Examples of ways to differentiate instruction

TeachersFirst's Thinking Teachers who write our resource reviews often have suggestions that have worked in their classrooms. Open the reviews to the "more" view to see ideas for using specific resources as tools to differentiate for a variety of learners. Alternatively, use the keyword search tool at the left of this page to search for a curriculum topic and the term "differentiate." For example, search fractions differentiate (with "all the words" selected for the search).
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Diagnostic Questions - Craig Barton and Simon Woodhead
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Use this site as an anticipatory set or "activator" to introduce a unit or lesson on a projector or interactive whiteboard. Use to find a question of the day to begin lessons. Share or embed questions on your class website. Have students prepare a question of the day to include with your quizzes. See the "About" page to find questions for class discussions. Though they suggest using mini whiteboards or a large card, think about using computers or tablets and a student response system, such as Socrative, reviewed here. Using a student response system, you will be able to keep a record of the responses without having stacks of paper. It will help you to differentiate and know whom to focus on with some immediate extra help.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Freckle Education - Sidharth Kakkar
Grades
K to 8This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
After creating your classroom account and adding rosters, introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. If you are lucky enough to have a class set of mobile devices, allow students to use Freckle while you work directly with individuals or small groups of students. Freckle is a great way to supplement instruction for both gifted and special needs students. Use in your blended learning class, when you want to differentiate, or when teaching remotely. Visit the FAQ section for ideas for implementing Freckle in your math, ELA, social studies, or science classroom. Be sure to share login information with parents for student practice at home.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Online Math Learning - OnlineMathLearning.com
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
OnLineMathLearning is a nice supplement to your classroom. Use the videos on your interactive whiteboard to begin instruction. Differentiate your math instruction by student need and assign individually. Use the worksheets, games, and activities for extra practice and reinforcement. Allow students to see the ideas listed before they start their science fair projects. Recommend this website to parents so they can understand the "new way" of doing math. Be sure to list as a resource for extra practice on your class website. Keep the videos on this site in mind for using as models when assigning students to make their own videos. Be sure to include in your math parent night. Use as enrichment for your advanced students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Oppia - Oppia.org
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
Assign Oppia explorations to gifted students as part of your differentiated learning lessons. Use Oppia explorations as part of your flipped classroom. Have students complete explorations and then discuss in class. Add links to (or embed) Oppia explorations on your class website or blog for students to explore at home as a review tool or as an anticipatory set or "activator" to introduce a unit or lesson. Join the Oppia Users Group to collaborate with others to create your own Oppia explorations.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Spell Up - Google Chrome
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Demonstrate HOW to use this website on your interactive whiteboard or projector (with your mike nearby!). Divide your class into teams and test out the site together. Create a link to Spell Up on your class website or blog for students to play at home. Use Spell Up at varied levels for different students to differentiate challenges for your students. Share this link on your class website for students to use at home (especially for spelling practice during the summer).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Bees: A Honey of an Idea - Canada Agriculture and Food Museum
Grades
3 to 9In the Classroom
Be sure to share this site during any unit on insects or careers. As news stories tell us about the rapid demise of honeybees and the resulting danger to our food supply, step back to see what bees are all about. Allow older students to explore on their own. Younger students will benefit from viewing and reading together on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students create an annotated image including text boxes and related links using a tool such as Thinglink, reviewed here. Have students use Fakebook (reviewed here) to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about a week in the life of a beekeeper. Use the glossary as a resource for differentiated spelling lists each week. French teachers may want to use this site as a reading experience!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Fill in the Chart - Susan Jones
Grades
2 to 6This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Share Fill in the Chart on your class website or newsletter for multiplication practice at home or from any computer. Create a link on classroom computers for student practice during center time. Differentiate learning by assigning different practice charts based on individual student needs. This site doesn't time students, therefore causing less stress. if you prefer, have students time themselves with each activity then challenge them to improve completion time and accuracy with each practice. Or time your students using the free Online Countdown Timer (reviewed here).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Frontiers for Young Minds - Frontiersin.org
Grades
2 to 10In the Classroom
