Differentiating Instruction in Practice
Having looked at the elements of the learning experience that can be differentiated as separate parts, this final post is about putting all the elements back together as we plan to make learning more meaningful and accessible for...
Differentiating the Learning Environment
Learning goals, subject content, resources, learning activities and assessment all contribute to the learning environment. However, there are a number of other factors that influence the overall learning experience for the...
Differentiating Learning and Assessment Strategies
In the previous post, we looked at differentiating the content being taught and the resources being used in our classrooms. Another way that learning can be made meaningful and accessible to all students is to use a variety of...
Differentiating Content and Resources
Differentiating instruction is complex and multi-layered. While we need to keep in mind that all the steps we might take to make learning meaningful and accessible for all students are intertwined rather than isolated, it is...
Differentiating Instruction: Why does it matter?
Differentiating instruction aims to make learning meaningful and accessible to all students by providing them with some flexibility as they work toward clear learning goals. Like everything else in education, this aim is not...
Differentiating Instruction: What does it mean?
The need to cater for a diversity of learners in the same classroom causes a significant tension for many teachers. On the one hand, teachers desire to see all their students learn and grow, and therefore recognize the need...
Approaches to Professional Learning: Common Themes and Elements
As I reflect on the five approaches to professional development that I have outlined in this series of posts, I notice some common elements or themes: A Focus on Student Learning. In each of these approaches student learning is...
Approaches to Professional Learning #5: Action Research
To some extent, “action research” is formalizing something that good educators do informally all the time. Every time a teacher ponders a challenge they are facing in the classroom, considers possible interventions to...
Approaches to Professional Learning #4: Adaptive Expertise and Professional Conversations
Teachers need all kinds of expertise to carry out their work. Some of it is “routine” – developing effective responses to known challenges in a stable context. Teachers do indeed need this kind of expertise, being...
Approaches to Professional Learning #3: Instructional Coaching
Like Reflective Practice, the idea of “coaching” is not unique to education professionals. The specific approach of “Instructional Coaching” has been championed by Jim Knight (see links below for references) to support the...