Examples of ways to differentiate instruction
TeachersFirst's Thinking Teachers who write our resource reviews often have suggestions that have worked in their classrooms. Open the reviews to the "more" view to see ideas for using specific resources as tools to differentiate for a variety of learners. Alternatively, use the keyword search tool at the left of this page to search for a curriculum topic and the term "differentiate." For example, search fractions differentiate (with "all the words" selected for the search).
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Mrs. Cassidy's Web Page - Numbers - Mrs. Cassidy
Grades
K to 3tag(s): addition (128), counting (60), fractions (159), numbers (119), place value (34), subtraction (109)
In the Classroom
What excellent choices to use as a learning center. This program allows the teacher to differentiate instruction (based on the current levels of your students). Each activity has several levels of difficulties. Mrs. Cassidy has also included a color-coded guide to help teachers determine which activities are easy, medium, hard, and very hard.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Protopage - Protopage
Grades
K to 12tag(s): resources (88)
In the Classroom
How would you use this in your teaching? Create a set of RSS feeds for current events or a specific curriculum topic such as weather and make them available for an in-class activity, complete with directions. World language, world cultures, or geography teachers can profile a location on the globe, complete with local weather and news. Make separate tabs for separate activities. Students can access them by password or publicly from outside of class, as well. For primary grades, make simple instructions right on the desktop for a computer center activity. Use color coding of the instructions to differentiate for different children (Sam, I want you to do the yellow one). If your school permits students to set up accounts on web services, have groups make Protopages on an assigned topic, collecting and organizing resources, images, and information: "A Protopage Guide to Cells" or "Shakespeare's Times." Gifted and highly-able students will go crazy!Skills needed: Join (free). Check out the Intro, Overview, and Quickstart to see how it works. Play to your heart's content, including making tabs. Learn about RSS feeds and other Widgets-- including sticky notes. Share the URL with those you wish to have use it. Note: this works on Internet Explorer 6 and higher and on Firefox. If your users are on older web browsers, the developers recommend upgrading. This may be a problem for some. Check with your end-user computers before you spend too much time making the perfect Protopage!
If you allow students to create their own Protopage, you will need to have very specific rules about content, since there are non-educational elements available.
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Photojournalism Tiered Lesson Plan - Leigha Tracey
Grades
10 to 12tag(s): journalism (72)
In the Classroom
To take full advantage of this lesson, expand it into choosing photos off the web from news stories or from Flickr. (See the TeachersFirst Edge explanation of Flickr). You might even preview some sites and have pairs of students access them and categorize them by analysis. This would enable you to tailor the lesson to any literature you were working with from: Shakespeare to Hemingway to Grisham.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Thinking Blocks - Math Playground
Grades
3 to 8tag(s): addition (128), division (98), multiplication (122), ratios (47), subtraction (109), vision (45)
In the Classroom
Try an interactive whiteboard and treat your students to this challenging math activity. If you are able to use a lab or laptops, differentiate your instruction and allow the students to work on skills at their own levels. Each of the three "topic" sets has six lessons.After you use it in class, include this site on your teacher web page for students to practice prior to your test or the "big one."
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Adapt-a-Strategy for ENL/ESL - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): teaching strategies (41)
In the Classroom
Share this one with your colleagues who also have ENL/ESL students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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World News in Special English - VOA
Grades
4 to 8tag(s): agriculture (49), news (229)
In the Classroom
Use this simplified news site to help students improve listening skills and vocabulary while learning about current events. This is an easy way to differentiate for students who process information more slowly as English language learners or for other reasons.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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World Geography Quizzes - Sheppard Software
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): capitals (15), continents (32), countries (69), maps (209)
In the Classroom
Be sure to put a link for these online games and quizzes on your teacher web page for the summer and throughout the school year. Students can use them to practice for your geography quizzes or as extra challenges. The different levels of dificulty will allow you to differentiate your instruction easily.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Windows to the Universe - University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): animation (62), images (269), planets (111), solar system (108)
In the Classroom
This is a safe, easy-to-understand resource for independent student research. Design a simple Web hunt to create a differentiated activity for multi-ability classes.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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World Myths and Legends in Art - Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Use this site as a learning center or station during a unit on myths & legends. This would be a great introductory activity, as a lot of the content is defining and providing examples that differentiate the two. This would be a great resource for a Language Arts teacher.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Visionlearning - Visionlearning, Inc
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): acids and bases (7), carbon (15), cells (80), darwin (13), earth (185), energy (130), gravity (42), light (52), matter (47), molecules (40), optics (12), paleontology (28), periodic table (44), photosynthesis (20), planets (111), reading comprehension (141), rock cycle (12), rocks (36), scientific method (47), scientists (62), space (213), water (101), waves (15)
In the Classroom
Include this site to supplement your current grade 6-12 science curriculum. Use the resources to differentiate instruction for gifted students in lower grades or as remediation for struggling students in older grades. Use the student materials for differentiating instruction or as homework. Have students share their learning or understanding of a topic with video explanations using a tool like Flip, reviewed here. Flip is an augmentation tool for video responses to a question along with comments from peers. Transform technology use in your classroom and take student learning a step further by asking them to create and share their own multimeda presentation along with suggestions for learning about their topic of interest. Use a tool like Sway, reviewed here. Sway is a presentation tool that offers multimedia options including text, video, and images.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Justice on Trial - Minnesota Public Radio
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): courts (19)
In the Classroom
Use this site as a learning center or station during a unit on International Trials or the legal consequences of Genocide in a US government or history course. The site is a little text-heavy, and would work best with higher level high school classes. To assess student learning and differentiate between the trial events, have students create a timeline describing the events of all three events. We recommend using an online tool such as Timelline Infographic Templates, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Take a Walk in my Shoes - TeachersFirst
Grades
7 to 9tag(s): character education (76), empathy (26), israel (14), palestine (5)
In the Classroom
The lesson plan includes student handouts and technology options for students to share their projects in several ways. Teachers can easily differentiate the challenge level of projects by specifying which tools to use. Include this lesson as part of your activities to teach empathy for others.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Hayes vs. Tilden - Harpweek.com
Grades
6 to 12Although this resource was created based on the 2000 election, the background information and historical comparisons are valuable for teaching about elections in general and for comparing elections as part of U.S. history.
tag(s): college (45), electoral college (22)
In the Classroom
Use the political cartoons as starters or introductory activities during a lesson on the controversial election. Find a cartoon that you think would be the best understood boy your students as well as the one that will most likely get them communicating and thinking about the topic on hand. Posting the image on the projector, have students reflect on the image either verbally or in some sort of journal writing. To differentiate it for a higher-level class, have the students respond to a specific component of the image, such as perspective, point of view, bias, intent, various layers, etc.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Patterns in Mathematics - CPB/Annenberg
Grades
1 to 6In the Classroom
Use the suggestions for adapting the instuction to varying grade levels to help differentiate logic and patterns for your students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Twitter Chat: Fix Frustration with Differentiation! - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): differentiation (84), twitterchatarchive (173)
In the Classroom
Find resources and information about differentiated instruction. Share this chat with your colleagues looking for strategies and resources on differentiated instruction.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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