Differentiation Station: Meeting Needs of Many

We will encounter many different types of students in our classrooms. Each student will come in with their preferred learning style. We as teachers, will probably teach in our most comfortable teaching method, which probably caters to how we used to learn to learn best. It is key to remember that not all students are like us and we need to teach to ALL our students. We do this in many fashions. One way we handle this is through Differentiated Instruction.

Differentiated Instruction focuses on students' readiness, interests, and learning preferences to be the most effective. These 3 key factors allows teachers and students to build on prior knowledge and find what works best for all. It is important to find out the base knowledge of your students right away to best meet their needs, and then continue to follow up to provide the most secure scaffolding for them. We as teacher's use this information to vary our classroom environment, instruction, and assessments to provide a well-rounded "knowledge tower." It's also important to realize that learning preferences are influenced by gender, culture, the classroom environment, learning styles, and multiple intelligence's. By being attentive teacher's, we can be aware of these differences and cater to them the best we can. 

Lots of research as been done on this subject. A wide variety of research studies point to Differentiated Instruction as a manageable, creative, practical and proactive response to the quest for enhanced student engagement and achievement in the face of significant student diversity. I was so intrigued by this chart that provides support for this teaching strategy. 

So how can I apply this in a classroom you ask. My first example: Students can participate in a class brainstorm of the possible factors that affect soil composition and fertility. Students individually select the factor that most interests them and then design and conduct an investigation to examine their chosen factor. Another example: Class brainstorms of what characteristic you look for in a sound breeding bull. Students individually compare two bulls from a catalog and prepare a presentation of which bull would better suite a herd.

Sources:
http://www.edugains.ca/resourcesDI/Brochures/DIBrochureOct08.pdf