A Case Study: Differentiation Techniques from a Second Grade Classroom in a Washington State Public Elementary School

Abstract

How do teachers account for the diverse instructional needs and levels in their classrooms? Differentiation is a philosophy that encourages teachers to consider students' learning needs, achievement levels, and interests when planning, implementing, and assessing instruction, but it differs from individualization. Teachers can differentiate through planning, process, materials, and assessment. I use a case study to consider how Mrs. Smith, a second grade teacher, used differentiation in her public school classroom. I also use pattern-matching techniques to compare the use of differentiation in Mrs. Smith's classroom to best practices in differentiation as forwarded by existing literature. I found that in Mrs. Smith's class, she began with state and district standards and then differentiated her instruction mainly through process and materials, although she did not differentiate every instructional lesson in every possible element at once. When beginning to differentiate, teachers should know their students thoroughly by creating student learning profiles and using a variety of assessments. Teachers should also use simple differentiation strategies first and experiment with more complex techniques as desired. Most importantly, classroom management routines and procedures should be well established so differentiation can be implemented successfully.