Use these articles in Biology or Health class to learn about the brain and factors that affect it. Students will find many articles of interest to them. Articles focus not only on learning, but games, media, emotions, and other activities. Have a bright students looking for a challenge? Encourge him/her to follow the directions to apply as a Young Mind reviewer. Challenge cooperative learning groups to read an article and create an infographic sharing the highlights of what they discovered. Use a tool such as Venngage reviewed here. If you teach gifted science students or would like to offer an advanced option to a gifted student in your regular science class while studying the brain or human body, this journal offers an outstanding opportunity for real world collaboration with scientists and very bright students in other places. Differentiate by going outside school walls! Have your student write an article and/or apply to join the team of young scientists.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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News in Levels - newsinlevels.com
Grades
K to 8This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Add this website to your classroom computers, websites, and newsletters for parents of ENL/ESL students or beginning readers. This tool is especially helpful at the beginning of the year, as you are learning students' reading levels. Use this tool to differentiate in all primary classes. Although this site was created for English Language Learners, it could still be used by all students including gifted and learning support. Differentiate for your advanced/gifted students in elementary, while meeting Common Core standards of Informational Text. Use these news articles as informational text meeting your Common Core goals. Assign students of different levels the same story at the appropriate level or build skills by sharing the same story as a class. Challenge groups to compare the stories in pairs. Have students create a visual presentation of the story. First have students create a rough draft of their comic using Printable Comic Strip Templates, reviewed here. For Level 1 readers have them create their final comic using ToonyTool, reviewed here, for Level 3 readers use Make Beliefs Comix, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Slick Write - Russ Tek, LLC
Grades
5 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Use this program with your students who are ready to refine and improve their writing. This is a wonderful program to use for revision after editing of grammar and mechanics is complete. Discover what is making your writing too wordy (excessive prepositional phrases or adverbs?) Partner an advanced writer with one not so advanced and have them use Slick Write to improve their styles. Easily differentiate for writing pitfalls by having them "configure" the settings to focus on their greatest needs instead of overwhelming them with everything at once. Put the URL on your website for students and parents to use from home. Remind seniors to use it for their college essays. Use this tool to polish your own professional writing, parent newsletters, blog posts, and papers for grad classes!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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MobyMax: Complete K-8 Curriculum - MobyMax.com
Grades
K to 8This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Create a classroom account. Use MobyMax during centers, for nightly homework, or computer lab time. Share with parents as an excellent resource for practicing math, reading, writing, grammar, science, and vocabulary skills at home. Use the pre-testing features at the beginning of the school year to get students started at the correct levels. Use this tool to differentiate for all students. Your gifted students can pretest out of material already learned and receive activities and instruction at their individual level. Be sure to bookmark this site to use with all levels of students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Maths Practice and Worksheets - EduGain
Grades
4 to 10In the Classroom
Use this site to differentiate for students of all levels. Use activities on this site as a learning station or center. This site is ideal for 1-1 (or BYOD) classrooms. Set up a single teacher account and have all the students use the class login to enable access to all features of the site. Be sure to include this site on your class web page for students to access both in and outside of class for further practice.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Color in my Piano - Joy Morin
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plans and worksheets for music classroom use. Search the Reading Lists for articles to share with students. Share (and discuss) Wednesday's Words of Wisdom. Use this site to differentiate for music students of all levels.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Famous Inboxes - Mark Brownlow
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Share Famous Inboxes with your students on your interactive whiteboard or projector using a character or author studied in class. Assign students to each of the inbox titles and have them write the actual email sent. Don't see anyone to use in class? Create your own or have students use the site as a model to create their own. Most likely, working in groups will get the creative juices flowing. This would be a great model to use for introducing a history or science unit or for looking at the relationships between characters in literature. Have students write the emails as an end of unit review. Subscribe to the RSS feed of this site to receive updated contents. Use the option to create an inbox as a differentiated challenge for your gifted students. For example: Summarize World War II by showing Winston Churchill's inbox, then write two of the key emails. As a "hook" for new books in the media center, have students create inboxes for one of the characters and post them with the book jackets. Instead of a "report" on a scientist, have students create their inbox documenting their research and accomplishments.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Gettysburg by the Numbers - TeachersFirst
Grades
