lesplan
Differentiating in LessonUp
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What you will learn: In this lesson plan, we will show you various ways to differentiate in LessonUp and provide practical examples. LessonUp serves as a tool for adaptive teaching, but you, as the teacher, remain the key factor in this process.
Time required: 25 minutes (including assignment).
WHAT IS DIFFERENTIATION?
"Tailoring instruction to the level and abilities of each student."
A concept that ideally every teacher supports. However, in practice, this can often be challenging due to large class sizes, time constraints, classroom management, lesson preparation time, etc.
Yet, with small adjustments, you can adapt your lessons. It doesn't have to take extra time; in fact, it can save you time and energy in the long run. There is no right or wrong way when it comes to adaptive teaching. In every scenario, it's crucial to accommodate the diverse learning requirements of students.
👑 Please note: this functionality is only available in a pro or school subscription.
DIFFERENT WAYS
Adaptive teaching (differentiation) can be done in various ways. For example...
- ... based on instruction.
- ... based on content.
- ... based on pace/time.
- ... based on objectives.
- ... based on assessment.
- ... based on evaluation.
We will discuss the 3 bolded methods using examples in LessonUp.
DIFFERENTIATION BASED ON INSTRUCTION
During the phase of the lesson where you provide explanations, it's advantageous to apply differentiation. This means that not all students receive identical explanations in terms of length, as some may require less explanation while others may need more tailored to their individual needs.
It is possible to divide your class into, for example, 2 or 3 groups. Group 1 can start working independently right away, group 2 receives regular instructions, and group 3 gets additional extended instructions alongside the regular explanation.
DIFFERENTIATION BASED ON PACE/TIME
Students have different learning paces. Therefore, it's good to consider the amount of time students need to process the learning material. Within the lesson, you can achieve this by assigning different amounts of assesments or information to students.
In LessonUp, you can create supplementary practice materials tailored for specific students by using the colour palette. Students can view your colour palette, understand its significance, and associate each colour with specific lesson components in their app. This helps them identify which colours correspond to the tasks they need to work on.
In your slide overview on the left side of your screen, you will see three symbols next to each slide. Click on the bottom symbol to apply differentiation. The right image shows an example of differentiation based on pace/time.
Please note: For students, the colours are only visible in a distributed lesson.
DIFFERENTIATION BASED ON OBJECTIVES
It is essential to state the learning objectives of a lesson. You can offer differentiated formulations of a learning objective, either per level or within a level.
A good option is to use colour codes:
- Purple: You understand...
- Yellow: You can explain...
- Blue: Give different examples of...
DISTRIBUTING DIFFERENT LESSONS
Instead of differentiating by using the colour palette, you can also create different lessons, such as a basic lesson and a lesson with additional assignments for students who have already mastered the material. You can then distribute the lesson to some students in your class instead of the entire class.
The lesson and the document at the bottom of this lesson plan explain how to do this.
🛠️ ASSIGNMENT
- Think about how you want to apply differentiation in your next lesson.
- Add this differentiation as a test to an existing lesson.
- Add yourself to a test class and distribute the lesson to yourself.
- Observe how the differentiation appears for your students.
🧑🎓 GO TO THE NEXT MODULE:
ENGAGING TEACHING METHODS
You have learned how to use the differentiation feature in LessonUp in various ways. Of course, there are many more ways to differentiate. Check out the webinar for a more in-depth explanation.
In the next module, you will learn more about engaging teaching methods, such as using gamification within your lessons.
👉 Go directly to the next module: Engaging Learning Techniques.