Lesley has taught ESOL for many years, holds a master's degree in curriculum and instruction, and a doctorate degree in Instructional Leadership.
Anytime we hear the word differentiation, we cannot ignore the core word different. This is a quick way to remember what it means to differentiate instruction. Differentiated instruction involves matching a variety of strategies to learners' needs to lead them to the desired learning outcome.
As a teacher, you can determine differentiation strategies and approaches by examining a learner's test scores, disabilities, strengths, and talents. One key to successful differentiated instruction is understanding that each learner has different needs. Therefore, you should consider a multitude of strategies when planning and delivering instruction in all subject areas.
Instruction should be differentiated because learners come to the classroom with diverse language abilities, cultural beliefs, experiences, and challenges. You should differentiate instruction to make sure that learning is designed to be flexible and beneficial for your students. You should also differentiate instruction to align with the varied challenges that learners may face when trying to meet instructional goals related to classroom, district, state, and national assessments.
Language arts is usually a classroom subject area that targets reading, writing, and grammar. To differentiate instruction in language arts, you must first determine where the learner is at the time you receive the student. This usually hinges upon reading because it determines understanding and growth in all subject areas. In other words, reading differentiation should be your primary focus for starting differentiation in language arts instruction.
After learning the students' levels in reading, you must also determine how a student performed in grammar studies in previous years. Grammar focuses mostly on sentence structure, oral expression, and written expression. After gathering this information, you can determine what content must be targeted and the process for executing the plan. Here are some examples to target when differentiating language arts instruction.
Finally, when differentiating instruction in language arts, you must have a way to measure the content and process for learning. This is usually done by requiring learners to have a final product. A product is a piece of work that demonstrates growth in the targeted learning areas. Here are examples of the types of products that can show mastery or growth in a particular area.
Language arts encompasses different areas of learning, such as reading, writing, and grammar. Students will have diverse needs as they enter their classrooms. Teachers must use differentiated instruction to ensure that they are giving all learners what they need to reach their goals. This approach can equip learners with additional opportunities to be successful in reaching their goals. Educators must also use a variety of products to determine whether strategies are indeed strengthening and empowering learners.
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Using Differentiated Instruction in the Classroom9 chapters | 55 lessons
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