Running Head: DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION 1

Differentiated Instruction
Anna Gillette
Regent University

In partial fulfillment of UED495 Field Experience ePortfolio, Spring 2018

DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION 2

Introduction
Every classroom is full of students with different needs, which all need to be addressed
by the classroom teacher. The teacher must recognize the uniqueness of each student in order to
meet their needs, which is the goal of differentiation. Each student has unique interests and
comes from a unique background. In addition have different learning styles, they learn at
different paces, and they come to school with different pools of knowledge. A teacher takes all of
this information into consideration when preparing learning experiences and differentiates each
one so that every student has what they need to learn most effectively.
Rational
The first artifact is a selection of research guides I prepared for a third grade class as part
of a class project. Each of the research guides led students to create a part of our class
encyclopedia about ancient civilizations. Students were split into three groups, each responsible
for a different civilization, and within their groups students were allowed to choose a research
topic which interested them most. Three different research guides were provided for the artifact,
one from each group.
I knew that in my third grade class there were students who would ordinarily have much
difficulty completing a research project and needed both prompting to find information and extra
time to complete their writing. I assigned these students to the Greece group, because we had
already covered Ancient Greece and I planned to devote extra time to assisting them with their
research and writing. I then developed research guides that broke down the information I wanted
the students to find into small, easy to understand parts.
I also knew that other students in the class needed a challenging subject and to be
prompted to show higher level thinking in their writing. I placed these students in the group
studying Ancient Mali, the civilization most different from ours. I also planned to meet with this
group to help them take their research further and think deeper about the questions I gave them
on their research guides, which were fewer in number but more complex.
I assigned the other students in the class to study Ancient Rome, which we had just begun
to talk about as a class. I knew these students needed springboard into their topic of study, some
background and context, and I also knew that they could independently research topics and
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION 3

questions of a moderate difficulty, which I provided them with. Although these students could
research and write mostly independently, I still planned to meet with them to assist them in
choosing reputable sources, prompt them to revise their writing and teach them to resolve group
conflicts.
I made sure to provide multiple topics within each group, and I allowed the students to
select topics they were most interested in researching. This allowed students to retain choice over
what they researched. I believe it is important to allow student to choose work that is interesting
to them as often as possible, because students will not learn unless they are motivated to do so,
and children’s natural curiosity is a powerful tool in their education. I made sure to preserve
students’ ability to choose topics of interest as I differentiated according to level because I
believe that differentiating instruction according to students’ interests, as well as their cultural
contexts, can be as powerful a tool in their education as any other type of differentiation. This
artifact shows how I differentiated instruction for the whole class based primarily on the level of
the students while also leaving room for students’ varying interests.
The second artifact is the lesson plan and critique for a lesson I gave to third grade
students on fractions. In this lesson I differentiated primarily by making sure to accommodate
many different learning styles. This lesson addresses visual, auditory, verbal, kinesthetic, and
logical learning styles, often addressing more than one learning style at once. The lesson began
with a song which was played twice so that the students could sing along the second time around.
I used the song to primarily target auditory learners, but the video accompanying the song
included interesting and helpful animations that depicted the fractions that were being sung
about, which was great for the visual learners in the class, and verbal learners were able to sing
along to the song when it played a second time. Later in the lesson I modeled drawing the
fractions and students were able to follow along by drawing large pictures on their desks. This
was great for both kinesthetic and visual learners; kinesthetic learners were able to use more of
their bodies to draw large pictures, and visual learners were able to see the fractions represented
on their desks. The whole lesson naturally catered to logical learners, because fractions and their
physical representations are by their very nature quite logical, and I explained very logically why
we represent fractions in certain ways while I was modeling for the students.
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION 4

In addition to differentiating according to learning style, I also made room in my lesson

to differentiate according to students’ varying levels of understanding. I did this by allowing for
time during and after the lesson to provide additional help to students who needed it, and I
assessed the students in order to create a future small group for any students who needed further
instruction.
Reflection
In my time as a student teacher I have found that every child is different in many ways,
coming to school with their own needs and desires, learning styles and background. However,
this doesn’t mean every child needs a seperate lesson; there are ways to differentiate instruction
in order to address students varying needs without separating them. A good teacher can
differentiate to meet the needs of diverse learners during whole group instruction as well as small
group and individual instruction. When teaching a lesson I try to be sure it caters to as many
learning styles as possible, both to meet the needs of individual students and to prevent the
lesson from being monotone and repetitive. I also try to incorporate choice in a lesson as often as
possible, so that students can learn through means that are most interesting to them. I always
make sure to address the needs of struggling students, often leaving time to move around the
room and scaffold independent work as well as pulling students into a small group whenever I
notice a couple of students struggling in the same area. I find that considering these things as I
plan lessons for my students helps me to focus my lessons around the needs of my students.
My studies at Regent University have supported and refined my thinking and practice of
these things. In my class on childhood and adolescent growth and development I learned about
some of the specific ways children of the same age differ, including their temperament,
intelligence, developmental level, upbringing, and culture; these things are both a part of a child
and factors that shape a child. I also learned that there are a few ways in which children of the
same age and approximate level of development are fundamentally the same. In my curriculum
design course I learned how to plan lessons that work to meet the needs of every student in my
class, and my class on students with disabilities taught me how to recognize and assist students
whose needs fall outside the normal range of their peers, and how to advocate for them when
their needs are greater than my ability to meet in a general education classroom. It also gave me
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION 5

ideas for how to best meet the needs of everyone in my classroom by tailoring instruction to
meet specific needs. These classes and many others showed me the need of differentiation and
gave me the skills to practice it.
The thing that pushes me to differentiate the most is my faith. I believe that I don’t just
teach to satisfy my principal, my students, and their parents, but to glorify God in all that I do.
This means doing my work, teaching my students, to the very best of my abilities, even if that
means I have to go beyond the scope of what is required of me by the school and the law. I need
to do everything that I can to ensure that my students are successful in my classroom, the next
classroom they enter, and the rest of life. I believe that differentiation is an essential part of that.
I find it important not just to differentiate by level to move students to the next grade, but also by
learning style, to deepen students understanding in the way they understand best, and by interest,
so that students may love school and learning and apply what they learn to their lives. My faith
demands that I do my work to glorify Him, and to me that means putting forth the effort it takes
to shape my students into educated, well-rounded citizens.