If you’re a teacher, you have probably wondered from time to time what makes one teacher better or more effective than another. I would never presume to know the “right” answer to this. Besides, there are plenty of articles and textbooks devoted to the best ways to be an effective teacher. I’ve decided to take [...]
If you’re a teacher, you have probably wondered from time to time what makes one teacher better or more effective than another. I would never presume to know the “right” answer to this. Besides, there are plenty of articles and textbooks devoted to the best ways to be an effective teacher. I’ve decided to take [...]
Differentiated instruction is the process of taking a lesson or concept and making it accessible to ALL students in the classroom. By changing a few small aspects of a lesson plan, the topic can know be understood by every student, regardless of their abilities. I know what you are thinking, really I do. Change my [...]
Adding Vygotsky Scaffolding to Your Teaching Strategies Have you ever watched a building getting repaired or built? The men and women working on that project need the support of scaffolds to get the job done. Without the proper support, those folks would find the job much more difficult. Try to keep that in mind as [...]
Differentiated lesson plans: Science It can be tricky to write a lesson plan that supports differentiated learning. It is very important that lessons are differentiated to allow for all students to understand and enjoy learning about new concepts. Science is a great area of the curriculum to explore the idea of differentiated instruction strategies. Below, [...]
How to Write Differentiated Instruction Lesson Plans As professional educators we all know and understand that all the students in our class do not learn in the same way. We also understand that we do not have a class full of students achieving at the same level. So how do we cater for all the [...]
Some examples of differentiated instruction that you might want to try in your own classroom.
Differentiating with video is an exciting way to get your students involved and highly motivated about almost any lesson.
Choice activities give students options. Even if the options all include doing work, there is something liberating about being able to choose the activity for which you will later be assessed.
There is a good chance that you have already been using authentic assessment in your classroom.
They say that there is nothing new under the Sun. Flexible grouping certainly falls into this category. If you have ever watched an old episode of Little House on the Prairie, you have seen it in action. Did you ever wonder how the teacher managed to handle a classroom filled with students with such a [...]
Try coming up with a scenario that could apply to you. I’ve given an example here.
As you move through your journey of learning about and applying differentiated instruction methods, one of the terms you will come across is tiered assignments. So, what is a tiered activity anyway? Tiered assignments are a way of getting everyone to the same goal (learning a concept or skill) by using different strategies and methods. [...]
Every teacher knows that getting students to master basic math skills is vitally important. There are some students who seem to have a natural affinity for math. Unfortunately, there are many students who struggle mightily with grasping mathematical concepts. Math board games are an easy way to make learning math a lot more fun and [...]
Whether you are a new teacher or an experienced veteran, these guided reading activities will help you to reach and teach every child in your classroom.
Along with differentiation, there has been a strong surge toward co-teaching over the past several years. Teachers who have spent their careers teaching on their own are now finding themselves working in a completely different environment. Where they were previously the only person responsible for making the teaching decisions in a classroom, they are now [...]
If you have ever taught a math class, you certainly have noticed that different students have different levels of understanding from day one of class. Some students seem to have a gift for wrapping their minds around math concepts the first time they are introduced. Other students seem to struggle mightily with every new idea. [...]
What Makes a Great Teacher?Differentiated Instruction Examples for Math ClassWhat is Scaffolding in Education?Using Differentiated Science Lesson Plans to Capture the Attention of Every StudentHow to Write Differentiated Lesson PlansDifferentiated Instruction ExamplesDifferentiating with VideoDifferentiating Instruction with Choice ActivitiesWhat is Authentic Assessment?What is Flexible Grouping?Why Differentiate?What Are Tiered Activities?Math Board GamesGuided Reading Lesson Plans and Activities for Your ClassroomCo-Teaching and Differentiated Instruction
