Differentiated Instruction / Inclusion

Presented by Esther Fusco

The concept of differentiated instruction brings many thoughts to mind.  Dr. Fusco highlighted this well when she asked conference attendees to come up with a joint definition of differentiated instruction/inclusion. The agreed upon definition cited differentiated instruction as adapting the curriculum to meet the needs of all students.  Several comments were offered to enhance this definition such as: the use of small and cooperative groups, one on one instruction, scaling down the assignment, and hands-on learning.  The definition also included the recognition that each child has a unique body of skills and there is a certain set of skills that each child needs.  Instruction should be varied from child to child and different routes taken, all along building upon the strengths of the child.  Assessment was included in the discussion as it was felt that assessment needs to be differentiated as well, based upon the ability level of the student.  The process of grouping children by ability was excluded from our definition, as it was felt that this tends to isolate and label students. 

The importance of heterogeneous grouping was made clear by a story told by Dr. Fusco about having to pump her own gas for the first time, and how she struggled with it.  At the end, she said, I have a Ph.D.  What group are you going to put me in?  It seems to me that when you consider all of a students strengths (Dr. Fuscos Ph.D, for example) and weaknesses (one seemingly created by Dr. Fuscos continued patronage at a full-service gas station), attempting to put them in a group with others who have similar abilities, the task becomes arbitrary.  If students are individuals, and we are to see them as such, and if we are to incorporate their entire beings into our classrooms, and not only that they read at a 3.75 reading level, how can we justifiably group them homogeneously?

Todays classrooms are multidimensional and teachers must teach to different learning styles and multiple intelligences.  As Dr. Fusco stated, differentiated instruction moves good teaching to excellent teaching.  She offered some tips for doing so, such as beginning with small steps, and perhaps differentiating a unit, rather than a whole subject area.  She also called for teachers to really understand what they re teaching so that they will be able to do a task-analysis and provide all of the steps to grasping a concept.  This involves not just the current step, but also the ones before and after. 

A major component of differentiated instruction is choice.  Students should be provided choices in an activity.  The following example clarifies this point.  A class is embarking on an author study and the teaching skill is how to write a letter.  Some students will just copy a given letter over, others will add a question of their own, others will write their own letter, some will go online to find out information about the author and use this data to ask the author questions, others will go to the library and set up a chart on how many books by that author were taken out and write a letter to the author stating what they learned.  For those students who say that they dont like any of the above, the teacher allows them to think about what they want to do.  If they cant come up with anything, they must choose one of the ideas given.              The idea of choice is so important, Dr. Fusco pointed out, because it is only through actually making decisions that children learn this skill that they will use throughout their lifetime. 

Differentiated instruction can be done across many disciplines and can provide students with a wonderful opportunity to learn in an environment that they are most comfortable with.  Students are individuals, unique in almost every way.  As teachers, we must embrace these individuals and find a way to cater to each of our students needs to best facilitate their learning.  As Carolann Tomlinson, author of Invitations to Learn, writes, one size instruction does not fit all.