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Differentiation in the Classroom vs. Differentiation with Technology

Differentiation is most simply meeting students were they are. In the classroom, it often comes naturally for teachers. However, differentiation with technology might not.

For example, Ms. Smith looks up and see Tommy struggling with a lengthy assignment. Ms. Smith folds the paper in half and Tommy starts working on a limited amount of problems.

Or, Ms. Smith gives students a read and respond task. She notices one of her gifted learners, Sarah, has finished the assignment in 10 minutes. After checking her work, Ms. Smith provides a more in depth task to help Sarah use advanced reading skills.

Each of these examples show natural differentiation. Ms. Smith saw a student struggling and responded with a tailored approach to support that student. But, in the time of digital learning at home, how do we continue to meet our students where they are? We embrace differentiation with technology.

Differentiation with Technology in 3 Ways

1- Online Choice Boards

I think choice boards are my personal favorite way to differentiate in the classroom and with technology. They is flexible, student-lead and easy. With the sudden shift to online learning, teachers need easy and effective strategies to keep students on track.

Online, or digital, choice boards are perfect because the choice board format is familiar to a lot of students. They are a resource many teachers use in a traditional classroom. By providing students with a familiar method, they are better able to adapt to their changing education.

How To Create Digital Choice Boards

Looking for math differentiation with technology? Utilize these 3 easy to create Google resources in your classroom.

2- Recorded Video Lessons

This was a method I only started experimenting with because of a need. Pre-COVID, I only recorded myself for continuing education classes and only one or two people watched the video.

During this crisis, as I was working through my M.Ed classes, I was required to provide video evidence of small group reading. To support my students without overwhelming them, I started posting pre-recorded lessons. With each recording, I included the lesson’s agenda and any supplementary documents.

I have to say, creating and recording the reading lessons was fun! I named the lessons Guided Reading Remix and the kids seemed to be excited and engaged, too.

Best of all, the lessons were at their pace and on their time. No nervously waiting for people to join a Zoom meeting or struggling through lagging or lack-of internet.

Plus, the students could rewatch as they worked and didn’t have to wait for me to send them a recording later. Differentiation with technology can be fun for students and teachers!

3- Self-paced Study

If you’re teaching gifted learners, this is the ultimate differentiation with technology strategy!

Often, gifted students need to dive deeper into concepts. They also require structure to support depth of learning. This means it’s not enough to say “read and create” or “research a topic” and then leave students to work alone.

In order to guide students to reach depth of knowledge, we must be clear and specific in our approach. For example, you can provide a Google Slides document to students with everything they need. The slides could include a list of topics, kid-friendly research sites, graphic organizers, and options for showing what they know.

Creating a self-paced study lesson doesn’t need to take hours and hours. Here is my 5 step framework for quickly creating a simple lesson for my gifted students:

1. Pin-point the learning standard and skill/concept you want students to master.
2. Provide students with a choice of specific topic (ex- people, terms) to cover or the product (ex- presentation, poster) they could create.
3. Provide students anchor charts or notes to support their understanding. If research is needed, provide students with links to appropriate sites (ex- BrainPop, Ducksters, KidSearch)
4. Include a short rubric of expectations. I like a meet or does not meet rubric that uses wording from the learning standard.
5. Showcase exemplars from other students, if available.

If each of the steps in the formula is on one Google Slide, this process will take about 30-45 minutes to compile. Keep in mind this is a very simple presentation. Feel free to spice it up with your own design, colors and photos!

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