8 Easy Ways to Differentiate Instruction

This Week with Sara Fitts is reviewing 8 easy ways to differentiate instruction.  Differentiation of instruction is definitely not a new concept; however, some educators treat  it as if it were.  Hopefully the following strategies will emphasize how easy it really is to  differentiate instruction.

1. You already differentiate instruction regardless of what you call it.  There are always at least two ways to work a problem or two ways to define a vocabulary word. So whenever you illustrate a different way to do something, you are differentiating instruction.
2. Break your lesson into mini-lessons.  By simply breaking down a lesson into several different parts, you can easily differentiate instruction.  You can present a mini-lesson and then let your students practice the new concept.  Then the next mini-lesson can build upon the next part of the lesson.  Continue this process and you will see definite benefits.
3. Ask open-ended questions instead of yes or no questions.  This immediately increases the teaching and learning in the moment.  It requires much more from the student.  It leads to higher-order thinking skills - leading to higher-order writing and speaking.
4. Focus only on what is essential for the student to know and understand.  By focusing on the essential information, you know the student will also focus on the essential information.
5. Base your content on student interests and you will definitely see increased engagement in the lesson.  Whether I was teaching algebra or AP Statistics, I tried to utilize what my students were interested in to base my class examples on.  It is amazing to see how fashion can be used in a class example!
6. Have high expectations for every student every day.  Continue to raise the expectations higher and higher and reap the rewards.  
7. Provide students with choices in class work assignments, homework, and projects.  When students can have some choice, I have found that they will work harder and get  better grades and scores.
8. Give personal feedback to students as often as you can.  This provides  encouragement as well as praise for every student regardless of ability.  And I believe  very strongly that every student will improve based on your candid assessment and  feedback.

These are simply some of the easiest ways I know to incorporate differentiated instruction into any classroom regardless of content or grade-level.

Sara L Fitts retired from public education as a math teacher, high school principal, and instructional coach.  She owns SLF Consulting specializing in academic and instructional coaching and consulting.  Please follow SLF Consulting on Twitter and like us on Facebook.  For more information, visit us today.