According to Carol Ann Tomlinson, differentiation is an "approach to teaching" that responds to "learner's needs, guided by general principles such as respectful tasks, flexible grouping, and ongoing assessment. A teacher can differentiate content, process and product according to student's readiness, interests and learning profile through a range of instructional and management strategies" (Elements of Differentiation, p. 15). This is based on research, and responds to what Lev Vygotsky identifies as the 'zone of proximal development'. You can learn more about this teaching approach by watching What is differentiated instruction? where Carol Ann Tomlinson shares a concise explanation. There are several other videos and resources on the Differentiation Central.com website.
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Identifying technology that supports differentiation can be challenging. This ASCD Express newsletter identifies a range of information that is required in order for decisions to be made: diagnosing learning needs, mapping student's needs to the learning outcomes, and evaluating the evidence for the efficacy of the tools to be applied. One example of how technology can be integrated into the revising of student writing shows how audio recordings enhances the editing process. The videos present classrooms where differentiation is modelled and embedded into student choice within content, topics, resources, products and groups.
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For teachers who work toward applying differentiation into their classroom, this DIFFERENTIATOR web resource can be helpful to identify various ways to provide student choice within elements of learning. This integrates Bloom's Taxonomy action verbs into the choices students can make.
Additional References and Resources
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