Differentiated Instruction: Unlock Your Students’ Success in 5 Easy Steps

In a classroom environment, one size definitely doesn’t fit all. You have students with unique backgrounds, interests, skills, and learning styles. To effectively meet the needs of all your students, you need to differentiate your instruction. This means that you adapt learning activities to accommodate the varying abilities and learning styles of all your students. Keep reading to find out why differentiated instruction is so important and how you can implement it in your classroom by using 5 easy steps. If you want more help with differentiating your instruction, join the Differentiated Difference Course.

What Are the Types of Differentiated Instruction?

There are four main types of differentiated instruction. Each one is designed to address the needs of all the students in your class. Let’s take a closer look at each one.

• Differentiation by Content – Change what your students need to learn. This could mean your students choose topics they are interested in for a science project. One student who loves animals might research pandas while a student who likes the solar system researches Mars. It could also mean that students are learning different content based on their current ability levels. For example, one math group might be working on basic multiplication principles while another group is applying what they already know about multiplication to solve more complex problems.
• Differentiation by Process – Change how your students learn the material. Your student have different learning styles. Some of them are visual learners who like to watch videos or read books. Others are auditory learners who want to listen to a story or a lecture. Some students are kinesthetic learners who learn best when they are up moving around or engaged in an activity. By providing different ways for your students to learn, you can meet all of their needs.
• Differentiation by Product – Change how your students demonstrate their understanding. Not all your students are good test-takers. By providing them with other ways to show what they know, you help them gain confidence and feel successful. Choice boards are a great way to differentiate by content. You can provide several different ways for your students to show their understanding of a specific unit or topic. 
• Differentiation by Classroom Environment – Change the classroom conditions that impact learning. Make your classroom a safe environment that provides all of your students with everything they need to experience success. This could mean allowing your students to choose the way they learn best – independently, with a partner, or in a small group. You could also provide flexible seating for your students so they can choose to work at their seat or at a comfortable spot around the classroom.

Why Is Differentiated Instruction Important?

Before we move into the steps that will make it easy to use differentiated instruction in your classroom, let’s talk about why it’s so important.

1. First of all, differentiation promotes equity in your classroom. It ensures that all students, regardless of their current levels, can access the curriculum in a way that meets their needs. Your strugging learners feel supported and successful when you use differentiated instruction. Your higher level students feel challenged and motivated.
2. Next, differentiated instruction boosts engagement. When you take your students’ learning styles and interests into account when planning your lessons, they are more likely to participate and be actively involved in their learning. Your students are also more likely to be engaged when the material is at the perfect level for them.
3. Differentiated instruction also improves your students’ outcomes. They will feel more successful when the instruction is aligned with their readiness levels, interests, and learning styles. When you give your students different ways to show what they know, you’ll be able to truly see whether or not they understand the content.
4. Finally, differentiating your instruction builds confidence. When your students feel successful, they also feel more confident. This confidence will lead to a more positive attitude toward learning.

How Can I Differentiate My Instruction?

If you’re convinced that differentiated instruction is important, now it’s time to dig into easy ways to use it in your classroom. Differentiation often feels overwhelming because you have more than twenty unique learners in your class, and you teach so many different subjects.

These 5 easy steps will help you start differentiating your lessons.

Step #1 – Get to Know Your Students

Before you can differentiate your lessons, you need to know your students – both academically and personally. 

The first week of school is the perfect time to learn about your students. Have them complete these getting to know you activities. Ask them questions about their learning styles and interests. This will help you plan engaging lessons that will allow their strengths to shine.

You should also use the first few weeks of the school year to learn about where your students are academically. Give them reading and math assessments to check their current levels. It’s also a great idea to give a pretest before a unit to see what they already know and what you need to focus on in your lessons.

Step #2 – Plan Your Whole Group Instruction

Now that you have some data about your students’ current levels, it’s time to plan your instruction. If you have a specific curriculum you have to follow, start with that. Teach short whole group mini lessons to expose your students to all the standards they need to know. Your mini lessons should last between 15 and 20 minutes.

Use the data you gathered to see which lessons you should spend more time on and which ones you can move through quickly. If a pretest shows that most of your class has already mastered the content in a lesson, you can move through it quickly and use any extra time to review skills the whole class needs to practice.

