21 (and a few more) Ideas for Differentiation

1 Differentiation by outcomeDoes NOT mean leaving pupils to their own devices you must PLAN to have different outcomes.ALL/MOST/SOME ? COULD/MUST/SHOULD ?

Make sure you include the high end stuff.When to do the difficult parts?

2 Blooming heck, guv!Use Blooms taxonomy to set your outcomes.

Higher level thinking tasks will require questions from the synthesis and evaluation areas.

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3 Differentiation by taskPlan tasks that allow pupils to do what you want them to do.

Higher order tasks are often abstract.

Higher ability pupils might not need as much direct instruction but still need attention.

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4 Differentiation by questioningThe questions you use in everyday assessment can be used to push top end pupils.

Use Blooms for ideas of question stems

Socratic questioning (meta questions)

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Students Asking Questions

Fat Question Starters Skinny Question StartersHow might?How many?Who should?Who was?When might?When did?Predict?What is?Why do you think?Can?Where might?Where did?In what ways?Did?What do you think about?Will?Why do you agree/disagree with?Do you agree/disagree with?What advice would you give?How did?What else could?What did?

5 Differentiation by role

Can some pupils take on a leaders role?

Can you make use of specific skills (warm ups, music, IT skills)?

6 Differentiation by groupGroup by ability (makes differentiation easier).

Group by support opportunity to develop explanation skills

Group by mixed skills allows a group to assign roles themselves

7 Puzzlemaker.comPupil develops their own quiz.

Wordsearch alone is not demanding enough.

Get the pupil to write their own questions; give them the knowledge of how questions are structured.

8 Extra readingDo you have books/magazines related to your subject in the room?

Could pupils read these as extension activities?

Are any A level tasks appropriate?

Doesnt have to be formal.

9 PC worldSpecific tasks that require research.

Opportunity to use IT skills to produce something

(hyperlink, citations, references, digital imaging)

10 Journey to the Dark sidePupil extends the work using a different area of the curriculum.

They relate what has been studied to something they have an interest in.

Difficult to assess accuratelydoes that matter?

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11 Resourceful solutionsCan different resources be available to higher level students?

Could be materials/tools/equipment that can be evaluated and compared to other equipment.

Dont have to be better resources, but may be more difficult/challenging/open to interpretation.

12 Pre-assessmentStudent/Teacher Conversation - as short as a 2 minute talkK-N-W Chart - What do I Know, Need to know & Want to knowJournal - Write what you know about...List - If I say ...What does X make you think of?Concept Map...Observation and listening

13 Get involved Allow able students to be a major part of the lesson.

Get them to lead debates, presentations, performance.

14 Structured researchPupils can find research difficult because they do not know how to structure tasks.

DATENAMEACTIONHOW LONG?REAL TIME

15 Individual outcomesEach student given a unique outcome according to their own targets.

Students select their own outcomes from a series of generic levelled outcomes.

Encourages pupils to be responsible for their learning.

16 Critical importanceCritical thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, self-corrective thinking

It can be used in every subject area, although you may have to go slightly off the path with some topics (i.e. venturing into politics or ethics in some areas that dont usually come into contact with them).

ContThese could be a political cartoon, an ethical dilemma, a current political debate, a historical president (what if? questions), a plot point for an additional reading selection, evaluation of statistical evidence

17 Dictionary corner Use of reference books (dictionary, thesaurus, specific reference books) to identify key terms/words.

A level texts?

19 Key word prose

Use of specific terms and words to develop prose.

Write on board, highlight use of important terms.

20 Kevin BaconUse stimuli words to get from one idea to another, explaining each step.

Ready?

Wolf to triangle

21 Carousel activitiesWhich activities will naturally lend themselves to higher order/open ended/cross-curricular work?

Students need to have the opportunity to:Act like junior practicing professionalsSolve real-world problemsConfront situations that do not have one right answer

Investigating real problems

We dont expect little children to do Great things; but we expect them to do little things in a great wayeven ifat a more junior level than adult scientists, writers, filmmakers, etc.Joseph Renzulli