Differentiated Instruction in the Classroom

This course explores 10 practical Differentiated Instruction integration strategies. Each strategy is accompanied by at least three sample lessons, as well as tips for applying them to best improve learning outcomes for your students.

In this course, you will discover Differentiated Instruction strategies including interest centers, flexible grouping, cubing, and tiering. Every lesson is packed with real-world examples that will help you put these strategies to use in your own classroom. You will take a look at integration across different subjects, grade levels, and learning profiles as you gain helpful knowledge on bringing Differentiated Instruction to your classroom.

This course is a must for today's teachers who often have to differentiate quickly and with minimal resources. Differentiated Instruction is an excellent launch pad for ramping up your creative classroom, and with the tips in these lessons, you will be meeting the needs of your diverse learners in no time.

What you will learn

• Learn what differentiated instruction is and learn practical strategies for implementation in your classroom
• Discover tried-and-true techniques to customize your lesson plans
• Learn to use integration strategies to extend across grade levels and academic subjects
• Learn to create centers based on topics, subjects, or types of activities so you can focus like-minded learners on specific tasks
• Discover differentiated instruction strategies for writing and reading
• Learn to meet the needs of GATE students through a strategy called curriculum compacting

How you will benefit

• Improve the learning and outcome of your students
• Learn strategies to keep every student engaged and challenged
• Create activities in your classroom that will meet the diverse needs of every student

Outline

Differentiated Instruction 101

This first lesson covers what Differentiated Instruction is, the different avenues for implementing it in the classroom, and the basics of Differentiated Instruction assessment.

Multiple Intelligences: Get Smart

In this lesson, you will discover the power of teaching to multiple intelligences in your classroom as you learn tried-and-true techniques to customize your lesson plans.

Scaffolding and Guided Practice

You may already be adept at providing scaffolding and guided practice in your classroom, but in this lesson, you will learn how to ramp it up a notch with some smart tips on integrating and extending the Differentiated Instruction strategy.

Flexible Grouping

Flexible grouping is already a mainstay in your classroom, but this lesson is packed with great integration strategies that will help you extend its power across different grade levels and academic subjects.

Creating Interest Centers

This lesson covers the basics of creating interest centers in your classroom. By grouping students into centers based on topics, subjects, or types of activities, you can focus like-minded learners on specific tasks, enabling you to offer unique learning opportunities for each student in your class.

Cubing in Your Class

Cubing is a writing activity that lets students explore topics from six distinct points of view. In this lesson, you will explore the power of the cube in your Differentiated Instruction classroom.

WebQuests: Online Sleuthing

WebQuests have been a powerful classroom tool for some years now. In this lesson you will discover why they're so useful in the Differentiated Instruction classroom. You will examine the components of successful WebQuests and learn the best ways to find quality ones on the web.

I-Search, You Search

An I-Search allows students to pick a topic that interests them and do a combination of traditional and out-in-the-world research to learn more. The products of I-Searches are often amazing, and in this lesson, you will learn how your students can have fun learning more about topics that matter to them.

RAFTS for Writing

In this lesson, you will discover another great writing strategy for your Differentiated Instruction classroom: RAFTS. RAFTS is a strategy where students assume different roles to approach reading and writing and then create unique products. You will have fun exploring this strategy with your writers!

Tiering Student Assignments

Tiering is a Differentiated Instruction strategy where you assign students paralleled tasks at different levels of complexity depending on where they are on the learning curve. This lesson will teach you how to employ this strategy with confidence as you customize assignments.

Anchoring Activities

Curriculum compacting is a Differentiated Instruction strategy that will help you give different work to your advanced learners so that they aren't bored by average or remedial instruction. You will find out everything you need to know in this lesson.

Utilizing Anchoring Activities in the Classroom

Your final lesson explores anchoring activities that will help you direct students to further productive activities when they're finished with regular classroom work. You will learn how to bring these activities alive with a little creativity and a lot of Differentiated Instruction.

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites to take this course.