Step #3 – Plan Your Small Group Instruction

While whole group instruction is important, the real magic of differentiation happens in small groups. Whether you’re using reading strategy groups, guided math groups, or both, you are really able to meet the individual needs of your students through small group instruction.

Start by looking at your pretest and other assessment data. Look for students who have similar needs. For guided math, I use a preassessment to form three guided math groups – an enrichment group, an on-level group, and a remediation group. Those three groups move to three centers – a meet with the teacher center, a problem solving center, and a technology center. Each center is differentiated so they are practicing the concept at their level.

For reading, I look at standard assessments and benchmark data that is broken down by standard to see which students have mastered a standard and which students need more practice with it. I pull the students who need more practice in small strategy groups of three or four students. This really allows me to focus on their individual needs and help them make progress toward mastering the standard.

Your small groups should be flexible, since one of the goals of differentiation is to build our students’ confidence. If a student is always stuck in a “low” group, he/she will notice that and start to lose motivation if there is no hope of moving to a proficient or above-level group. That’s why I switch my guided math groups at the start of each unit after I give a new pretest. For reading, my strategy groups change based on the reading standard we’re working on that week. 

Step #4 – Build in Differentiation by Process, Product, and Classroom Environment

Okay, so steps 2 and 3 were really based on differentiation by content. We want to make sure we’re meeting our students where they are and helping them make progress toward their goals.

However, we don’t want to forget the other types of differentiation. You can build these into your lessons by considering your students’ learning styles and their interests. 

Here are a few ways to differentiate by process, product, and classroom environment.

• Give your students choices about how they would like to access the lesson material. Allow visual learners to watch an online video to learn the content. Allow auditory learners to listen to a podcast about the topic. Your kinesthetic learners could do a hands-on activity to learn the new content. 
• Use project-based learning in your classroom. This works really well in science, but it can be applied to other subject areas as well. Give your students an open-ended question and allow them to use any process they choose to solve it. 
• Choice boards are a great way to differentiation by product. At the end of a unit, give your students a choice board filled with different activities that will assess their understanding of the content. The students can choose activities based on their learning styles and interests. One student might write a song to show that they understand what they learned. Another student might create a diorama to show their mastery of the same content. 
• Allow your students to choose where they would like to work to differentiate by classroom environment. Some students will choose to stay at their seats and work independently. Other students will choose to move to flexible seating options around the classroom where they can work more closely with their peers. 

While we most often focus on differentiation by content, you should try to build in the other types of differentiation so your students are able to learn in ways that interest them and fit their needs.

Step #5 – Watch as Your Students Gain Confidence and Experience more Success

When you add differentiation to your lessons, you will see a definite change in your students. They will feel like an important part of your classroom community when they see the effort you are making to meet their individual needs. 

Here’s a quick personal story to show you what I mean. I had a third grade student who was so surprised when he wasn’t always in the lowest reading group. The first week we started reading groups, I put the students with other students who were reading at a similar level just to go over reading group expectations and to get them into the routine. This student came to group looking really sad and without any confidence. I figured he didn’t like reading and made a mental note to find ways to help him develop a love of reading.

It turns out I was completely wrong. The next week when I switched up the reading groups based on a standard assessment, he was with different students, and I could see a complete change in him. When I asked him about it, he told me that he was sad to be in a “low” reading group with students he had been “stuck” with for the past two years. He actually loved reading, but he never felt like his hard work paid off because he was always in “that group.” 

When we differentiate our instruction, we give all our students a chance to shine. They feel empowered when they have choices. They feel motivated when they get to select the ways they learn best. And all of that leads to feelings of success and achievement of goals.

Join The Differentiated Difference Facebook Group for more tips to help you differentiate your lessons and meet the needs of all your students. 

Do You Want Help Differentiating Your Lessons?

Join me for The Differentiated Difference Course. I’ll walk you step-by-step through the process of differentiating your lessons. 

You’ll learn: 

• How to differentiate by content, process, product, and classroom environment.
• How to use your assessment data to plan your instruction and meet the needs of all your students.
• How to differentiate your lessons in reading, math, writing, science, and social studies. 

Plus, you’ll have the option to become a member of The Differentiated Difference Club where you’ll get all the materials you need to differentiate your lessons. 

What Do You Think?

What is your favorite way to use differentiated instruction in your classroom?

Let me know in the comments below.

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