How do you differentiate your lessons? Standard practice has, for some time, been to start pitching your lesson at the students of average ability and add challenge or support as necessary for the students working above and below this level. I have a problem with this strategy however: the result is that students achieving average scores are the students who are leading my lessons. I want my students to constantly shoot for the stars – not just when I have the time to add on an extension task for those who need it.
For some time now, I have had my highest-achieving students in mind first when planning lessons and I’ve asked myself the following question: if the stars are the limit what would I want those Astar-ers to be able to do by the end of the lesson? What questions would I want them to be able to answer confidently? What learning would I want them to go away with in an ideal world with no limitations?
This has prompted me to design learning that is differentiated from the top down. By this I mean, I think about the end goal of the lesson as the top of the mountain. And I think about how each type of learner in my classroom is going to climb the mountain. They are all working towards my idealised, shoot-for-the stars goal but the A star students will be able to take large strides up one side of the mountain. The B grade students will need a few more steps in place to reach the top. The C grade students will need a few more steps than the B grade students to reach the top and so on and so forth.
The epiphany I’ve had from this approach is that traditionally we give our weakest students less work to do because we believe that’s all they can handle. In truth we need to give them more steps to complete – smaller steps but more of them – so that they have a chance of achieving the same goal as those who can jump and bound up the mountain; those who are able to access complex and open questions as a matter of course.
Below, I have linked to an example of this kind of differentiation. I used these ‘Spicy’ and ‘Mild’ questions with my Year 13 Literature group who were studying A Doll’s House. The students in the group were targeted between A-C grades which meant when I took them on in September some of them were originally operating on a D-E grade. There was a lot of work to be done but they all had the same exam waiting for them at the top of the mountain. The resource I’ve linked to below shows that the ‘Mild’ questions start at the knowledge stage of Bloom’s Taxonomy. The ‘Spicy’ questions start at the application stage of Bloom’s Taxonomy. I do not dictate to students which path they choose but any student who attempts the ‘Spicy’ questions and finds it too difficult can turn over and attempt the ‘Mild’ questions instead knowing that they are not doing ‘easier work’ but simply using more stepping stones to get to the same place as the other students.
I’m in no way suggesting this is the only way or the best way to differentiate – as always I’m just sharing what has worked for me. Since I have used this strategy however I have seen a significant leap in the results students are achieving, I have been given the highest possible rating as a teacher in my formal observations and I have noticed an increase in the resilience and independence in students of all abilities in my classroom. As far as I’m concerned, these are all big wins!
Outstanding English Teaching 