differentiated
● Who benefits from a differentiated curriculum?
When a differentiated curriculum is correctly implemented correctly in a classroom, everyone benefits. It allows instructors to identify and assist students who need more help in certain areas. You will be able to spend your time more wisely, giving support to students who need it the most. This isn’t to say that more skilled students won’t receive your attention. Rather, you won’t need to check on them as frequently.
How using differentiated curriculum might look
The typical rule of thumb is that any child who scores above 85\% on the test can use teaching time as a free period to focus on independent work. However, if you’d like to require a higher score for the cutoff, you can certainly modify these requirements.
Offer students who score below the minimum extra support to be successful. It is important to note that these students are not singled out or thought of as less intelligent. They are simply grouped with students of similar aptitude so they can all learn at their own pace. This ensures organization and structure during class time. It also helps teachers to target specific goal areas identified through testing.
Typically, each student will have strengths in at least one area of coursework. Let’s suppose one of your students excels in math but struggles with literature. You could permit them to do independent study during a math lesson but instruct them at a regular pace in literature. The system gives everyone a chance to participate in independent study, ensuring that no one feels left out.
Differentiated curriculum for students with special needs
a differentiated curriculum gives these students a chance to shine in their strongest areas. They can have extra time to focus on things that interest them and that they perform well in. This will boost morale and self-confidence, which will encourage your students to come to class motivated to participate and learn.
Here’s an example: Say you have a student who struggles with reading and writing and is significantly below grade level. Instead of requiring everyone to write a research paper, allow students (including this one) the option of creating a visual representation instead. When you embrace their strengths, students feel much more confident about their personal abilities.
How to implement a differentiated curriculum in the classroom
When a student has successfully passed the requirements to pursue independent study, there must still be structure in their school day. A good way to ensure that students understand your expectations is to draw up a contract. The contract should state students who score above a certain percentage on the unit test can work independently during the teaching period. The activity they choose isn’t of much significance, but they must commit to being productive.
For example, when teaching a math unit, you can allow students who already exhibited mastery of the section to work on more difficult problems, or they can play math games. A student might also choose to work on a completely different subject entirely. Whether or not you should allow this in your classroom depends on your comfort zone and the student’s desires.
Similarly, if you usually assign writing prompts on Wednesdays, use the Thursday or Friday before to give a similar test to the whole class. You can exempt students that show mastery of the week’s literature skill for the week. They might use their free time in class to work on more difficult concepts, or they can choose to tutor another student using their knowledge.
Not only will this ensure that students get the most out of their learning experience, but it will also create a team environment in your classroom. Each student will feel supported academically, as they will have endless resources at their disposal when they need extra help.
Some teachers worry about students goofing off during free time, but there are ways to avoid this. One is to use interactive behavior management systems like Classcraft that encourage students to make good decisions while working independently.
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