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Diversity and Differentiation Framing Statement

2. The teacher demonstrates an understanding of individual differences and diverse

cultures in their community in order to ensure inclusive learning environments that enable

each learner to meet high standards. The teacher interacts with parents and local

communities to identify resources that can be used to increase relevancy and learner

engagement. The teacher adapts instruction and uses modified materials, resources, tools,

and technology to address exceptional learner needs, including those associated with

disabilities and giftedness.

8. The teacher demonstrates their use of a variety of instructional strategies to encourage

learners to develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build

skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways.

From school to school, classroom to classroom, and year to year, the possible

combinations of students is endless. Each student’s biological make up, brain, and background is

unique. These differences make it impossible to construct a one-size-fits-all curriculum. It is up

to the teacher to make lessons accessible to all students, or differentiate.

Differentiation is a way of thinking about teaching and learning that “operates from the

premise that if a student cannot learn efficiently or effectively in one mode, a strong teacher

looks for another learning mode that will work for that student, and if content seems irrelevant or

disconnected from a student’s world, the teacher seeks to build bridges between critical content
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and student interests.” (Sousa & Tomlinson, 2001, p.8). In other words, differentiation is

learner-centered, mindful lesson planning that demands that teachers create high quality,

authentic lessons with their students’ individual strengths and needs in mind.

Differentiation goes hand in hand with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) (Rapp &

Arndt, 2012). Using UDL in lesson planning means that the teacher is providing students with

multiple means of representation of material, expression of learning, and engagement. When

designing UDL lessons or learning materials, the teacher includes multiple ways to give students

new information such as charts, graphs, pictures, read alouds, audiobooks, videos, music,

experiments, and hands on processes, for example. She also includes multiple ways for students

to express their learning such as writing, oral communication, acting out a concept or story,

drawing, creating videos, making models, sculpting, and comic writing. She also provides

multiple ways for students to be engaged by providing as much choice and autonomy as possible.

Students choose meaningful and authentic learning activities and can even have a choice during

assessments.

Sometimes I use materials that are based on UDL principles, such as a game called Link

It that I developed during the course of this program. The game uses words and pictures to help

students make connections between facts or concepts. Because the cards have items that can be

matched on all four sides and all touching sides must match, a visual map is created, showing

how the facts or concepts are related. If students are placed in groups with varying abilities in

each group they work within their zone of proximal development, the skills and abilities that

children can develop with support from teacher or peers (Vygotsky, 1978), and the creation of the

visual map is a hands-on learning experience. Sometimes a surprise match is made while trying
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to match another side of the card, spurring discussion and debate about the information. It can be

used as a matching game to build knowledge or as a starting point for discussions.

In my school, we use the Spalding literacy curriculum. Students in second grade are

expected to know five ways that silent e’s are used. I used this version of the game extensively

when conducting formative assessments to see if my students were remembering the five “jobs”

of silent e. I have used this game with middle school science students learning about local

ecosystems and fourth grade social studies students learning about Alaska geography. It is

accessible across ages, genders, and almost all ability levels. Students see it as a game, a puzzle,

and a challenge and I never have problems with engagement when I use it.

In my second grade language arts classroom, I make use of many differentiation and

UDL principles. I use a combination of individual, small group, and whole group instruction

(Tomlinson, 2001). I use flexible grouping based on abilities, interests, friendships, or prior

knowledge, depending on the learning activity (Tomilson, 2001). I also use learning menus, a

strategy I learned from one of my mentor teachers. Three days a week, students choose for

themselves how they will read, write, and express their comprehension of a variety of reading

selections. My room is a beehive of activity as students move from the writing center (which

affords further choices in topics and types of writing ranging from comics to instructional

writing) to the reading corner (complete with stuffed animals and beanbags) to their desks,

depending on what they’ve chosen to do. Because they have choice and autonomy, they are more

likely to be engaged. As I approach my lesson plans, daily structure, and classroom environment

with differentiation, I realize that I am a facilitator for student learning, rather than a dictator of

it. As Tomilson says, “When teachers differentiate instruction, they move away from seeing
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themselves as keepers and dispensers of knowledge and move toward seeing themselves as

organizers of learning opportunities.” (Tomlinson, 2001, p.16).

