LEARNING NOTES

TOPIC 9

PLANNING A DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION LESSON PLAN

Carol Ann Tomlinson is a leader in the area of differentiated learning and professor of
educational leadership, foundations, and policy at the University of Virginia. Tomlinson describes
differentiated instruction as factoring students’ individual learning styles and levels of readiness
first before designing a lesson plan. Research on the effectiveness of differentiation shows this
method benefits a wide range of students, from those with learning disabilities to those who are
considered high ability.
Differentiating instruction may mean teaching the same material to all students using a variety of
instructional strategies, or it may require the teacher to deliver lessons at varying levels of
difficulty based on the ability of each student.

Teachers who practice differentiation in the classroom may:

• Design lessons based on students’ learning styles.

• Group students by shared interest, topic, or ability for assignments.
• Assess students’ learning using formative assessment.
• Manage the classroom to create a safe and supportive environment.
• Continually assess and adjust lesson content to meet students’ needs.

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TOPIC 9

PLANNING A DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION LESSON PLAN

Everyone learns differently. Some people learn through observation; others learn through doing.
To support the many different styles of learning, education theorists and philosophers have
developed the experiential-learning cycle.

As the name suggests, experiential learning helps students learn through an experience that
involves a direct encounter with the phenomena being studied, rather than just thinking about
the encounter. The learning cycle drives home a lesson by having students do an act
repeatedly, which helps turn concepts into skills and memory.

Learning Cycle in Your Lessons

How can you integrate the learning cycle into your lesson plans? Here are some basic
guidelines.

• Expose your students to the skills and concepts they're learning through examples and
activities.
• Help students master the subject matter by moving through this cycle a number of times using
different stimuli.
• Build time into each lesson for students to process (by asking questions and doing structured
practice) and generalize (by learning about more abstract theories related to the skill or
seeing its use outside of the apprenticeship).
• Allow adequate time for sharing ideas and questions.
• Use open-ended questions to stimulate thinking.
• Use outside examples to tie in concepts for each activity.
• Use positive feedback to give students feeling of mastery at each stage of the cycle.

Making learning meaningful and accessible

We want to cater to student needs and interests while teaching to make education relatable,
meaningful, enjoyable as well as accessible.

An integral part of being a teacher is developing lesson plans which represent how teaching will
be taken in the classroom. Lesson plans break down the class into little chunks of playing
attention to the teacher, working in groups or individually, discussions and so on. The objectives of
the syllabus the class time is dedicated to, questions the teacher will focus on as well as any
videos or multimedia that will be shown are the content; the activity that the students will do and
class discussions form the process; and the worksheet for the day or any artifact that needs to be
handed in to show the progress through the lesson is the product. I have been reading Carol Ann
Tomlinson’s How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms and it has given me a new
perspective on approaching lesson plans.

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As a student centred approach, it focuses on three characteristics of the student:

• Readiness: Is the student ready to take on this task? What are the skills that he/she needs
to work on and develop while engaging with this material? If this material is higher or
lower than what he/she is capable of, how the lesson be modified to cater to student
needs?
• Student Profile: How does the student learn? Does he/she prefer listening over reading?
Learning styles such as those analyzed by multiple intelligence theory help the teacher
understand how the student learns while observing him/her in class. I will talk about
multiple intelligence in a future post.

• Student Interest: What is the student interested in? How can this material be taught such
that it either opens up new related venues, or allows for exploration of the interest in the
boundaries of the subject matter. This means creating new interests and developing the
interests they already bring to the classroom, respectively.

While building lesson plans and collecting materials, I need to think about how I can differentiate
the instruction such that every student is able to engage in it in a meaningful manner. In the
following table, I summarize how to approach differentiated instruction by student characteristics
at each stage of the lesson plan:

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PLANNING A DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION LESSON PLAN

Differentiated Instruction: Lesson Plan Checklist

(Based on Tomlinson, 1996)

Use this checklist as a guide as you plan for differentiated instruction.

1. I’m clear on what I want my students to

know (facts, information)

understand (concepts, principles, generalizations, ideas)
be able to do

2. In deciding content, I’ve thought about and selected

alternate sources/resources
varied support systems (reading buddies, tapes, direct instruction groups, graphic
organizers, etc.)
varied pacing plans

3. I’ve pre-assessed student readiness to

make appropriate content and/or activity assignments

get a picture of understanding and skill as opposed to facts only
focus the lesson squarely on what students should know, understand, and be able
to do

4. As I assign students to groups or tasks, I’ve made certain

student group assignments vary from recent ones

all students are encouraged to “work up”
if appropriate, provisions are made for students who need or prefer to work alone
group sizes match student need

5. As I create differentiated activities, I’ve made certain

all of them call for high-level thinking

all appear about equally interesting to my learners
if readiness based, they vary along a continuum of Bloom’s Taxonomy
if interest based, students have choices about how to apply skills and
understandings or how to express them
varied modes of learning opportunities accommodate carried learning profiles
each activity is squarely focused in one, or very few, key concept or
generalization
student choice is maximized within my parameters for focus and growth
appropriate skills have been integrated into the activity requirements
expectations for high-quality task completion are clear for all students
I have a plan for gathering ongoing assessment data from the activity
I have a means for bringing closure and clarity to the tasks

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6. When creating assignments for differentiated products, I’ve made certain they

vary along a continuum of Bloom’s Taxonomy based on student readiness

require all students to use key concepts, generalizations, ideas, and skills to solve
problems, extend understandings, and/or create meaningful products

maximize student choice within parameters necessary to demonstrate essential

understandings and skills
include a core of clear and appropriately challenging expectations for the
content of the product, processes involved in the production, and production
requirements for the product
provide for formative evaluation and modification of the product
provide for summative evaluation by teacher, students, peers, and/or others
involve and inform parents as appropriate

7. I’ve also thought about

instructional strategies like learning contracts, centers, interest groups,

compacting, etc. to vary learning options
small groups for reteaching and extension activities
sampling students to assess understanding, group processes, and production
needs
meaningful tasks for reinforcement, extension, and exploration when students
complete required work (anchor activities)

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PLANNING A DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION LESSON PLAN

Differentiating Instruction to Accommodate Learning Styles:

Lesson Plan Template

Introduction
As the final product for this workshop, you will create
consideration the different learning styles of students in
introduce you to a number of strategies for identifying
differentiating instruction accordingly. Use this template to
you work through the workshop.
your own lesson plan, taking into
your classroom. This workshop will
different learning styles and then
help you manage your thoughts as

1. Possible Lesson Topic

Brainstorm some topics for your lesson plan.

2. Standards
What state and local standards will the final lesson address?

3. Key Learning Goals

As you develop your lesson topic, consider what learning goals you have for students. What do
you want your students to know and be able to do as an outcome of this lesson?

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4. Activities
What activities or tasks will you ask students to complete? Think about which intelligences are
best matched with the activities you choose. Use the Multiple Intelligences Planning Chart from
Session Four to help you.

5. Multiple Intelligences
Use this list to keep track of the intelligences that your activities draw on by placing a check
mark in the relevant categories for each activity. Refer to the following article to remind yourself
of the definitions of these 9 intelligences:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/ed_mi_overview.html

Activity Linguistic Logical/ Musical Kinesthetic Spatial Naturalist Intra- Inter- Existential
Mathematical personal personal

6. Assessments
How will you assess student work, taking into consideration what you know about learning styles
and multiple intelligences?

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7. Instruction
Explain how you plan to differentiate instruction to meet the different learning needs and styles
of students in your classroom.

8. Additional Notes
Include any additional notes here.

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