Differentiating Instruction For Advanced Learners
In the Mixed-Ability Middle School Classroom
By Carol
Ann Tomlinson
ERIC EC Digest #E536, October 1995
Credits
Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted
Education
A particular challenge for middle school teachers is being
able to differentiate or adapt instruction to respond to the diverse
student needs found in inclusive, mixed-ability classrooms. This digest
provides an overview of some key principles for differentiating
instruction, with an emphasis on the learning needs of academically
advanced learners.
Why Differentiate Instruction?
A single seventh grade heterogeneous language arts
class is likely to include students who can read and comprehend as well
as most college learners; students who can barely decode words,
comprehend meaning, or apply basic information; and students who fall
somewhere between these extremes. There are students whose primary
interests lie in science, sports, music, or a dozen other fields. There
are students who learn best by working alone and those who are most
successful working in groups. Further, the learning profiles of young
adolescents often change rapidly as they develop. There simply is no
single learning template for the general middle school class. If middle
school students differ in readiness, interest, and learning profiles,
and if a good middle school attempts to meet each student where he or
she is and foster continual growth, a one-size-fits-all model of
instruction makes little sense. Rather, differentiated instruction seems
a better solution for meeting the academic diversity that typifies the
middle school years.
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What Differentiation Is--And Is Not
A differentiated classroom offers a variety of
learning options designed to tap into different readiness levels,
interests, and learning profiles. In a differentiated class, the teacher
uses (1) a variety of ways for students to explore curriculum content,
(2) a variety of sense-making activities or processes through which
students can come to understand and "own" information and ideas, and (3)
a variety of options through which students can demonstrate or exhibit
what they have learned.
A class is not differentiated when assignments are the
same for all learners and the adjustments consist of varying the level
of difficulty of questions for certain students, grading some students
harder than others, or letting students who finish early play games for
enrichment. It is not appropriate to have more advanced learners do
extra math problems, extra book reports, or after completing their
"regular" work be given extension assignments. Asking students to do
more of what they already know is hollow. Asking them to do "the regular
work, plus" inevitably seems punitive to them (Tomlinson, 1995a).
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Four characteristics shape teaching and learning in an
effective differentiated classroom (Tomlinson, 1995a):
- Instruction is concept focused and principle driven.
All students have the opportunity to explore and apply the key concepts of
the subject being studied. All students come to understand the key
principles on which the study is based. Such instruction enables
struggling learners to grasp and use powerful ideas and, at the same time,
encourages advanced learners to expand their understanding and application
of the key concepts and principles. Such instruction stresses
understanding or sense-making rather than retention and regurgitation of
fragmented bits of information. Concept-based and principle-driven
instruction invites teachers to provide varied learning options. A
"coverage-based" curriculum may cause a teacher to feel compelled to see
that all students do the same work. In the former, all students have the
opportunity to explore meaningful ideas through a variety of avenues and
approaches.
- On-going assessment of student readiness and growth are
built into the curriculum. Teachers do not assume that all students need a
given task or segment of study, but continuously assess student readiness
and interest, providing support when students need additional instruction
and guidance, and extending student exploration when indications are that
a student or group of students is ready to move ahead.
- Flexible grouping is consistently used. In a
differentiated class, students work in many patterns. Sometimes they work
alone, sometimes in pairs, sometimes in groups. Sometimes tasks are
readiness-based, sometimes interest-based, sometimes constructed to match
learning style, and sometimes a combination of readiness, interest, and
learning style. In a differentiated classroom, whole-group instruction may
also be used for introducing new ideas, when planning, and for sharing
learning outcomes.
- Students are active explorers. Teachers guide the
exploration. Because varied activities often occur simultaneously in a
differentiated classroom, the teacher works more as a guide or facilitator
of learning than as a dispenser of information. As in a large family,
students must learn to be responsible for their own work. Not only does
such student-centeredness give students more ownership of their learning,
but it also facilitates the important adolescent learning goal of growing
independence in thought, planning, and evaluation. Implicit in such
instruction is (1) goal-setting shared by teacher and student based on
student readiness, interest, and learning profile, and (2) assessment
predicated on student growth and goal attainment.
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How to Think About Differentiating
Instruction
There are many ways to shake up the classroom to
create a better fit for more learners-including those who are advanced.
