Action Aim
To develop a common, shared understanding of what differentiated instruction is and what it looks like at Peak School.
Sharing of Practice across the school
At the beginning of the 2014 academic year, the staff at Peak School came up with an extensive list of ways they were differentiating effectively within the classroom and shared best practise with one another. It was evident that the staff were working hard to cater for the needs of all our learners and were using a wide range of differentiation strategies. However, it was agreed that what was missing was a shared, common language and consistent approach across the school.
Action Research
We began our journey by researching what is and isn’t deemed to be effective differentiation and as a team began to inquire into the following key questions:
What is effective differentiated instruction?
How can differentiated instruction be implemented successfully into our school?
Initially our aim was to collate and device a bank of resources and strategies that the teaching staff could refer to when planning for effective differentiation.
However, we very quickly realised that effective differentiation is much more than a set of resources and strategies. If we wanted to implement effective differentiated instruction across the school, we needed to evaluate our current teaching and learning at a deeper level to establish what we were currently doing well and what would work even better if?
“Differentiation is not a set of strategies, but rather a way of thinking about teaching & learning” (Tomlinson, 2014)
Our research continuously lead us back to the work of Carol Ann Tomlinson, an American educator, author and speaker who is best known for her innovative work into differentiated instruction.
According to Tomlinson, teachers can effectively differentiate instruction 4 ways:
Sharing of Practice across the school
At the beginning of the 2014 academic year, the staff at Peak School came up with an extensive list of ways they were differentiating effectively within the classroom and shared best practise with one another. It was evident that the staff were working hard to cater for the needs of all our learners and were using a wide range of differentiation strategies. However, it was agreed that what was missing was a shared, common language and consistent approach across the school.
Action Research
We began our journey by researching what is and isn’t deemed to be effective differentiation and as a team began to inquire into the following key questions:
What is effective differentiated instruction?
How can differentiated instruction be implemented successfully into our school?
Initially our aim was to collate and device a bank of resources and strategies that the teaching staff could refer to when planning for effective differentiation.
However, we very quickly realised that effective differentiation is much more than a set of resources and strategies. If we wanted to implement effective differentiated instruction across the school, we needed to evaluate our current teaching and learning at a deeper level to establish what we were currently doing well and what would work even better if?
“Differentiation is not a set of strategies, but rather a way of thinking about teaching & learning” (Tomlinson, 2014)
Our research continuously lead us back to the work of Carol Ann Tomlinson, an American educator, author and speaker who is best known for her innovative work into differentiated instruction.
According to Tomlinson, teachers can effectively differentiate instruction 4 ways:
- The Product
- The Process
- The Content
- The Learning Environment