HOW TO WORK EFFECTIVELY WITH A HETEROGENEOUS CLASSROOM

A classroom consisting of students of various races, cultures, strengths and talents requires differentiated instruction, which embodies the following features:

  1. Differentiated instruction is PROACTIVE.
    Teacher assumes that different learners have differing needs and proactively plan a variety of ways to "get at" and express learning.

  2. Differentiated instruction is more QUALITATIVE than quantitative.
    Differentiated instruction focuses more on understanding concepts than on producing work. However, it does not necessarily mean giving some students less work to do. Rather, the emphasis is on adjusting the nature of an assignment to match students' learning characteristics as opposed to merely increasing the quantity of the assignment.

  3. Differentiated instruction provides MULTIPLE approaches to assessment, process, and product.
    Teachers offer different practices and approaches based on how individual students learn, and how they demonstrate what they ve learned. What these different practices and approaches must have in common, however, is that they are crafted to encourage substantial growth in all students and are based on high standards for all students.

  4. Differentiated instruction is STUDENT-CENTERED.
    Learning experiences are most effective when they are engaging, relevant, and interesting. All students will not always find the same avenues to learning equally engaging, relevant, and interesting. Understandings must be built on previous understandings and not all students possess the same background knowledge at the outset of a given investigation.

  5. Differentiated instruction is A BLEND of whole-class, group, and individual instruction.
    There are times in all classrooms when it is more effective or efficient to share information or use the same activity with the whole class. Such whole-group instruction establishes common understandings and a sense of community for students by sharing discussion and review.

    THE FLOW OF INSTRUCTION IN A DIFFERENTIATED CLASSROOM

    (1)
    Teacher and whole class begin exploration of a topic or concept.     		(2)
    Students engage in further study using varied materials based on readiness and learning style.     		(3)
    Students and teacher come together to share information and pose questions.
    (6)
    In small groups selected by students, they apply key principles to solve teacher-generated problems related to their study.     		(5)
    The whole class reviews key ideas and extends theirs study through sharing.     		(4)
    Students work on varied assigned tasks designed to help them make sense of key ideas at varied levels of complexity and varied pacing.
    (7)
    The whole class is introduced to a skill needed later to make a presentation.     		(8)
    Students self-select interest areas through which they will apply and extend their understandings     		(9)
    The whole class listens to individual study plans and establishes baseline criteria for success

    - adapted and excerpted from How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms (1995), published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), Alexandria, VA.

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