Implementing Differentiated Learning is Easier Than You Think

Every classroom is different, and the students within them have varying learning styles, strengths and areas for improvement. To address these differences, educators increasingly are adopting differentiated learning — a pedagogy that involves adjusting curricula and instruction to cater to the diverse needs of all students.

While differentiated learning offers numerous benefits, implementing it in the classroom can sometimes pose challenges. In our white paper, “Simplifying Differentiated Learning With Invention Education,” we explore scholarly insights on differentiated learning and provide practical steps for smoothly integrating this approach into any learning environment.

We invite you to read an excerpt of this report below.

Differentiated Learning Simplified

Educators universally acknowledge the inherent differences among students, ranging from their unique learning styles to their natural cognitive strengths and weaknesses. In response to this 
diversity, differentiated learning, a pedagogy in which “teachers adjust their curriculum and instruction to maximize the learning of all students,” continues to grow in prominence.

While many educators and policymakers are aligned with the need to move away from a “one size fits all” approach to education, consensus is less clear on how to best implement this teaching style in a classroom setting.

There are two central reasons for this. The first is that often, educators have varied perspectives on what differentiated learning means. A common misconception is that effective 
differentiation means that all students must receive individualized instruction.

As Rick Wormeli, author and nationally recognized differentiated learning expert, explained in his article “Busting Myths About Differentiated Instruction,” this is simply not the case. Instead, 
differentiation can take many forms, large and small:

“When a teacher answers a confused student’s question, stands near to a student to quiet him or her down, suggests an alternative research resource, or suggests that a student turns lined paper sideways to create columns, the teacher is individualizing and, yes, differentiating instruction. The individualizing is temporary, done as necessary.”

On the other end of the spectrum, sometimes educators believe that simply encouraging group work or giving students a variety of options when it comes to projects constitutes meaningful differentiation. However, Wormeli explained that “the important factor is whether those students were grouped, or those project choices were offered, on the basis of specific information the teacher knew about his or her students.”

In other words, true differentiated learning requires educators to adapt to the needs of their students in real time. Carol Ann Tomlinson, the famed educator responsible for coining the phrase “differentiated learning,” refers to this flexibility as the “ebb and flow” of a classroom. She recommends teachers use flexible grouping in their classrooms, in which throughout the course of a unit, students have the autonomy to move between large and small groups, and to work independently when appropriate.

In an interview with UVA Today, Tomlinson explained that differentiated learning works to dispel the notion that there exist homogenous classes in which students will respond identically to subject matter and lesson plans.

“For the most part, our entire education system is set up to separate children into what we think are relatively homogenous groups and teach them with uniformity so they can perform adequately on standardized tests,” Tomlinson explained. “But what we know is that teaching first with the student in mind and giving a diverse group of students the opportunity to work together and learn to appreciate each other increases the learning outcomes for all of the students.”

Read the Full White Paper Today

Interested in learning more about differentiated learning? Download the full white paper for free today!