The Basics of Differentiation

If you’re here, you probably know the “basics” of differentiation. I just want to point out that differentiation can be applied to different phases of learning. 

These phases are:

1. The content (how students receive the information)

2. The process (your teaching and their practice)

3. The product (how students deliver information)

4. The learning environment (seating arrangement, sounds, distractions, etc.)

7 Strategies for Differentiation

Most of these can be applied to the content, process, or product phase of learning. I’m numbering them to stay organized, but they do not go by level of importance! 

Grab the reference sheet here - it gives you a printable, short version. Be sure to read the blog post, though, I have lots of tried and true tips to share! 

1. Reading Levels

Differentiated reading texts are incredibly helpful for social studies (and other subjects, of course)! Often, I wanted my students to get some nonfiction reading in, but my main focus was the actual content of the text - not the reading. Eliminate some of the barriers by providing lower-level text to those who need the support. I also support using the same high-level text, but bringing the students up with support - that’s for another blog post! 

You can use these different levels in a few ways - it just depends on your students or your mood ;) 

You can give individual students the level they need, and everyone works independently. Or, you can have students in pairs with the same level text. Or, you can use one level for one class and the other level for your other class. 

For middle school students (or really any level), I think it’s really important to be discreet with this! I tried to structure my differentiated reading in a way that the students had no idea there were different texts floating around the room. All the questions were the same, so when we came back together to share - no one knew. 

2. Sentence Starters/Fill-in-the-Blanks

I used these two strategies a lot in my 7th grade classroom, so I know they’re powerful! Depending on your students, you can do this with your whole class or certain students. In one year, I had a whole class who benefited from these strategies, while in other classes just a handful of students needed the extra support. 

I recommend using sentence starters and/or fill-in-the-blanks for constructed response prompts. Even middle school students need lots of support for writing prompts! I found that my students were compartmentalizing writing strategies. They were using the “RACE” strategy in ELA, but they didn’t realize they could use it in other classes, too. Help them break that compartmentalized thinking by using the same strategies as your ELA teacher for constructive responses. Consistency will be helpful! 

Once you know the ELA strategy to use for constructed responses, support them by providing either sentence starters or fill-in-the-blanks. Sentence starters are for those who need “less” support, and fill-in-the-blanks for those who need “more” support. The ultimate goal is to gradually move them off of this support. Meet students where they are now, and support them as they move up the rigor scale! 

3. Word Bank

This is another strategy to support students during writing prompts. This is providing less support than sentence starters, but it is still super helpful. Instead of requiring a certain number of sentences in their writing (you know they always ask that question!), I required certain words to be in their answer. 

Create a word bank of words that are required in their answer. If you choose these words strategically, it will be really helpful in guiding the students to create a response that has some depth. It also reinforces vocabulary! 

Another way you can use a word bank is to create a Word Bank Wall! This is one of my favorites! This is great for whole-class support. 

Here’s how it works…Print a paper with the “answer” on the top and the “question” on the bottom. The paper will be folded with the word on the outside (so students can see it from their desks), and on the inside will be the question. These will be posted around the classroom. Students will have a worksheet at their desk with the questions, and they’ll use the “gallery” as their word bank. When they’re ready to check, they’ll raise their hand for you to give permission. I usually checked for completion and handed them a highlighter. Then, they go to the gallery word, unfold, and check to their paper.

To support individual students in the Word Bank Wall activity, provide them with a printed version of the word bank, so they can cross off as they use them. Also, you can eliminate any prompts that use words twice. 

If you don’t want to eliminate prompts, you can tell the student which numbers will have the same answers (ex. Numbers 3 and 7 will have the same answer, and numbers 9 and 15 will have the same answer). 

4. Graphic Organizers

I definitely recommend using graphic organizers during your teaching. You can also use them to support your students with their constructed writing prompts and before assessments. 

Allow students to use their graphic organizers from class to help them form their answers for constructed response questions. If they don’t have one from class, have them do that first, before writing, to organize their thoughts. Check this before you have them start writing their response. In the beginning, you may need to provide support on how to turn the graphic organizer into a writing response. This is a great activity for a small group lesson! 

Using a graphic organizer as a brain dump before assessments was a game-changer for me and my 7th grade students! This idea actually came from a Special Education teacher whose daughter was in my class. We had a certain graphic organizer that we used for a certain unit, and she suggested that I give a blank one to students before I pass out the assessment. I allowed them to fill it out (within a time limit) as much as they wanted. Then, I passed out the assessments, and they could use their graphic organizer for help. This made a HUGE difference! Not only were students scoring better on the assessment, but it also lessened the students’ stress over the assessment. In most cases, my assessments did not have a lot of recall, so the information wasn’t like a “free pass” or “free answers”. Plus, they could not use their notes to fill out the blank graphic organizer, so I knew that they “knew” the information. Use your discretion with this! 

5. Eliminate Answer Choices

If you’re using multiple-choice prompts for either practice or assessment, you can try eliminating one or two answer choices to support your students. You might want to use caution here! Check with the student’s accommodations. If this is not a testing accommodation, you’ll want to make sure you are able to gradually wean them off of this strategy. You don’t want them to get used it for every practice and every assessment just to get to the state test and not have this support. 

6. Scaffold Learning/Tiered Learning Targets

If you’ve been around me, you know that I’m a huge supporter of scaffolding student learning and tiered learning targets! I go really in-depth in one of my webinars. You can access the replay here - it’s GOOD stuff…and it comes with some downloads! 

Ultimately, if you are able to break the standard into categories of what the student should be able to do as a beginning learner, developing learner, proficient learner, and distinguished learner, you’ll be able to use this information for differentiation. 

You can group students based on where they fall in the categories and/or you can provide individual support. 

7. Choice in Product

This is a very common strategy! Give students choice in how they deliver their answers. I used this a lot with my 7th graders. For long, constructed responses, they were able to choose between a written response, a video response, or an audio response. I used Google Classroom for this, so all their responses were in one place. This helped keep me organized! 

While I used this strategy a lot, I don’t recommend using it for every single constructed response. Students will still need to practice writing! 

8. Bonus Strategy to Boost Engagement

This is one of my favorite strategies for the middle school classroom! If you know you’re going to ask for volunteers to share their answers, prep the specific students. As they’re working and you’re walking around spot-checking and helping, speak with the specific students you’re going to call on. 

From my experience, middle school students are very hesitant to answer aloud. That’s often from their fear of getting the answer wrong in front of everyone. If you prep the student ahead of time, and reassure him or her that their answer is correct, they’ll be more likely to speak up. They’ll have time to get the courage up and “practice” their answer (if it’s a complicated one) before you call on them. 

I tried to do this discreetly, so it wasn’t obvious to everyone that I was hand-picking who was going to share. When it came time to share, I just called on the student without making a big deal about it.  

Differentiation is a must in the classroom. It’s also difficult because you really have to learn what works best for your students. Then, you’ll get a new group of students to learn! Hopefully, these tips were helpful and provided some inspiration! 

Make sure you grab the Reference Sheet here, so you can keep me with you as you support your kiddos!