How Different is

Differentiated
Instruction?
And what can this actually look
like in your program?
Well, I suppose the best answer is that it depends on who your students are.
Differentiated instruction (DI) is the basis for best practice teaching that essentially
boils down to finding out who your students are, how they learn best, and what they
like to learn about and then teaching from there. Its really that simple. Or it would
be if we had only five students in our classes, but the reality is that we generally
have over twenty. Yes, this makes the challenge greater, but happily it is not
insurmountable. Lots of students share interests. Find out and help them to find out
too.
What is the first step? Get to know your students. Do learning style inventories,
interest searches, people bingos, reading assessments and conferences etc. Solve
the mystery of who is each child and discover what kinds of activities they like to do
best. What their learning styles? Their levels of readiness? Their interests? Check out
the links below for multiple intelligence tests, learning styles inventories, and DI
resources to spark up your classroom. And a bonus, when students understand how
everyone is different, it makes for a warmer classroom community, too.
What next? Now you know your kids, what are the essentials of teaching with DI?
There are three main ways we can differentiate. Easy as 1,2,3 :
1. Content: the what we teach. In DI this reflects the interests and readiness of
your students, and, of course, the curriculum.
2. Process: the how we teach and how students practice. This represents the
classroom environment, types of student activities and instructional strategies
chosen to meet students learning styles
3. Product: the end results of students labours. This is the project, activity or
actions that shows you what students have learned.
Peruse the following chart to glean suggestions on what it means and how to
differentiate the content, process, and products involved in teaching reading. You will
likely find that you are already doing many of these things already. Check out the
resources below to give a try at putting a few new ideas in place in your classroom
today.
Yes, learning with DI is quite different from how we went to school, but it sure is
interesting! Overall, feel assured that no one can end up with a fully differentiated
classroom right away, but by learning about the principles of DI and gradually

building your activities and assessments from a DI perspective, eventually this will be
the law of the land in your classroom.

Differentiating Instruction by Content, Process, and

Product
Content

Choose topics for books for read alouds, shared reading, guided reading that match
students interests.
Aim to present something to hooks each child on a regular basis
Have materials that represent the diverse backgrounds of your students
Present lots of variety of authors, genres, topics to make your teaching points

Process

Time-students need different amounts of time to complete various tasks

Believe that all students can be successful and provide them with tasks that help them
to be.
Build a safe classroom environment where students are encouraged to try and make
mistakes. Thats where the learning happens!
Provide various amounts of support for each child- open ended questions, graphic
organizers, cloze sentences
Have flexible groups so students are grouped according to learning needs. These will
evolve as students develop and learning topics change
Allow for a gradual release of responsibility for all new strategies and processes
learned.model, share, guide, and then expect independent application
Have students work in a variety of group sizes from independent to pairs to groups. This
meets a variety of learning preferences
Teach to match a variety of learning types- have them act out part of a story, engage in
a physical activity related to the story before reading

Product

Offer a selection of product choices for students for many activities-whether unit end
assessments or reading response activities, students will be more motivated and
engaged when they can choose how to show what they know.
Offer options that meet different types of learning styles--ex visual, oral, spatial,
kinesthetic. You may need to have them complete certain types of activities, have
them choose the order of completing the products and allow at least one choice

Other Resources:
Printable Multiple Intelligence Survey
http://www.ldrc.ca/projects/miinventory/mitest.html
Links to three online Multiple Intelligence/ Learning Styles Surveys
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/03/lp319-01.shtml
Graphic organizers galore!!!
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/graphic-organizers-readingcomprehension
Blooms Taxonomy Based Question for Responding to Reading
http://www.primary-education-oasis.com/blooms-taxonomy-questions.html
Multiple Intelligences Chart to help you provide activities that reach all intelligences.
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/intelligence/teaching-methods/2204.html

Pick a Project: A multitude of response ideas for after reading based on multiple
intelligences http://www.ateacherstreasure.com/2011/09/treasure-of-week-multipleintelligences.html#comments