Differentiated Instruction: Planning for Success

The make-up of classrooms across Ontario is becoming increasingly inclusive in composition. Many classrooms now include students with exceptional needs In ability and disability and students from diverse backgrounds. This article presents an outline in planning for success in Ontario schools through Differentiated Instruction. The concepts of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Differentiated Instruction (DI) require teachers to transform their practices from program-based pedagogy to student-based pedagogy. Curriculum tells teachers what to teach while DI tells teachers how to teach. Teachers can differentiate classroom content, process and product. Planning for DI involves an approach which respects individuals and permits students to learn and demonstrate their learning in a manner most preferable to them. Student groupings based on the Ontario Ministry of Education, 2005 document,Education for All, are examined. Instructional techniques such as cooperative learning, project-based, problem-based and explicit instruction are discussed as sound pedagogy reflecting UDL and DI. The instructional approaches and strategies described are not new to teachers. What has changed is the emphasis on strategically responding to the individual needs of students in today’s inclusive classrooms.