Essential Elements of Differentiated Instruction

Content is knowledge, skills, principles, ideas, and concepts.

Differentiation: Ways to differentiate content:
Content • Elevate sophistication and complexity of content
• Use a variety of ways to convey key concepts
What is taught • Integrate complex problems
• Connect various subject areas in interdisciplinary studies
Process is how the learner interacts with the material presented.
Differentiation: Process involves methods of presenting material, activities, thinking processes, and questions asked.
Process Ways to differentiate process:
• Use flexible/cluster grouping
How students • Vary the options for the activity depending on the readiness of the learner
• Allow for student choice
make
• Vary the pacing
connections
• Offer different amounts of teacher support
and construct
• Incorporate higher levels of thinking, open endedness, exploration and discovery, reasoning, and transfer
meaning of learning
• Integrate problem-solving skills into the curriculum
• Include research and investigative skills
• Allow for independent study
Product is the result of student interaction with the content, the item used to demonstrate what the student has
Differentiation: learned.
Product Ways to differentiate product:
• Design product around essential questions, real problems, real audience
How students • Encourage critical and creative thinking
• Develop rubrics reflecting level of learning and expected outcome
demonstrate
• Allow for various forms of expression
what they have
learned
Learning environment is the setting/climate where learning takes place both physically and psychologically.
Differentiation: Ways to differentiate learning environment:
Learning • Allow opportunities for all students to use their strengths, interests, and abilities by differentiation of
Environment content, process, and product
• Develop supportive learning environments that enhance differentiated curricula and instruction
Establishing a
nurturing
learning
environment
Infusing critical and creative thinking skills into content instruction develops students’ capabilities for quality
Critical and thinking and learning.
Creative • Comparing and contrasting
Thinking • Problem solving
• Decision making
Establishing a • Making predictions
• Sequencing
foundation for
• Generating ideas
developing
• Analyzing and evaluating
higher-order
thinking
Rigor is the quality of the content.
Rigor • Focus on in-depth study of complex, abstract, and sophisticated content
• Incorporate metacognitive strategies
• Provide opportunities to develop highly specialized, real-world skills within a discipline
Enabling • Build upon interests, strengths, and personal goals of students
students to • Incorporate sophisticated investigations of materials, texts, interactive technologies and learning activities
develop their • Foster advanced critical and creative processes
• Utilize existing knowledge and create new knowledge
maximum
• Create life-long learners and thinkers capable of independent reflection, self-evaluation, and reasoning
potential
Adapted from Carol Ann Tomlinson’s and Mary S. Landrum’s work on differentiation and “The Non-Negotiables of Academic Rigor” from the
Exceptional Children Division of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

WCPSS AG Program 2009 Toolbox for Planning Rigorous Instruction Section 3: Differentiation - 2