Differentiating instruction is a time-tested way of thinking about meeting students' needs as they make progress toward achievement or learning targets. Differentiation is an elegant mindset that suggests to teachers a framework that permits them to engage students while focusing on learning results, and digital technologies offer many opportunities to differentiate instruction in meaningful ways. However, differentiating instruction takes a concerted planning effort on our parts as teachers and teacher educators. This is especially so as we develop a mindset that differentiation can be effective. In this post, I propose a three-phase approach to planning differentiated instruction:
Where do we start planning for differentiated instruction with technology,
What are considerations for who we teach, what we teach, and how we plan?
How do I put it all together?
"When your child graduates from high school with a regular diploma or "ages out" of special education, IDEA requires the school to provide a "summary of academic achievement and functional performance." The Summary of Performance (SOP) should include recommendations about ways to help meet post-secondary goals."