In general, interest-based adjustments allow students to have a voice in
deciding whether they will apply key principles being studied to
math-oriented, literature-based, hobby-related, science-oriented, or
history-associated areas. For example, in studying the American
Revolution, one student might opt to write a short story about the life
of a teenager during the Revolutionary period. Another might elect to
apply key ideas about the American Revolution to an investigation of
heroes then and now. Yet another might prefer to study ways in which the
Revolution affected the development of science.
Adjustments based on learning profile encourage
students to understand their own learning preferences. For example, some
students need a longer period to reflect on ideas before beginning to
apply them, while others prefer quick action. Some students need to talk
with others as they learn, while others need a quiet work space. Some
students learn best as they tell stories about ideas being explored,
others as they create mind maps, and still others as they construct
three-dimensional representations. Some students may learn best through
a practical application of ideas, others through a more analytical
approach.
Readiness-based adjustments can be created by teachers
offering students a range of learning tasks developed along one or more
of the following continua:
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Concrete to abstract. Learners advanced in a
subject often benefit
from tasks that involve more abstract materials,
representations, ideas,
or applications than less advanced peers.
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Simple to complex. Learners advanced in a subject
often benefit from
tasks that are more complex in resources, research,
issues, problems,
skills, or goals than less advanced peers.
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Basic to transformational. Learners advanced in a
subject often benefit from
tasks that require greater transformation
or manipulation of information, ideas,
materials, or applications than
less advanced peers.
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Fewer facets to multi-facets. Learners advanced in
a subject often
benefit from tasks that have more facets or parts in
their directions,
connections within or across subjects, or planning
and execution than
less advanced peers.
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Smaller leaps to greater leaps. Learners advanced
in a subject often
benefit from tasks that require greater mental
leaps in insight, application,
or transfer than less advanced peers.
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More structured to more open. Learners advanced in
a subject often benefit
from tasks that are more open in regard to
solutions, decisions, and approaches
than less advanced peers.
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Less independence to greater independence. Learners
advanced in a subject
often benefit from greater independence in
planning, designing, and
self-monitoring than less advanced peers.
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Quicker to slower. Learners advanced in a subject
will sometimes benefit
from rapid movement through prescribed
materials and tasks. At other
times, they may require a greater amount
of time with a given study than
less advanced peers so that they may
explore the topic in greater depth
and/or breadth.
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Strategies for Managing a
Differentiated Classroom
Among instructional strategies that can help teachers
manage differentiation and help students find a good learning "fit" are
the following:
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use of multiple texts and
supplementary materials |
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use of computer programs |
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interest centers |
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learning contracts
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compacting |
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tiered sense-making activities
and tiered products
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tasks and products designed with a multiple
intelligence orientation |
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independent learning contracts |
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complex instruction |
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group investigation |
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product criteria negotiated
jointly by student and teacher |
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graduated task- and
product-rubrics
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Teachers moving toward differentiated instruction in an
inclusive, integrated middle school classroom find greater success if they
(1) have a clear rationale for differentiation, (2) prepare students and
parents for a differentiated classroom, (3) attend to issues of classroom
structure and management as they move toward more student-centered
learning, (4) move toward differentiation at a pace comfortable to both
teacher and learners, and (5) plan with team members and other colleagues
interested in differentiation (Tomlinson, 1995b).
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Tomlinson, C. (1995a). How to differentiate instruction
in mixed-ability classrooms. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision
and Curriculum Development.
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Tomlinson, C. (1995b). Deciding to differentiate
instruction in middle school: One school's journey. Gifted Child
Quarterly, 39, 77-87. |
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A companion digest, Gifted Learners and the Middle
School: Problem or Promise (E535) is available.
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Carol Ann Tomlinson is Assistant Professor, Curry School
of Education, the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.
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The ERIC Clearinghouse On Disabilities and Gifted Education
1920 Association Drive
Reston, VA 22190
Toll-free: 1-800-328-0272
Internet: ericec@inet.ed.gov
ERIC Digests are in the public domain and may be freely
reproduced and disseminated. This publication was prepared with funding from
the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of
Education, under contract no. RR93002005. The opinions expressed in this
report do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of OERI, or the
Department of Education.
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