Differentiaition

1. An Introduction to
Differentiation
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2. Differentiation is a teacher’s
response to learner’s needs and
therefore can be planned or
unplanned, long term or short
term, explicit or subtle.
You can not differentiate for every
student and every need all of the
time but being able to adapt and
respond in the moment is just as
important as planning support in
advance.
You may differentiate by
- Task
- Resources
- Seating plan
- Groups
- Feedback
- Instruction
- Subject Content
- Process
- Outcome
- Questioning
- Assessment
- Dialogue
- Environment
- Rules and Routines
- Interests
- Approaches to learning
Further reading -
http://www.bbcactive.com/BBCActiveIdeasandResources/MethodsofDifferentiationintheClassroom.aspx 2

3. Digital Resources
Further reading - http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/dyslexic/eyes-and-dyslexia
Pastel colours are preferable for students with dyslexia but are also beneficial
for all students as white backgrounds can cause eye strain.
Avoid using bright backgrounds e.g. red with white text, as this can render the
text almost invisible for some dyslexic students.
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4. Structure Scaffolds and Writing Frames
To support students to develop their
extended writing use a variety of scaffolding
strategies to enable students to break down
the task and focus on demonstrating their
knowledge as opposed to structure.
As students become more confident in
structuring their answers remove small parts
until they are fully independent.
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5. Structure Scaffolds and Writing Frames
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Scaffold students to develop
extended answers through
generic structure scaffolds or
more specific as shown on the
next slide.

6. Structure Scaffolds and Writing Frames
Structure strips
Students are supported to structure their answer. These
can be differentiated to suit student abilities.
As shown here one outlines what should be covered in
each paragraph whilst the other gives the student
sentence starters to develop the same content.
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7. Same task – different support
Sentence starters
‘Think’ tips
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Source: @Jennnnnn_x
https://mrshumanities.com/2017/07/08/guest-post-from-jennnnnn_x-stretch-challenge-a-few-ideas/

8. Structure Scaffolds and Writing Frames
Writing frames help
students to structure
extended writing and are
quite generic so they can
be widely applied.
These can be given to all
students to start and
then removed as and
when individuals become
independent in the skill.
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9. Notetaking Scaffolds
Some students particularly those with SpLD can struggle to take notes at the same time as listening. However you
may feel it’s an important skill for students to develop.
You can quite simply provide students
with the PowerPoint slides (if you use them)
but this doesn’t always help with taking
notes from other sources.
You can support students by providing
note taking templates that guide students
towards the notes they need.
If watching a documentary, split it into
smaller chunks, say 5 minutes. Pause and
allow students to discuss findings for a
moment and complete notes before
continuing with the next section.
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10. Notetaking Scaffolds
Laminated sheets work
effectively if students do
not like to commit notes
to their book.
Students can write up
their notes after
discussion and
confirmation of their
findings.
Encourage students to
take a photograph and
copy up their notes to
help them to consolidate
them.
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11. Knowledge Organisers
Support students with knowledge
organisers which outline the key
content they need to know.
Particularly useful for students with
slow processing.
Visual knowledge organisers which
focus on key terminology can also
be useful for EAL students and
development of subject specific
language.
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12. Key Terminology
Developing use of key terminology can be difficult
for some students with SEN particularly in written
work.
Provide students with lists of key terms you want
them to use and spell correctly.
This can be at the start of the topic as a full list or
throughout depending on their progress which can
be as simple as writing on a post-it and giving to the
student/s at the start of the lesson.
You can differentiate word lists to challenge more
able students as well as to support others.
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13. Key Terminology
Literacy Marking
For SpLD students try to focus less on the spelling of
non-subject specific terminology when assessing
their work.
Encourage students to practise spelling key
terminology as part of SPaG marks.
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14. Whole class discussion/questioning
• Pose, Pause, Pounce – give time for students to think about the answer to a question before expecting an
answer.
• No hands up – all or some of the time insist that all students think about the question before allowing
answers.
• Targeted questioning – plan questions for discussion and identify students to target in advance.
• ACE questioning – encourage students to reflect on what their peers have said and get them to justify why
they accept the answer, if there is any part of the answer they would challenge and how they can extend the
answer. This can be student led or prompted by the teacher.
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15. By Task
Make use of Bloom’s Taxonomy to differentiate tasks
either through student choice or teacher direction.
Support students to an outcome through the use of tasks
that build upon the previous
e.g. describe, followed by explain, followed by assess
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Downloadable from here
https://mrshumanities.com/2016/08/08/blooms-command-words/

16. Feedback
Students will require feedback that helps
them to develop and progress over time.
By making feedback targeted and
developmental and through giving
students opportunities to act on feedback
and make improvements, differentiation
occurs through each student undertaking
a different task or improvement to help
them to reach an outcome whether it be
the same or different to those around
them.
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17. Student Choice
Allow students to self-differentiate based on their own needs. Make each task challenging for students but give
them choice or partial direction.
It maybe that the tasks all lead to the same outcome in knowledge and understanding but the approach, resources
and scaffolding varies.
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18. Finished…. Try one of these.
Keep a selection of general
tasks to encourage students
to extend on what they
done, assess themselves or
reflect on their learning.
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19. Challenge Cards
Challenge cards are also an effective
way to push more able students
either during or at the end of a task.
(…and yes it is possible to print on
post-it notes but not on the school
printers)
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Source: @ploguey
https://twitter.com/ploguey/status/700259634456719360

20. Rules, Rewards and Sanctions
To meet students individuals needs sometimes
its more than what we do in the classroom to
help them academically. Sometimes we have to
respond to pastoral needs as much as academic
learning needs.
Sometimes we have to be different in our
approach to behaviour management for
individuals.
Although there can be debate in the extent to
which we ‘bend’ the rules and adapt the support
provided. Consistency is also key.
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21. Further reading and resources
• http://www.teacherstoolbox.co.uk/
• https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/tag/differentiation/
• http://teachertools.londongt.org/?page=differentiationClassRoom
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All images unless specified are owned by Victoria Hewett of MrsHumanities.com