When teachers differentiate by process, they are changing the way students interact with the content. Students learn the same concept or skill, but the activities they use to learn the material vary. This can be based on the students' readiness levels, interests, or learning profiles.Teachers can use a variety of strategies to differentiate by process, including tiered activities, learning centers, interactive journals, graphic organizers, jigsaw activities, and manipulatives.
1) Tiered Activities
One common way to differentiate by process is to use tiered activities. In tiered activities, all students complete activities on the same concept or skill, but the complexity of the activities varies. For example, a teacher might create three different versions of a worksheet, with one version being more challenging than the other two.
Group 1: Students who are struggling with a topic might have activities with less difficult reading, more graphic aids, and require fewer steps to complete.
Group 2: Average learners might have materials at their grade level and a mix of open-ended and “right answer” questions.
Group 3: Advanced learners might have more complex reading material, focus on abstract concepts, and require higher-order thinking skills.
Here is an example of tiered activities for a fourth-grade language arts class:
Key Concept: Reading books with chapters to show how ideas are advanced.
Lesson: Chapters 3 and 4 of the book Help, I’m a Prisoner in the Library(students have previously read chapters 1 and 2.)
Group 1 (Knowledge/Comprehension):These students might answer questions about the chapters such as "Where does Mary Rose find the phone?" or "What is a blizzard?". They might also draw a picture of a scary part of the chapters.
Group 2 (Analysis): These students might create lists of things they find out about the two main characters in the story, Mary Rose and Jo-Beth. Then, they could create and explain a Venn diagram that compares and contrasts the two characters.
Group 3 (Synthesis/Evaluation): These students might retell the story from the perspective of a character other than the narrator, or they might list the scary events of the chapters in order from least to most scary and justify their choices.
2) Learning Centers
Learning centers, often used in elementary classrooms, are areas of the classroom organized around a topic or skill. Learning centers can be used to differentiate by readiness, interest, or learning profile by providing different activities in each center.For example, a teacher might create a learning center on fractions with one area for students who are still struggling with the concept and another area for students who are ready to move on to more challenging problems. The centers should contain the instructions and the materials students need, and, if the teacher is differentiating by readiness, the materials can be color-coded.
Learning Stations are similar to learning centers, but students must complete the activities at each station to learn about a topic. For example, in a unit on weather, the teacher might create stations on temperature, atmospheric pressure, clouds, and the water cycle.
Interest Centers, unlike traditional learning centers, are not required and might not be related to the unit of study. They allow students to explore a topic of interest in more depth.
Interactive Journals
Interactive journals are notebooks in which students and teachers communicate through writing. The teacher can differentiate instruction by varying the journal prompts for different groups of students based on interests or readiness level. The teacher reads the entries and responds in a timely manner. Because the goal is to encourage open writing, the teacher should avoid correcting spelling, grammar, or content.
For example, a teacher might ask students to write about their favorite part of a recent field trip. Students who are struggling with writing could be given a list of sentence starters to help them get started. Students who are ready for a challenge could be asked to write a persuasive essay about why the class should go on more field trips.
3) Graphic Organizers
Graphic organizers can help students gather, organize, and understand information, and teachers can differentiate instruction by allowing students to choose the type of organizer they use or by providing different levels of support. For example, a teacher might provide students with a partially completed graphic organizer or allow students to choose whether to complete the organizer with text or illustrations.
Some common types of graphic organizers include:
Venn Diagram: Shows what information two topics have in common as well as what is unique to each.
Frayer Model: Students learn about new concepts by placing the new word in the center of the organizer and filling in the remaining boxes.
KWL Chart: Students determine what they know (K) about a topic, what they want to learn (W), and what they have learned (L).
Flow Chart: Students describe a process or other sequential information.
Word Web: Students gain a deeper understanding of a word by writing the word in the center and surrounding it with synonyms, antonyms, and examples.
Tree Diagram: Students understand hierarchical relationships.
Jigsaw is a cooperative learning activity that divides the class into small groups. Each member of the group becomes an "expert" on one part of the lesson and then teaches that part to the rest of the group. This strategy can be used to differentiate instruction by assigning students to expert groups based on their readiness level or interests.
Manipulatives are concrete objects that students can use to develop a conceptual understanding of a topic.
For example, a teacher might use blocks to help students understand place value or fraction circles to help students understand fractions. Manipulatives can be particularly helpful for students who are struggling with a concept or who are visual learners.
Teachers can also differentiate process by varying the length of time students have to complete a task. This allows struggling students more time to grasp the concept and permits advanced students more time to explore a topic in greater depth.
Conclusion:
Teachers can use a variety of strategies to differentiate instruction by process. By considering the students' readiness levels, interests, and learning profiles, teachers can create engaging and effective learning experiences for all students.
Credit: https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/di/cresource/q2/p06/
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