1 Differential Instruction

Differential Instruction

EDU 381 Curriculum and Instructional Design

2 Differential Instruction

Differential Instruction

“Differentiated Instruction is the way in which a teacher anticipates and responds to

a variety of student needs in the classroom.” (Carlson, n.d.) It is a 4-level process that

enables the teacher to adjust their lesson plan to successfully engage each individual

student and help them to understand the concept that is being taught.

Theoretical or Research Background

The theoretical basis for Differential Instruction (DI) is that each student learns

differently, therefore the teacher must be able to teach a mixed group of learners with

ease. DI provides ways for a teacher to assist the students that needs little extra help than

their peers. A study was done in 2010 in Cyprus (an island in the Mediterranean Sea off

the southern coast of Turkey) on DI and its effectiveness in the classroom. Two test

groups comprised of 4th grade students spread out over 24 classrooms; 14 classrooms

were taught using the DI method, 10 classrooms were the control group and taught

traditionally. The study results show that “differentiation is feasible, effective and

necessary in order to promote quality and equity dimension of effectiveness” in a mixed-

ability classroom. (Valiande, et al., 2010, page 15)

DI is a 4-level model that allows the teacher to adjust their lesson plans to be able to

include each of their students in a mixed-ability class. Level 1 is for the general

education, “What does the teacher want the student to learn?” There teacher wants to

ensure that there will be a solid foundation for their lesson plan to be built upon. Their

plan “should include attention to respectful tasks, quality curriculum, teaching up,

flexible grouping, continual assessment and building community.” (Hansen, et al., 2015,

3 Differential Instruction

Section 2.3) The second level is the original plan itself. It is composed of the content that

is to be learned, the process that the teacher will use to teach the content, the product that

will be the end result and how engaged the teacher will predict the students to be. When

all of these factors are combined the teacher has worked towards a positive learning

environment for his/her classroom. Level 3 is where the adjustments to the original lesson

plan are made. Student characteristics the teacher should take into consideration include

readiness, interest and the individual learning profiles of each student in the class. The

fourth and final level consists of several DI strategies that can be used. For example,

“Acting Out a Problem: students can act out mathematical, scientific, or social problems

to improve their comprehension.” (Rowan, 2013)

How Does it Work

My “classroom” would consist of mostly preschool age children working on reading

and their letters. I believe that my students would enjoy the “Acting Out” scenario from

the above paragraph. I would assign each child a role from a story based on how much

the child likes to be the center of attention. I will use “Goldilocks and the 3 Bears” as an

example.By using a variety of instructional models and strategies, teachers differentiate instruction. Read Chapter 2 in your text and, in a two- to three-page paper, not including title and reference pages, discuss the concept of the differentiation.
Be sure to address the following topics in your paper:

What is differentiation?
What theoretical or research background is there for this instructional method?
How does it work? What will it look like in your own classroom? Give an example of how you could differentiate instruction.
What experiences have you had with this method?
What do you still need to learn about this method? What questions do you have about this method?
What conclusions can you draw about this method?

Please refer to Chapter 2 in your text, other resources, and your experiences to complete this assignment. Cite at least one source in addition to your text. The source does not need to be scholarly. Make sure your paper is in APA format.

Example provided