Putting Differentiation Into Practice

For most of us the biggest obstacle to differentiation is teaching a group of differing abilities and skills to the same outcome.  Although it is possible to aim for different levels in NVQ, OCN, GCSE and BTEC qualifications, this does not allow for differences such as learning preference.  For exam-based qualifications such as AS and A level all students must cover the same content and prepare for the same assessment. 

So how can we make our teaching more differentiated?  Here are some ways to increase differentiation:

1.     Differentiation through teaching strategies:

• Use a variety of methods to accommodate learning preferences (e.g. an activity in a session for each of the VAK preferences).
• Complementary activities (e.g. teacher-led talk followed by practical activity).
• Make specific activities more differentiated (e.g. if showing a DVD, give a worksheet that sets tasks to complete while watching).

Manage the make-up of teams for group[ work so that each group has a range of abilities and variety of skills (e.g. in an exercise that requires a presentation to the whole class try to include a mixture of organisers, talkers and writers).

2.     Differentiation through task:

• Arrange tasks by level of difficulty starting with short mastery questions leading on to more challenging tasks (e.g. short recall questions on the life of Napoleon leading to questions exploring possible causes for his actions – Bloom’s Taxonomy is useful here).
• Use open tasks that allow students to develop their own response (e.g. produce a summary of a topic – this means students might choose to make a written summary which could vary in its detail, they might choose a pictorial response, such as a cartoon strip, or a graphical summary such as a spider-diagram).
• Give a wide range of resources for students to use which researching a topic.  Some students will use all of them, others will use a limited number focusing on those they find easiest (e.g. give resources from books or articles as well as online material on the same topic).
• Produce handouts that will give extra help in completing a task and either choose who to give them to or wait for students to ask for more help (e.g. set a general research exercise using a set text and produce ‘crib’ sheets that list the key passages to include or a list of sub-questions).
• Give extension or stretch tasks for more able students.  These could be explicit tasks or just placed at the end of a longer task, so only the more able will reach them (e.g. a question for an A level student that explores b roader areas than included in the set specification, but will enhance the student’s understanding of the subject.
• Break up practical activities into smaller, more manageable elements.  Consider using specialist equipment where and when required to assist in completing the task.

3.     Differentiation through feedback:

• All feedback that gives a student specific advice for improvement is differentiated.  This is therefore the easiest way to differentiate (see earlier section on Formative Assessment).
• Give specific areas for improvement for this next piece of work (e.g. advising g that, in the next assignment or coursework, a student concentrates on giving more evidence to support answers).
• Use standard feedback sheets that comment on specific criteria making it easier for students to see progress in particular areas (e.g. use sections based on the assessment objectives set by awarding bodies).
• Use peer and self-assessment of work to give extra feedback (see earlier section on Formative Assessment).

4.     Differentiation through support

• Use learning support staff either during or outside class to give specialised help (e.g. students with difficulties organising their work could benefit from a few sessions in learning support).
• Use ILT to support learning (e.g. give access to PowerPoint presentations for students to go over areas that might be unclear).