What differentiated Instruction is (Tomlinson 2001)
Differentiation is PROACTIVE.
Teacher assumes that different learners have differing needs. Therefore, the teacher proactively plans a variety of ways to "get at" and express learning.
"90% of differentiation happens before students walk through the door" - Rick Wormeli"
Differentiated instruction is more QUALITATIVE than quantitative.
D.I. is not simply more or less work. Simply adjusting the quantity of an assignment will generally be less effective than adjusting the nature of the assignment to match student needs as well.
Differentiated Instruction is ROOTED IN ASSESSMENT.
A teacher who understand the need for teaching and learning to be a good match for students looks for every opportunity to know her students better. Throughout the unit, in a multitude of ways, teachers assess student's developing readiness levels, interests, and modes of learning. "Final" assessments take many forms, with the goal of finding a way for each student to most successfully share what he or she has learned in the course of the learning.
Differentiated Instruction provides MULTIPLE APPROACHES to content, process, and product.
Content: What students learn.
Process: How students go about making sense of ideas and information
Product: how students demonstrate what they have learned.
By differentiating these three elements, teachers offer different approaches to what students learn, how they learn it, and how they demonstrate what they've learned, which will encourage growth in all students.
Differentiated instruction is STUDENT CENTERED.
Learning experiences are most effective when they are engaging, relevant, and interesting. Learners are active in making and evaluating decisions. Teaching students to share responsibility enables a teacher to work with varied groups or individuals for parts of the day. It is about preparing students for real life.
Differentiated instruction is a BLEND of whole-class, group, and individual instruction.
A pattern of instruction in a differentiated classroom could be students coming together as a whole group, moving out into small groups or individual, back together to share and moving out again, and repeat!
Differentiated Instruction is "Organic"
Students and teachers are learning together. Ongoing collaboration with students is necessary to refine the learning opportunities so they're effective for each student. Every day in the classroom can reveal one more way to make the classroom a better match for its learners.