1. Differentiated Learning

2. Different Emphasis
 If you’ve done this week’s reading, you will notice that
this lecture has a different title from the chapter
 The chapter title is ‘Differentiated Learners’, and the
chapter focuses on teachers teaching for a subset of
students, which it calls ‘diverse’ or ‘differentiated’
learners
 But we are all diverse! ‘Diverse’ means ‘different’, and
none of us are the same as each other
 I resist the notion that ‘we’re normal, they’re diverse’

6. Difference, not deficit
 While student differences can pose challenges to a
teacher, recognising that all students are diverse, not just
a subset, changes the perspective
 As far as possible, student differences should ideally be
seen as a set of resources on which the teacher and the
other students can draw in constructing learning
together
 In this process, different students will contribute more at
different times

7. Recognition and Distribution
 You’ll remember the tension Nancy Fraser describes,
between recognition and distribution, from last week’s
lecture
 Treating all students as diverse, and their differences as
resources, does not mean denying those differences,
identities or challenges
 It does not mean ‘treating all students as though they
were the same’
 It does mean finding ways to enhance opportunity

8. Thinking about differences
 Spend a few moments individually listing as many
differences between students as you can think of (there
will be chocolate for the longest list!)
 Now compare your list with the person next to you,
Boggle-style, and add any they have that you missed
and vice versa
 Select three particular forms of difference, and with your
partner think of ways to use that difference as a resource
in teaching the whole class

9. Students with Disabilities
 (better language than ‘disabled students’)
 Some students’ differences will be specific disabilities that
are named and identified: the reading outlines some of
these
 Other differences will also make learning more
challenging, but not be identified or supported in the
same ways
 Developing specific learning programs and strategies, in
collaboration with support services, is part of teaching

10. Differentiated Instruction
 This is a strong interest of Education Queensland and was
part of the recent state-wide Teaching and Learning
audit of all state schools
 Differentiation of instruction – different learning activities
for learners with different needs – was in many cases the
weakest dimension on this audit, so the issue is receiving
a lot of attention
 It is sometimes understood to mean ‘streaming’ of classes
by ability, but the research evidence shows this is seldom
effective

11. Differentiated Instruction
 Differentiating instruction can be difficult to manage as a
teacher: there are likely not to just be 2 or even 3 groups
but many on some dimensions
 At the same time it’s an impossible demand on a teacher
to individualise teaching for all students, all the time
 It’s also not a fair outcome to require the most able
students to spend all their time helping their less able
fellow students – although it’s valuable for both
sometimes

12. The Classroom as a Learning
Community
 There is no easy approach to differentiating instruction
 One possible approach is moving away from a model in
which the teacher is the centre and provider of all
learning experiences toward a model of the classroom as
a learning community in which each person bears some
responsibility for his/her own learning and the learning of
her/his classmates
 A learning community enhances learner autonomy and
is in line with MYS principles and values