Differentiated Learning in my classes at Kolbe

Jeff Allen, who is our Deputy in charge of curriculum development in the College - and a myriad of other areas as well - is leading the charge on differentiated learning. It is our desire as a college of teachers to improve our pedagogy. I will add material from a document he has prepared for us and reflect on it in the light of my experiences in the classroom and my desire to improve my teaching.



Classroom structures at any level of schooling are rarely homogeneous and therefore a teacher directed program set to only one style of learning or one pace of learning will generally fail to meet the needs of the majority of the students in the class.

This was only too obvious today in my Year 12 RE class. When I suggested that we use blogs to reflect on what relationships, commitment and marriage meant to us, I discovered that only one student had ever tried blogging. I was surprised. So I suggested that they experiment with blogging for a few weeks as we worked our way into the topic of relationships and marriage. After the time of experimentation, we would decide whether or not to make use of blogging as a reflective tool. I explained to them that it was my hope that they would choose to run a blog and that I would be able to use their reflections in my assessment of their work. The question had to come. As it so often is with this wonderful group, Madilyn asked, "What if some of us don't want to blog?"

In a differentiated learning context, there has to be room for multiple assessment strategies. I am not a fan of normative assessment frameworks. I believe that learning can be measured along a continuum that is individualised, that is, we arrive at an understanding of how much the student has learned and then make a balanced judgment of its worth in terms of the scale that is used for that subject. In the context of Beliefs and Values, we determine whether or not the student demonstrates competency with a particular set of outcomes, and if so, then has she demonstrated it satisfactorily, highly satisfactorily or very highly satisfactorily.

Madilyn and others liked what I was saying. She responded in terms of the topic we had been studying: freedom and justice. They believed that the view I was expressing would give power back to the student and increase the likelihood that the subject would become more relevant to them.

And the conclusion? Well, I believe that differentiated learning exists when students are able to choose different ways of learning and the teacher then uses different ways of assessing the learning in keeping with the ways students choose to learn.

The Aim of Differentiating Learning

“Essentially, the aim of differentiating instruction is to maximize each student’s growth by meeting each student where he or she is and helping the student to progress. In practice, it involves offering several different learning experiences in response to students’ varied needs.
Learning activities and materials may be varied by difficulty to challenge students at different readiness levels, by topic in response to students’ interests, and by students’ preferred ways of learning or expressing themselves. This is not the individual education program (IEP) approach where there are different experiences for all 20-30 students in the class. Typically two to four different learning experience are offered by the teacher, or students are given opportunities to make their own choices.”

Kiernan, L. (1996). Differentiating Instruction. (Lesson One. pgs 3 – 4). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Also found at: http://www.ascd.org

Who Is Curriculum Differentiation For? Why Use It?

Meeting the needs of all students in the variety of educational settings teachers may find themselves in, such as mixed ability and self-contained gifted classrooms, poses some interesting challenges for educators.

The often resorted to ‘teach to the middle’ approach may in many cases result in frustration for both students and teachers. Some students, often the gifted, experience the frustration of a curriculum that is lacking in challenge and moves too slowly, whilst other students, usually those with special learning needs, experience the frustration of a curriculum that moves too quickly and which lacks the scaffolding and structure on which they need to frame their learning.

Such frustration sometimes leads to behaviours which are undesirable and non-productive. These behaviours are not always outwardly visible and disruptive. For some students their frustration is more evident in the level to which they become passive and withdrawn from the learning process.

Curriculum differentiation provides a framework that is better able to address the needs of all learners in the classroom and thus reduce some of the frustrations being experienced by both teacher and students.

All students need to regularly experience that moment in their learning where they achieve a ‘personal best - a PB’. In the sporting arena, the achievement of a ‘PB’ is greeted with applause and accolade, and so should it be in the academic arena as well.

Gifted and Talented Education: Professional Development Package for Teachers

Differentiation at the Classroom Level

Differentiation is evident at the classroom level when appropriate challenges are available for all students. Curriculum can be adapted in content, process and product to provide developmentally appropriate opportunities. The evaluation of curriculum materials for suitability is a complex task. It requires an understanding of the relationships between curriculum, instruction and assessment.

Differentiation ranges from slight to major modifications of the curriculum through adjustments to content, processes and skills. It provides a planned, documented and challenging curriculum.

Differentiation should include enrichment and extension activities. Enrichment refers to the broadening of the curriculum to develop knowledge, application, thinking skills and attitudes, to a degree of complexity appropriate to the students’ developmental level (Braggett, 1997).

Enrichment activities are often found only in extra-curricular provisions and need to be written into programs to ensure all students have access. Extension activities involve the deepening of students’ knowledge, understanding and skills.

A differentiated curriculum is a program of activities that offers a variety of entry points for students who differ in abilities, knowledge and skills. In a differentiated curriculum, teachers offer different approaches to what students learn (content), how students learn (process) and how students demonstrate what they have learned (product). Differentiated instruction is a mix of whole-class, group and individualized activities.

Policy and Implementation of Strategies for the Education of Talented and Gifted Students