Another ingredient to differentiated learning is sheltered content instruction. Specifically

for English Language Learners, sheltered content instruction is “a means for making grade-level

content, such as science, social studies, and math, more accessible for English learners (ELs),

while also promoting English development.” (Echevarría, 2015, p.50). In other words, ELL

students need not have a separate curriculum from their English-speaking peers. They can

participate and have high academic achievement using the same content as the rest of the class if

expectations are high and the specific language, academic, and cultural needs of the students are

met. (Echevarría & Graves, 2015). In my first grade classroom, I had a Hmong student. His

father spoke fluent English to his sons at home and the student was born in the United States, but

his primary caretakers were his grandparents, who spoke Hmong. This student was bilingual but

sometimes struggled to understand key vocabulary words, especially in math. He had a good

number sense and could compute quickly, but was sometimes discouraged and shut down when

confusing vocabulary stopped him from understanding new math concepts. After some

observation of the student and communication with his parent, this student and I worked on

bridging the gap by having one-on-one vocabulary lessons during lunch. This provided him with

extra support so that he could develop his math vocabulary, making the math content more

accessible. He was eager and quick to learn (and was soon teaching me some Hmong words as

well). We developed a hand signal that he could use when he didn’t understand a word during

math. If I could help him on the spot, I did, but if I couldn’t, I responded with the same hand

signal and he knew that we would go over it again during lunch. This helped him manage

feelings of discouragement.
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In order for all of these principles to work, the classroom environment must be respectful

and accepting. Students must be free to adopt a growth mindset, to make mistakes and learn from

them without fear of reprisal (Dweck, 2006). Open, student-led discussion such as the use of

number talks (Parrish, 2010) helps to create such an environment. Peter Johnston states that

“when people expect to disagree and explain their position, have a reasonable tolerance for and

expectation of uncertainty, understand the value of listening to others, particularly those who

think differently, and work to produce symmetrical power relationships, they are well prepared

for a strong democracy” (Johnston, 2012, p. 66), and by extension, a strong classroom

environment.

UDL and sheltered instruction strategies such as these are not an element that is added on

later. Like differentiation, “UDL is a process by which a curriculum is purposefully and

intentionally designed right from the start to address diverse needs.” (Rapp & Arndt, 2012,

p.145). Similarly, sheltered content instruction is also woven into the curriculum from the

beginning. Differentiation is, by necessity, flexible and organic. It requires that teachers know

their content and students’ abilities, backgrounds, and challenges thoroughly because at any

moment a new method of presenting, expressing, or engaging with new information could

present itself. Differentiation is the result of a teacher’s proactive mindset and efforts to create a

healthy learning environment, quality curriculum and assessment, responses to individual

students, and good classroom routines according to student readiness, interests, and approaches

to learning (Tomlinson, 2014).

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References

Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York: Random House.

Echevarría, J., & Graves, A. W. (2015). Sheltered content instruction: Teaching english learners

with diverse abilities (Fifth edition.). Pearson.

Parrish, S. (2010). Number talks: whole number computation. California: Math Solutions.

Rapp, W. H. & Arndt, K. L. (2012). Teaching everyone: An introduction to inclusive education.

Maryland: Brookes Publishing Co.

Sousa, D. & Tomlinson, C.A. (2011). Differentiation and the brain: How neuroscience supports

the learner-friendly classroom. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Tomlinson, C. A. (2014). Differentiated classrooms: Responding to the needs of all learners 2nd

ed. ASCD

Tomlinson, C.A. (2001). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms. 2nd ed.

Columbus, OH: Pearson.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes.

Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press