Differentiating Instruction

What Works for Differentiating Instruction in Elementary Schools

This article caught my attention because I always talk about differentiating instruction and look for new ways to do so. It makes sense to teach in a variety of approaches, but the question of how to actually differentiate instruction may be more difficult. We all know students do not learn the exact same ways and we need to use different teaching strategies to make sure our learners are given the best possible instruction. The article gives some suggestions from teachers at Forest Lake Elementary in South Carolina along with advice from Edutopia bloggers. The ideas are split into three sections, which I thought was a great idea: 5 minutes, 5 days, and 5 years. Some of the suggestions that stood out to me for things you can do in 5 minutes were using a KWL chart, providing options to students on how to find information, finding an appropriate video to enhance instruction, and ask students what they'd like to do. Suggestions from the 5 days category that I would use are creating choices for assignments (creating a poem instead of writing an essay), use a workshop approach where students travel to different stations, and allow students to sit in groups or clusters. The last section gave suggestions on things to do in 5 years and some of the ideas I found to stand out were to make a "scaffolding kit" that contains organizers and other resources to help students, collaborate ideas with fellow teachers, and use new technology tools. The article also provided more ideas to help teachers differentiate instruction but those were a few that stood out to me. It is so important to make sure each child is getting the most out of his or her education, and while it may take more planning time on our part, it is worth it!