Entry
Entries A-Z
Subject index
Differentiated Instruction
Differentiated instruction is an educational philosophy predicated on the belief that students are individuals who differ according to personal interests, learning styles, and levels of readiness; therefore, teachers should plan for, develop, and adjust curriculum, instruction, and assessment according to student variance. Although the term differentiated instruction (commonly referred to as DI) is relatively new to education, this way of thinking about teaching and learning has been around at least as long as the one-room schoolhouse, where teachers expected and created curriculum for students whose ages, abilities, and backgrounds varied in their classrooms. Today, public schooling is rarely organized to be responsive to unique individual learner needs and strengths. Most students are likely to encounter a standardized and stratified system of schooling and a classroom teacher who gears curriculum and instruction for groups of “second graders” or “geometry students.” Differentiated instruction—where time, student grouping, modes of teaching, and other classroom elements are flexible—stands in stark contrast to a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching and learning.
Students vary in at least three ways that make the modification of curriculum, instruction, and assessment through differentiated instruction an imperative. Learners differ according to readiness (their developmental and cognitive capacity to work with a specific idea or type of concept at a particular time), interest (in their innate curiosity to engage in particular activities or topics), and learning profile (their style of learning, unique talents, and cultural heritage). Whether studying ancient Greece, parts of a cell, or the times tables, to differentiate instruction teachers must explicitly honor and address student differences through curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
Differentiated instruction integrates four essential pedagogical elements: rigorous concept-based curriculum, varied and ongoing assessment, range of instructional strategies, and cultivation of classroom community.
Rigorous Concept-Based Curriculum
A high-quality curriculum is clear about what is essential for students to know, understand, and be able to do. Schooling is increasingly emphasizing (and attempting to do so with greater precision with standards) what students should know and be able to do but are often less clear about what students should understand as a result of this knowing and doing. Schools often overprescribe what students should know and be able to do at the expense of deep and sustained understanding. Differentiated instruction insists that educators make explicit how the facts and skills being taught connect to a conceptual framework. This emphasis on concept-based understanding deepens learning and enables students to transfer knowledge between subjects, grades, and contexts. With differentiated instruction, learning is the constant and time becomes the variable. Proponents of differentiated instruction point out that many teachers face unrealistic curricula demands that require them to race through a course's content in order to “cover” the curriculum. Teaching for understanding requires a flexible pace, one that takes the time to make sure students are constructing lasting knowledge.
Varied and Ongoing Assessment
Assessment and instruction are inseparable in a differentiated classroom; varied and ongoing assessments help teachers understand how well students are learning, so they can adjust their instruction accordingly. Assessment in a differentiated classroom strives to help teachers know their students well—academically, socially, and emotionally. Differentiated instruction embraces pre-, formative, and postassessments and encourages assessment for learning. Traditional grading practices that emphasize norm-referenced, numerical/letter-only-based reporting of student achievement do not readily align with the principles of differentiated instruction. Differentiated instruction necessitates the use of ongoing and instructionembedded criterion-referenced assessment. Teachers who differentiate recognize the need to regularly utilize descriptive diagnostic feedback tools such as rubrics and other more authentic forms of assessment.
...
- Loading...
Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL
-
Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life -
Read modern, diverse business cases
-
Explore hundreds of books and reference titles
Read next
More like this
Sage Recommends
We found other relevant content for you on other Sage platforms.
Have you created a personal profile? Login or create a profile so that you can save clips, playlists and searches