Examples of ways to differentiate instruction
TeachersFirst's Thinking Teachers who write our resource reviews often have suggestions that have worked in their classrooms. Open the reviews to the "more" view to see ideas for using specific resources as tools to differentiate for a variety of learners. Alternatively, use the keyword search tool at the left of this page to search for a curriculum topic and the term "differentiate." For example, search fractions differentiate (with "all the words" selected for the search).
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Aquation - Smithsonian Science Education Center
Grades
7 to 12
tag(s): conservation (111), DAT device agnostic tool (132), game based learning (311), recycling (47), water (104), weather (174)
In the Classroom
Include this activity with any unit on the environment, water cycles, or weather. Extend this activity further to learn more about water conservation in your community. Ask students to take pictures around the school or at home showing the inefficient use of water. Use PhotoCollage, reviewed here, and have students create a collage of their images to use as a starting point for research. Ask students to enhance their learning and upload their collage to a blog, and write, analyze, and share ideas for water conservation based on their collage. Use a blog tool such as edublogs, reviewed here. Use Nearpod, reviewed here, to create a differentiated learning experience for your students for your entire unit. Add videos, quizzes, embed this game, and add all the information for students to follow. Nearpod offers options for differentiation to cater to students' varying interests and ability levels. Ask older students to enhance their learning by creating their own Learning Path, which will enable them to demonstrate and share their learning throughout the unit.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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CanFigureIt Geometry - CanFigureIt LLC
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): angles (52), geometric shapes (153)
In the Classroom
Include this site with your other tools for teaching and practicing geography concepts. Be sure to share with students on your webpage or blog for easy access at any time. Apply for the Proof Ninja Educator Program to take advantage of the additional features for monitoring student work. Introduce this site to your students on your interactive whiteboard as you work together to learn geometry concepts. Ask students to show proofs and justifications using the program and take a screenshot of their work. Ask students to include their screenshot within a Google document and share their problem-solving process. This site is an excellent way to differentiate learning for different levels of student understanding. Encourage students to create explainer videos using Clipchamp, reviewed here, to modify their learning and to share their understanding with their fellow students. Include those videos on your website for all students to review and access.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Open Middle - N Johnson, R Kaplinsky, B Anderson, D Luevanos, and Z Miller
Grades
K to 12tag(s): logic (165), problem solving (277), statistics (127)
In the Classroom
Bookmark this site to find math problems correlating to your teaching standards or content. This site is perfect for finding materials to differentiate instruction with different student ability levels. Have students share their results and discuss their problem-solving process on your interactive whiteboard. Take screenshots of the different solutions and include on your class website. Another option is to take a picture of student's written solutions, then use Voxer, reviewed here, to extend student learning by having them add an audio recording describing their mathematical thinking. Share their Voxer to your student's digital portfolio on Seesaw, reviewed here, or another portfolio creation site. As students become more proficient in sharing their mathematical thinking and problem-solving activities, consider using their math talks as part of an ongoing podcast using Buzzsprout, reviewed here, as a way to extend student learning and promote math conversations and help students understand that there may be many different ways to arrive at the right answer to a problem. Buzzsprout features free and easy to use tools including the ability to create and schedule podcasts to be released on any date and time you desire.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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ReadingIQ - Age of Learning
Grades
K to 6tag(s): book lists (162), classroom management (143), literacy (124), preK (323), reading comprehension (146), spanish (111)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of this free reading program to differentiate reading materials for your students both by ability and interests. Set up your program then share learning goals with your students and parents. Engage students use by using the free interactives and printables from ReadWriteThink, reviewed here, and have students create story maps, book covers, and much more as part of their retelling and summarizing activities. Create shared class activities using a video response tool like Gravity, reviewed here, to enhance student learning by asking students to share short book talks about their favorite books read on the site. Take learning even further by creating ongoing podcasts discussing favorite books and characters using Buzzsprout, reviewed here. Buzzsprout makes it easy to create and share podcasts by offering scheduling options to meet your needs.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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oodlu - Wayne Holmes and Douglas Lapsley
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (132), flash cards (46), game based learning (311), gamification (91)
In the Classroom
Use oodlu to differentiate learning in your classroom. Assign question sets to different groups of learners according to their specific needs. Be sure to show students how to log in and access questions (if your class is remote learning, show students the log in, etc. by using a video conference room such as Zoom, reviewed here, and then include a link to the site on your class webpage for students to play at home. At the end of your unit, enhance learning and augment technology use by asking students to plan a multimedia presentation using a tool like Milanote, reviewed here, where you can turn your notes into a storyboard for this project! Extend learning and modify technology use by having students use the Storyboard to create a multimedia presentation with a tool like Sway, reviewed here, to share their learning. Have students include text, images, videos, and a link to oodlu learning games in the Sway.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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SummarizeThis - Iris Reading