5 to 10In the Classroom
Gettysburg exemplifies many aspects of the Civil War experience and of U.S. life during the 1860s. Use this resource as a whole class introduction to the Civil War or specifically to the Battle of Gettysburg. Extensive teacher materials include downloadable and customizable handouts for students to "get the basics" about the battle or extend their understanding through small group or individual projects on battle-related topics that interest them. Coordinate with your math teacher to reinforce concepts of proportion, percent, ratio, and graphing with real data about Gettysburg. Differentiate for your students by helping them select from more concrete or more open-ended "questions" included with each detail about the battle. You can make this a one-day "quick tour" or a week long journey. Find project ideas included in these questions. There is even a customizable project rubric in the teacher materials. Be sure to share this link on your class web page for curious students (and families) to explore on their own outside of class!Comments
Excellent resource for researchArthur, TX, Grades: 0 - 12
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ESL Games World - eslgamesworld.com
Grades
1 to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
This website contains many ads, demonstrate avoiding the advertisements with your students before assigning or using any of the activities. Find ways to assist your ESL/ELL students in an engaging way! You can also use many of the games to reinforce basic skills with native speakers. Customize some of the activities for the content areas you are studying. Use as a whole class activity on your projector (or interactive whiteboard) to practice vocabulary, grammar, and content. Add as a resource for ESL/ELL learning or even struggling readers. Ideas and materials are gathered in one spot to help you reduce the time you need to meet your ESL/ELL students' differentiated needs. Add this link to your class website or share it with parents as a resource.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Math Champs - Pearson
Grades
K to 5In the Classroom
Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Use the age ranges (5-7, 7-9, or 9-11) to differentiate for your students. Provide this link on your class website for students to access at home. This is a great site to provide on a list of summer "practice" sites.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Figure This - KnowNet Construction, Inc.
Grades
5 to 10In the Classroom
In the classroom, use Figure This to help differentiate instruction for all levels, especially the high-achievers and gifted students. Allow students to work independently, or work in pairs to solve challenges. Introduce the challenge on your interactive whiteboard projector. Then allow students to dive into the challenge! Use for gifted enrichment, or even a Math Challenge Day for a reward. Offer extra credit for the number of challenges solved. Use as a model to allow students to create their own challenges. Add to your website as a fun resource for students and families.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Bedtime Math: Making Math a Fun Part of Kids' Everyday Lives - Laura Overdeck
Grades
K to 4In the Classroom
Do you have parents who want ideas to help with math (or make it fun) at home? Share this site as an easy way to do math and discuss problem solving at home. Instead of assigning endless worksheets, consider a family bedtime math challenge that parents and kids can do together. Use the problems in a math center - differentiate by choosing different questions from the stories for different student needs. After solving problems, change the numbers in questions to provide additional practice. Display the question of the day as a beginning of class activity or to use as a daily math journal entry.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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noredink - Jeff Scheur
Grades
3 to 12So, what's fun about learning this type of grammar? noredink asks students to pick their interests from Sports, TV shows, Musicians, and Miscellaneous. They will also be asked if they want them to use your friends from Facebook. When students are practicing or are taking quizzes, the program will use their interests and friends, and generate the questions around their interests and friends. The hope is that the content will be more interesting by including sentences with favorite celebrities, hobbies, TV shows, or even personal friends. Be sure to watch the introductory video. The program works on iPads as well as your regular computer.
This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Teachers sign up and create a class. You will receive a class code for your students to use (optional). With the class code you will be able to track student's progress, differentiate, assign quizzes and assignments, and see class trends. The program has color-coded "heat maps" to track progress easily. Your assignments and quizzes will be uniquely generated according to each student's interests. Also, students don't have to wait for you to give them an assignment. With their account, they can practice at any time. A student does NOT have to provide an email address to create an account. It will work without it! Since students are providing some personal information about interests, etc., we strongly advise parent permission.Challenge (and excel) your gifted students with the concepts practiced at this site. Since student assignments are at their own level, students can find great acceleration in practicing these necessary skills. ENL/ELL students will especially benefit from the practice using correct English, in their writing, over a continuous time period. Student assignments are at their own level. You can also create your own quizzes. Use this site as part of your rotation during learning stations. Put your class' URL on your website so students can practice at home, too.
Comments
Any website that doesn't let you try it before creating an account is instantly uninteresting to me.Kristi, , Grades: 0 - 12
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