest centers to attend, and Mrs. Riley keeps an eye on who gravitates to which topics; this is good information that she can use. Most interest centers in Mrs. Riley’s classroom are available for two to four weeks. Students often make suggestions for interest centers and sometimes contribute materials for the centers.

presents a teacher plan for seven segments in a three-week middle school social studies unit on the Middle Ages, indicating whole-class, small-group, and individual work; flexible grouping; and use of varied instructional strategies to address student readiness, interest, and working arrangements. Note that both Figures 5.4 and 5.5 show only a portion of a unit plan.

It’s also important that students understand how to work together in respectful and productive ways. For example, in his high school math classes, Ginsburg (2015) asked students to engage together in “productive struggle” through a “hierarchy of help plan” in heterogeneous groups. Students first worked independently on assignments, using their best thinking to address complex problems. Next, students consulted with one another, sharing ideas and seeking guidance. Only if everyone in the group was stuck could they ask the teacher for help. Differentiated classrooms offer prime opportunities for students from a broad range of backgrounds to learn from and teach one another. That happens, however, only when teachers carefully construct and guide learning opportunities designed to ensure equity of access to high-quality learning experiences that work for all members of the group.

Students feel safe in the classroom. Not only does safety presuppose the absence of physical danger, it requires the absence of emotional danger as well. Students in a differentiated classroom should know it’s a good thing to ask for help when it’s needed, that it’s fine to say you don’t know, that an earnest question will get an earnest response, that eyes will not roll when someone expresses a thought that seems unusual or evident, that fledgling ideas will be given a chance to develop, and so on. Safety means that when I try a new skill, expend effort, or take a risk with a creative idea, I won’t be thought of as foolish or odd. Safety happens when you feel accepted as you are and valued enough that people want to help you become even better.

Balance student-selected and teacher-assigned tasks and working arrangements. Although the split will vary somewhat for each student, based on the student’s maturity, the nature of the task, classroom condi- tions, and so on, all students should regularly have choices to make, and all students should regularly be matched with tasks compatible with their needs and interests. The goal holds steady: to help all students increase their capacity to make choices that benefit their learning and development as people.

Students have to know that their teachers see them, value them, and are active supporters of their success. Most students need to feel cared about before they will care about academics. For most students, that means the teacher takes time to learn about them and understand them—and sees them before their grades or their test scores. For some students, “feeling seen” can be even more basic than that. Consider one student whose behavior was so challenging that she was bounced from teacher to teacher. About the fourth time she was reassigned, her new teacher sat on the floor beside her and asked a simple question: “What can I do for you?” The girl broke into tears. “I just want a bath and to look like everyone else,” she sobbed. Given a chance to take showers, access to clean clothes, and a new haircut, this student’s attitude and behavior shifted remarkably (Hayman, 2016). Remember that learning takes place only when fundamental safety, physical, and social needs are met. Caring teachers in all classrooms—and certainly in differentiated ones—know that their success and that of their students is dependent on understanding and working to meet those needs, both before and during instruction.

A good coach has clear goals for the team, and for every individual on the team. Practices involve some common activities, but they will also likely call on each player to improve areas of weakness and polish areas of strength. The coach is generally part psychologist, required to understand what motivates each player and use that understanding to develop his or her skill, by investing sweat and effort and risking pain. However, the coach must also build a team spirit that transcends individual concerns. During practices and games, the coach maintains an active role—running the sidelines, motivating, giving directions, calling small groups aside at key times for strategy adjustments. But it’s the team, not the coach, who actually plays the game.

Position students for success. This involves clarifying not just the learning goals but the means to these goals, and providing support for that journey as long as support is required. It might mean working regularly with students on how to improve in reading and writing, how to use organizers and other structures to help them learn, how to set goals and monitor their progress toward those goals, how to get help when they are stuck, and so on. It definitely means selecting assessments that are not highly dependent on English but instead offer multiple ways for students to take in, make sense of, and express learning. It means providing personalized feedback and helping the ELL focus on his or her next steps. It’s import- ant, too, to be sensitive to the fact that ELLs can experience “low status” in a classroom because of their language or cultural differences. There are

Teach with a growth mindset. People who operate from a fixed mindset believe that their capacity for success—their talent—is dictated by birth and environment: “You’re either smart or you’re not.” Conversely, people with a growth mindset operate from the belief that our most basic abilities are only a starting point and that dedication to a task and sustained “wise” work can greatly extend those fundamental abilities (Dweck, 2008). While many people, adult and young people alike, fall prey to fixed mindset, it is particularly likely for students who persistently struggle in school to begin to believe that their failure is preordained. Before strugglers with a fixed mindset can shed that orientation in favor of a vastly more promising one, they need (1) teachers who believe in them and communicate that belief to them, (2) consistent engagement with interesting work that is just a bit beyond their current levels of competency, and (3) the support necessary to achieve success with that work.

Some students may be advanced in September and not in May—or in May but not in September. Some may be advanced in math but not in reading, or in lab work but not in memorization of related scientific formu- las. Some may be advanced for a short time, while others will be advanced throughout their lives but only in certain endeavors. Some learners are consistently advanced in many areas. Some advanced learners take care to hide their status because they fear peer ramifications for appearing “too smart.” Some students are clearly advanced when we see them in the con- text of the very limited experiences life has offered them, but do not stand out as remarkable if we compare them only to their more privileged peers.

We know that learning happens best when a learning experience pushes the learner a bit beyond his or her independence level. If the challenge is too little, as when a student continues to work on understandings and skills already mastered, little if any new learning takes place. If the challenge is too great, and tasks are far beyond a student’s current point of mastery, the outcome is frustration, not learning (Sousa & Tomlinson, 2011; Vygotsky, 1986; Willis, 2006).

In a differentiated classroom, the teacher proactively plans and carries out varied approaches to content, process, and product in anticipation of and response to student differences in readiness, interest, and learn- ing needs.

In a differentiated classroom, assessment is no longer predominantly something that happens at the end of a unit to determine “who got it.” Diagnostic pre-assessment routinely takes place as a unit begins, to shed light on individuals’ particular needs and interests in relation to the unit’s goals. Throughout the unit, systematically and in a variety of ways, the teacher assesses students’ developing readiness levels, interests, and approaches to learning and then designs learning experiences based on the latest, best understanding of students’ needs. Culminating products, or other means of “final” or summative assessment, take many forms, with the goal of finding a way for each student to most successfully share what he or she has learned over the course of the unit.