by Ilana Rembelinsky
I've been thinking back to when I first made the commitment to really differentiate to meet the diverse needs in my classroom. This was back before the standards-based, proficiency emphasis in Beaverton School District, so in some ways it was simpler. But it worked! My bright kids were challenged and my Special Ed and ELL kids were successful. It was a foundation to build on and add to as I got more training and experience.
For all major projects, assignments, and tests, I had three versions or tiers. I started with the basic assignment and added a challenge option for any student who wanted to take it on. And I modified "down" for the lower ability or language skilled students, in general, by reducing the assignment requirements, providing easier reading materials, providing more visual input, and providing a less writing-intensive means for students to demonstrate their learning. Whatever level of student I geared my tasks to, I provided some degree of choice. That little bit of student autonomy added a great deal of motivation and the payoff was well worth the up front work. Once I got in the habit of creating these three tiers, it really didn't add that much time or effort to the planning and prep process.
When it came time to up the level of sophistication to tiered assignments, flexible grouping, multiple rubrics for multiple products, I took it slow. If we try to adopt too many new practices at once, we end up back in our old habits before very long. So choose an area, a population that is near and dear to your heart, a unit you've taught many times and have time and energy to revise for differentiation. Choose a strategy or technique and make sure you teach the daily routine of it so the students have it down before adding the next layer. Take it at your pace and stretch your comfort zone a little at a time. And use your colleagues (and this blog) as resources for ideas and ways to vary your assignments. Lobby your admin for time to collaborate on worthy projects like this.
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