Grades
5 to 12tag(s): learning disability (20), Special Needs (46), summarizing (26)
In the Classroom
Introduce SummarizeThis to students working on research projects as a way to quickly determine the content and viability of using websites. Use to differentiate instruction with students. Use with learning support students as a resource to make content more accessible. Use the summaries when teaching how to summarize in an ELA class. Compare the summary you create as a class or in small groups with the "automated" one. Are there subtleties or important distinctions that this tool misses? As a challenge for your more critical thinkers, have them try to figure out what signals the tool uses to create its summary.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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MySciLife - TeachersFirst
Grades
6 to 9tag(s): animals (279), critical thinking (183), descriptive writing (42), digital citizenship (109), OER (52), plants (142), scientists (72), social media (63), STEM (372), volcanoes (59), writing (309)
In the Classroom
Join MySciLife to bring excitement and energy to your science classroom. As you complete activities in the platform, use a concept mapping site like MindMup, reviewed here, to replace paper/pencil version of a concept map. Alter students' learning by asking them to create and share infographics based on their research and sharing of ideas. Canva, reviewed here, is an easy to use site for creating infographics using pre-made templates or from scratch. Take student learning to a whole new level by redefining it and having them create a game-based learning activity for their peers using Canvas LMS, reviewed here. Canvas LMS offers many options for creating differentiated learning using video, quizzes, and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Open Up Resources Math Curriculum - Open Up Resources
Grades
6 to 8tag(s): data (205), equations (130), exponents (39), factoring (28), factors (29), fractions (178), geometric shapes (153), measurement (125), OER (52), percent (60), probability (129), pythagorean theorem (19), ratios (50), transformations (12), volume (33)
In the Classroom
Include this site to supplement your current grade 6-8 math curriculum. Use the resources to differentiate instruction for gifted students in lower grades or as remediation for struggling students in older grades. Be sure to take advantage of the family materials, providing explanations of math content and strategies for problem-solving. Use the student materials for differentiating instruction or as homework. Have students share their math explanations and strategies with video explanations using a tool like Gravity, reviewed here. Gravity provides a tool for video responses to a question, along with peer comments. Take student learning a step further by asking them to create and share their own math problems, along with suggestions for learning. Use a tool like Sway, reviewed here. Sway is a presentation tool that offers multimedia options, including text, video, and images.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Moonshot Learning - Moonshot Learning
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): commoncore (62), computers (114), ethics (21), financial literacy (90), genetics (84)
In the Classroom
Use Moonshot Learning activities across the curriculum and to differentiate instruction based on student interest. Many of these activities are perfect for extension activities and for use with Gifted students. After completing activities found on this site have students create a multimedia presentation using Genially, reviewed here. Genially allows you to add polls, audio, videos, embeds, web links, PowerPoint, PDfs, and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Data Analysis and Probability Resources - Grades 3-5 - TeachersFirst
Grades
3 to 5tag(s): charts and graphs (181), data (205), probability (129)
In the Classroom
Share the resources with students for additional practice, remediation, enrichment, or advancement. Display resources on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Use these tools in your BYOD classroom to differentiate for math class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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OneHistory - Hilary Mac Austin and Kathleen Thompson
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): 1800s (86), 1900s (85), african american (129), biographies (96), cross cultural understanding (177), essays (18), great depression (32), primary sources (133), speeches (22)
In the Classroom
Bookmark OneHistory as a resource for primary sources when teaching American History and as an excellent tool for finding information featuring diversity throughout the years. Have students create a multimedia presentation using Google Drawings, reviewed here. Google Drawings allows you to annotate an image with links to videos, text, websites, and more. Challenge students to find a photo (legally permitted to be reproduced), and then narrate the photo as if it is a news report. Take advantage of the high interest, low readability level stories on the site to differentiate for the variety of reading levels in your classroom and to include informational (nonfiction) reading standards.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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TeachersFirst's Math Resources for Algebra - Grade 6-8 - TeachersFirst
Grades
6 to 8tag(s): data (205), number lines (31), order of operations (31), percent (60), pi (27)
In the Classroom
Introduce these resources on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Share the resources on your class website for students to use for remediation or review. Share tools on your interactive whiteboard or in your BYOD classroom. Use these sites to differentiate for students in pre-algebra and algebra.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Math Resources for Algebra - Grades 9-12 - TeachersFirst
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): data (205), number lines (31), percent (60), pi (27), quadratics (27), ratios (50)
