Went to the Vermont Fest 2016 this week, where the best tech and innovation minds in Vermont’s education system come to share ideas. A common theme I heard was differentiation. However, in many sessions, teachers were frustrated that they didn’t leave with enough tools to really help implement. So, I’m sharing my favorite go-to: a differentiation framework I built for myself that helps me check to see if my lesson really does differentiate for students. It’s based on the premise that I give students a survey at the beginning of the year that identifies a few of their foibles, interests, fears, strengths, and weaknesses as learners and a bit more about who they are as people. Armed with that info, this framework becomes my go-to to keep myself accountable.
Enjoy! And if you have questions about how you can do more to implement differentiation in your classroom, reach out. I’m happy to help.