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The end of the beginning?
Very few lessons exist as discrete units. At key points during a scheme of work, ask students to
write comments, reflect on their progress or invite them to ask questions.
A simple but powerful way to plan the ending of lessons:
Leave your students with something to think about, even if it is just where their learning will go
next. However long their musings last, your differentiation is continuing beyond your lesson.
Planning Choice
While planning individualized learning for 25 different students is impossible, planning choice so
that students can personalize their own learning and so that all individuals are accommodated, is
realistic and is one of the most effective differentiation strategies.
Choice can work in many ways:
Aspect Description
Sequence Set several tasks and let the students decide in what order to complete
them.
Task Give students a choice of written assignments, experiments, exercises,
etc. each of which can deliver the same learning goal.
Approach
Set a task, from showing how writers create atmosphere to explaining
basic algebra, from researching an historical event to making a model.
Before beginning, students decide their approach to the task. What
resource will they use?
Will they opt to work alone or together?
How will they organize their time?
What will their end product be like?
Ways to present
work
In what different ways can students present work for assessment? e.g.
Using ICT, oral presentations, drama or film, etc.
Level When differentiating for ability, enable students to choose to tackle more
challenging levels than they are used to.
Do not end a lesson
with •
End with ! Or with ?
Or with …