Differentiation

As classrooms become more diverse, you may have heard of a greater need for differentiation. Differentiation is the key to engaging all students in the class by accepting them where they are. Teachers plan for a combination of lessons, activities, and assessments that allow each student to leverage their unique strengths in order to access the learning goal.

The old days of having one lone path of learning for all students in the classroom are recognized as being pretty ineffective for learning. When the task isn’t an appropriate challenge or isn’t meaningful to a student’s interests and past experiences, “success” is based in grades and percentages rather than in joy and wonder.

But differentiation isn’t a simple task for a teacher. A teacher is required to have access to a plethora of resources so their learning tasks can be modified in terms of complexity, literacy, or learning styles. A teacher needs to constantly be assessing and adjusting their plans to meet students’ changing needs, strengths, and interests.

So, as a parent, it’s helpful to have an understanding of some options to suggest when discussing your child’s learning needs. Differentiation involves taking multiple approaches to the content that is taught, the process of student learning, and the product students create to demonstrate their learning.

How is your child being taught the material? Is it always lectures? Is there reading involved? Are they encouraged to discover through hands-on exploration?

How is your child making sense of and practicing what they’ve been taught? Is it questions from a textbook? Is it group work with peers? Is it creating and testing hypotheses?

And how is your child demonstrating their learning? Is it always multiple-choice tests? Are they ever offered the option to show their learning through a conversation? Are they allowed to make improvements based on feedback that are reflected in their grades?