The dangers of differentiation…and what to do about them | Reflecting English. Image: @jasonramasami Differentiation seems to revolve around a dilemma. It is evidently clear that all students have different needs and areas of weakness; yet it is also true – or so it seems to me – that if we obsess about what they cannot do now, or do not know now, we risk losing sight of the direction we could be taking them in. Valiant attempts to ‘differentiate’ often prove counterproductive because, cumulatively, they decrease challenge in the long-term. A few things about differentiation that seem true to me are: 1. That long-term outcomes – in terms of hard results and quality of work – are the true measure of successful differentiation.
If outcomes are improving over time across a range of UDGs, the teacher’s differentiation is almost certainly effective. 2. 3. 4. What follows is my ‘Differentiation Hall of Shame’ – mistakes I have made myself and how I have sought to rectify them. 1. 2. 3. “It is spelt ‘prehaps’, I know it is!” 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. So, the nub of this post is this. Differentiation – practical ideas for the classroom | The view from the maths bunker. A dark evening in late November, the night after a Parents’ Conference and there is a classroom full of teachers sharing good practice. The topic is Differentiation – the teaching and learning version (those reading this in anticipation of neat ways to introduce Calculus from First Principles may be disappointed).
The-5-Minute-Lesson-Plan developed by Ross McGill @teachertoolkit Differentiation is an area of my own teaching that I don’t spend enough time thinking about explicitly. However the experience of teaching a very mixed group AS Maths this year has quickly moved this topic to the forefront of my mind. I kicked off the session by turning to the best of the blogs to see what they had to say… I was keen to link ‘by Outcome’ to Berger’s Ethic of Excellence: it is one thing to set a rich task but how do we drag all of our students up to the best possible outcome.
Next up was Mrs McGough on ‘by Feedback’: tailoring feedback to the individual with a focus on an individual dialogue. Are your students thinking? | Inspiration, not desperation! Differentiation%20instruction2. DifferentiatedInstructionStrategiesKit.pdf. CONNECTED. What is differentiation and why should I care? | Are your students thinking? “Differentiation is marking” @learningspy “Differentiation is planning to challenge the most able and scaffolding down so everyone can make progress.” “Differentiation is all….most…some…” “Differentiation is by task.” (=different worksheets) “Differentiation is by outcome.” (Inevitably) “Differentiation is planning for the students you are about to teach.” “Differentiation facilitates personalised learning.” “Differentiation involves catering for different learning styles: VAK, global vs analytical etc” One of the many good things about training from Ofsted Inspectors (controversial though it is) is that it gives you great confidence as a teacher.
So we should all feel empowered re “differentiation” which I am guessing is the word that most frequently pops up as an area to improve in whole school reviews and individual lesson observations. And this is why, apart from @LearningSpy’s, I reject most of the other definitions above. Like this: Like Loading... Differentiation. Calderstones School. Differentiation by support is achieved by varying the ways in which pupils of different abilities are helped in accessing, interpreting or completing their tasks, including homework. This involves modifying the support offered by the adults, the materials and the pupils’ peers. When using differentiation by support it is important to develop a range of strategies for helping and guiding children without compromising their self-image. Here it is important, for example, to give praise in a manner which encourages the pupil without being so publicly fulsome that it proves embarrassing. Obviously this will vary from pupil to pupil. Similarly independence, and hence self-esteem, can be fostered by classrooms which provide easy access to well-labelled resources.
Where an additional adult is involved, it is important to plan some way of sharing feedback on the pupils’ progress so that both the teacher and the other adult contribute information which helps to shape the pupils’ future learning. Search for differentiation: Special Needs teaching resources.