NQT session on differentiation

[mynameisnotmichaelcaine]

Hi all,

I've been asked to do a session on differentiation for our NQTs. I asked our department's NQTs what they wanted from the session, and they both said "strategies that don't take ages to plan".

I've got some ideas for my subject (English) but the session has to provide strategies for everyone. Some, such as no hands up, are obviously transferable, but does anyone have any good differentiation strategies that have worked for them?

Thanks very much in advance.

What about seatkngbplans matching stronger students with weaker ones?

Range of options fir tasks. Colour coded so students can select that apt task/series of qs.

If my GCSE students were doing a piece of writing in my subject (science) I'd often leave out a selection of textbooks in the room. If they were unsure about the topic they could use the KS3 book to make sure they'd grasped the basics and if they were very confident they could use AS textbooks to try and develop their understanding. It wouldn't work for all topics but they liked being able to choose and it was an easy thing to plan/provide for them.

Fantastic, thanks guys. Made, that's brilliant, I wouldn't have thought of that, because we don't really do text books in English .

I used to provide a list of key words for the topic.
Those who need support would be given a series of sentences to complete using the words, just having to choose the appropriate word. Printed out if necessary.
Others would have to write their own sentence using the words correctly.
Extension would be to provide their own definition or explanation of the keywords. Peer review, and update/correct.
All could then provide a thumbnail illustration of each.
This was a good end of topic review lesson.

I also used to like the old level assessed tasks, but obviously they are now obsolete.

Whichever system their school has for assessment, such as performance indicators for maths etc, they should take their learning objectives or whatever they call them from the different levels.

Maybe you should spend a bit of the session breaking it to them that good differentiation will take ages to plan at first!

I’ve run a similar session in the past and nicked a great activity from someone else.... get them to write ideas on post-its and then place them on a graph with effectiveness on one axis and time taken on the other. Really gets them thinking about what’s worth it and what’s not.

Ooh honniBee great idea!

For humanities - differentiation can look like a deeper/shallower essay or presentation - the brighter can be encouraged to write more, from a different perspective, use different sources etc. The less able may need to use templates or sentence starters to help them begin - the why, what, who etc are good ones. Or having the lesson notes with missing words and have them pick and choose. (The bad/good news is that they do need to produce these resources but that once produced they are there for next year).

For science - templates, mix and match - harder mix and match for more able students - have more able ones research an aspect of the topic you are looking at

For maths - you are stuffed!! What I do is have a seating plan that either mixes them in groups of 4 - with ability 1,2,3,4 in each group - the most able benefit from explaining and the least able pick up richer ideas. Or group according to ability and have different levels of tasks - AND use a teacher aide to not just work with the least able - you should use the TA to work with the more able/ordinary ones so that you, the expert, are freed to work with the least able.

honnibee you utter hero! My starter AND plenary activity is now sorted. I will be sure to credit the teachers of Mumsnet during my session.

Don’t forget the lazy old “differentiation by outcome”!

Fold away help is a good idea for worksheets. Students can decide on their own if they need help or not.

I also like 3 task choices (mild/medium/hot). You can have fun with that one and tailor the categories to your lesson. Students can justify their choice.

Colour coded worksheets or questions on powerpoints...

Really easy and simple : green : everyone does, orange, give it a go , red : tricky or more thought required. I also use purple for extension tasks. Works a treat and they can do the questions in any order they choose.

Also, as mentioned things like Fat or HOT questions.