Engage the most students and create the best outcomes for entire classrooms with differentiated

instruction. It’s a teaching method that helps bring struggling students up to speed, enables gifted
students to learn at a faster pace, and makes teacher’s lives easier because learning is more effective.
When you use differentiated instruction, you’re steering all your students toward the same learning
objectives, while giving students the freedom to choose how they get there.

What Is Differentiated Instruction and Why Is It Important?

Differentiated instruction is the process of tailoring lessons to meet each student’s individual interests,
needs, and strengths. Teaching this way gives students choice and flexibility in how they learn, and helps
teachers personalize learning. This method also requires instructional clarity and clearly defined goals
for learning, better enabling students to meet those goals.

What Are the Benefits of Differentiated Instruction?

Differentiated instruction is beneficial because it helps educators connect with different learning styles.
Not all students will respond to a class lecture; a game or a video may work better with other students.
Some students may learn better by reading than they do using a computer. Giving students choices
about how they learn enables them to meet learning objectives in the best way for them.

In some classrooms, differentiation will be required for students with disabilities and for English
language learners. Differentiating instruction gives all students the opportunity to keep pace with
learning objectives.

No matter what you’re teaching, some students will find certain material engaging, while others won’t,
and students will learn the same material in varying amounts of time. Want to make whatever you’re
teaching more likely to resonate with each one of your students? Differentiated instruction motivates
them to learn the material in a way conducive to their own interests and unique learning styles.

How to Implement Differentiated Instruction

To ensure that the same objectives are being pursued by all students (though they each take their own
path to get there), differentiated instruction must be standards-based.

First steps for teachers should include diagnostic testing and learning inventories. Your goal is to set
baselines for individual students. Then you can identify tactics to help each student achieve the
objectives and deliver custom-tailored content.

Differentiated instruction is evident when teachers:

Offer students options to choose from in assignments or lesson plans.

Provide multiple texts and types of learning materials.

Utilize a variety of personalized learning methods and student assessments.

Customize teaching to suit multiple forms of intelligence.

For differentiated instruction to be successful, teachers must clearly explain the learning goals and the
criteria for success. Differentiated learning thrives in a classroom environment where students are
working toward shared goals with a growth mindset. Teachers must identify and be responsive to
student needs, creating a supportive classroom culture where students embrace differentiation for
themselves and their peers.