In the Classroom
Share these resources on your class website for students to use for remediation or review. Share tools on your interactive whiteboard or in your BYOD classroom. Use these sites to differentiate.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Math Resources for Numbers & Operations - Grades 3-5 - TeachersFirst
Grades
3 to 5tag(s): decimals (94), division (109), fractions (178), multiplication (133), operations (71), order of operations (31)
In the Classroom
Share these resources on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Use these tools in your BYOD classroom to differentiate for math class. Share the resources with students for additional practice, remediation, enrichment, or advancement.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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SMMRY - smmry.com
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): artificial intelligence (327), learning disability (20), Special Needs (46), summarizing (26)
In the Classroom
Introduce SMMRY to students working on research projects as a way to quickly determine content and viability of using websites. Use to differentiate instruction with students. Use with learning support students as a resource to make content easier to understand (and shorter to read). Use SMMRY summaries when teaching how to summarize in an ENL class. Compare the summary you create as a class or in small groups with the "automated" one. Are there subtleties or important distinctions that this tool misses? As a challenge for your more critical thinkers, have them try to figure out what signals the tool uses to create its summary.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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OpenStax - Rice University
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): advanced placement (24), book lists (162), ebooks (49), STEM (372)
In the Classroom
Use OpenStax textbooks to dig deeper into core subjects such as math, science, and social studies. Use materials to differentiate instruction based on student abilities and interests. If your current textbooks are older, find newer books on OpenStax and adopt them for your curriculum. Take advantage of the search feature of online books to find supplemental material for your current instruction. Find teaching materials for gifted students using OpenStax textbooks.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Lowdown - KQED News
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): commoncore (62), journalism (74), multimedia (64), news (223), newspapers (86)
In the Classroom
Achieve two goals with this very people-friendly site: provide quality non-fiction reading materials and the latest in current events. Use this site to differentiate reading materials by student interest. Encourage students to explore the site on their own. Be sure to include a link on classroom computers and your class website for students to access at any time. Flip your class and assign the reading to do at home. Then, have students create a simple infographic sharing findings from The Lowdown with their classmates using Infogram, reviewed here. Have cooperative learning groups create weekly podcasts with news from around the world. Use a site such as podOmatic, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Game-Based Learning Resources - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 12tag(s): coding (109), differentiation (101), game based learning (311), gamification (91), logic (165)
In the Classroom
Share these tools on your class website or blog for students to use both in and out of the classroom. Use these tools to differentiate and reach all students at the various levels. Challenge your students to create their own games for review of content or acceleration options.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Symbaloo - Learning Paths - Symbaloo
Grades
K to 12tag(s): bookmarks (34), curation (27), DAT device agnostic tool (132), game based learning (311), gamification (91), multilingual (84), personalized learning (12), playlists (8), Teacher Utilities (219)
In the Classroom
You will want to use Symbaloo Learning Paths for a variety of classroom instruction! Create lesson plans to differentiate learning and assign based on student needs and interests. Embed a lesson on your class website for students to complete at home. Using this site lets you create a clear, concise learning path for any lesson. Share it on an interactive whiteboard with students as you follow through any learning path. Be sure to also include a link to the lesson on your class website for students to use throughout the unit and for review. Use Symbaloo Lesson Plans to enrich independent learning for advanced students or to remediate students needing additional help. This site is perfect for use with multilingual students - include links to resources in their native language and activities, or add tools for practicing English. There are too many uses for Symbaloo Lesson Plans to include here. Be sure to take the time to learn how to create and use this wonderful tool with your students!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Goosechase edu - Andrew Cross
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): creativity (86), DAT device agnostic tool (132), game based learning (311), gamification (91)
In the Classroom
Use GooseChase in your classroom as part of your project based learning activities. Assign a series of activities to groups for completion. Differentiate projects based on student interest and ability. Use one of the many educational games already in the library to see great examples of how to use GooseChase for any subject area. GooseChase would be an excellent addition to staff meetings. Have participants locate information on websites, textbooks, or throughout your school as part of professional development. Create a GooseChase for students as part of a nature walk outside of your school, ask younger students to find different geometric shapes, or have students draw pictures of main characters in books as part of a GooseChase mission.Edge Features:
Includes an education-only area for teachers and students
Requires registration/log-in (WITH email)
Premium version (not free) includes additional features or storage
Multiple users can collaborate on the same project
Includes teacher tools for registering and/or monitoring students
Requires download/installation of software
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