TLC 3: Sharing Ideas on Differentiation

This was an excellent session in which all staff contributed a wealth of ideas on differentiation.

Differentiation by task was popular, for example offering students a choice of questions to attempt. Some departments labelled these bronze, silver or gold, good, great or amazing, or linked them to grades. Solo Taxonomy is being used across many departments to encourage independent learning. In Drama, students are allocated very specific roles which allow stretch and challenge. Differentiation by outcome allows students to show their learning in a style which suits them, iPads are a great tool for enabling this. In Art students have presented their artist research in a huge variety of ways including Prezis, leaflets, boxes and even a 3D gallery. Homework tasks offer a good opportunity for differentiation by outcome. Differentiated assessment helps students to act on individual feedback. A good example of this in action:

Differentiated support is used very well, for example by MFL:

Differentiated target-setting can be teacher-led but students can also self-select, for example choosing which task to attempt. All staff have high expectations and make these clear to students.

Differentiation by resource is also done very effectively:

One final point to remember is that it's important to consider differentiation when rewarding success. It was brilliant to see and share so many great examples. Differentiation can be explicit or invisible, it can be teacher-led or self-selecting by students, it can happen in the classroom or as part of homework. A huge thanks to all staff who shared their excellent work.