Find the benefits of differentiated instruction and how it can transform your teaching
Navigating a classroom filled with diverse learners might seem as tricky as juggling flaming torches on a unicycle — quite the challenge! But that's exactly where differentiated instruction comes in, as it helps make everything much smoother and easier to handle.
Imagine that you're throwing a dinner party. Some guests might be vegetarian, others might have soy or gluten allergies, and some just really dislike eggplant. Would serving the same dish to everyone be a good idea?
Using differentiated instruction is like planning that dinner party, but for a classroom. It shows how you can adapt your teaching style and resources to fit the learning requirements of the unique mix of students you have.
This method promotes the idea that students have different backgrounds, readiness and learning levels, preferences, and even interests. By tailoring teaching practices, the materials you use, and how you assess your students, you can ensure that every student can learn and, therefore, thrive in a classroom.
Suppose you have a student who excels in math but struggles with reading while another student is the exact opposite. Using a one-size-fits-all approach might leave both students feeling frustrated and disengaged.
With differentiated instruction, you can avoid this by offering diverse paths to learning in your classroom. You can give each student in your classroom a custom-made pair of gloves that fits perfectly rather than trying to squeeze everyone into the same size.
Use assessments, observations, and conversations to really understand your students' individual needs, strengths, and weaknesses. Quizizz offers different question types, such as Polls, Word Clouds, Open-ended questions, etc., and you can make good use of these to really get to know your students.
Once you get a clear picture, you can plan your instruction to accommodate these differences.
Use a blend of direct instruction, group work, and independent study. Some students might thrive in a hands-on activity, while others might prefer listening to a lecture or watching a video.
This can also help you understand which students in your class respond to which teaching approach, and you can use this information to further make changes and modifications to your instruction.
You can, for example, offer your students choices as to how they would like to be assessed for a concept or topic — it could be a choice between writing an essay or creating a video or presentation.
This will help them feel empowered to take control of their learning and, as a result, be more enthusiastic about learning.
Depending on the activity, group your students in different ways. Sometimes, group by skill level for targeted instruction; other times, mix skill levels so students can learn from each other. The trick is to keep groups fluid and responsive to your students' needs.
Regularly check in on student progress and be ready to adjust your teaching. This might mean changing up groups, offering more resources, or even re-teaching a concept in a new way.
Tools like Quizizz can save a ton of time. With features like Accommodation Profiles, you can provide specific accommodations to groups of students, ensuring that everyone gets what they need without having to create entirely separate lesson plans. Quizizz allows you to assign the same quiz to the whole class but tweak it for different groups, making your life much easier.
Quizizz offers real-time feedback reports, so you can instantly see who’s struggling and who’s excelling. This immediate insight allows you to adjust your instruction on the fly, providing extra help where needed most. Plus, its detailed data reports help you analyze student performance and identify learning gaps to make it easier to tailor your teaching strategies.
Quizizz’s brilliant features, like Accommodation Profiles, allow you to support each student while maintaining high standards for all. This means you can offer scaffolded experiences that help struggling students catch up without holding back those who are ready for more advanced material. With Accommodation Profiles, for example, you can assign the same quiz to all students but include extra hints and extended time for those who need it. For the advanced group, you can add bonus questions that go deeper into the topic.
A few other Accommodation Profiles available on Quizizz are:
Redemption Questions: This allows students to retry questions they initially got wrong, offering a do-over for better understanding and learning from mistakes.
Participant Attempts: This allows you to set a maximum of 3 attempts for a quiz. Students can retry after their first try, improving their learning by offering multiple chances to succeed.
Reduce Answer Choices: To simplify decision-making for students, you can lower the default number of answer choices to two or three, making it easier for them to select the correct answer.
Desmos Scientific and Graphing Calculators: When enabled, students can use Desmos Scientific and Graphing Calculators for quizzes, helping them understand and solve advanced mathematical and scientific concepts.
Translate and Bi-Lingual Dictionary: With these, content can be translated into preferred languages such as Spanish, Vietnamese, Russian, or Hindi to boost student engagement, understanding, and inclusivity.
Read Aloud: This will activate the text-to-speech feature, which reads text out loud to aid students who may benefit from auditory learning or have difficulty reading independently.
That’s not all; many other Profiles are available for your students.
Learn more about Accommodation Profiles here
The best part about this feature is that your class will not be made aware that there are unique experiences for some students, so they can all feel included while they focus on their own learning.
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