What is Differentiation in Special Education?

The purpose of differentiation is to better the performance of all students. This includes those who are falling behind and those ahead. Differentiation benefits students across the learning continuum. This includes students who are gifted.

To begin, it is important that differentiation is used to meet the student’s abilities. A teacher also should continue to give them the confidence they need. The teacher provides tools that students need to be most successful. 

Furthermore, this is why teaching with differentiation is so important. We want ALL of our students to succeed at similar paces. As teachers, we need to give students the supports that they truly need for each lesson. 

What Makes Effective Differentiation?

Teachers who differentiate effectively need to know what students currently know, and what they are ready to learn next and when. Data tells teachers to plan a variety of learning pathways so that all students can be successful.

Some other examples of data sources include observations in the classroom, formative assessments, and feedback from students and their parents or caregivers. Therefore, a teacher will be able to make appropriate decisions for how to differentiate instruction. 

Tools for Differentiating

Content, process, product, and environment.These are the 4 main ways to differentiate instruction. To differentiate content, teachers consider the objective of a lesson. After, they provide students with flexible options about the content they study to meet the objective.

To start, teachers differentiate how students learn with process differentiation. Grouping students based on their individual levels  is one way to accomplish process differentiation. Next, product differentiation are the types of assignments students create. A teacher might ask students to explain a concept.

The classroom environment also affects learning. Change physical items in the classroom, like how desks are set up or arranged, or where students can sit. This serves as classroom environment differentiation. This can be with using flexible seating. 

A Few Examples

Finally, when in a reading class, a teacher may use a variety of books. This helps support all the students in the classroom. The readers would be meeting the students at their reading level. This helps all the students access the curriculum at their own pace.

Now, if you’re looking to differentiate your digital activities, read more here!

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