Examples of Differentiated Instruction

Lesson Planning:

A good strong lesson needs to be well prepared and developed in order for the lesson to succeed for students. As a teacher, to ensure that my lessons are well prepared I follow the Danielson Framework as a guide for completing this. This framework ensures that I am strong in my content knowledge and that I have clear and coherent instruction. I oftentimes design the assessment first to ensure that I am adequately assessing all of the learning goals and state standards.

Additionally this ensures that I take into consideration my classroom setup, student behavior, and have lessons that will best fit my students. Here I would take into consideration differentiated instruction as well as any other accommodations/modifications that I could make to benefit all of my students and their unique learning needs. During this stage I am able to prepare for any situations that may go wrong and adjust beforehand.

Thirdly, I need to have discussion questions prepared for the students ahead of time to ensure they are of quality and are meeting the learning goals and standards. I will communicate with the students and judge their feedback. Finally, if needed, during instruction, I would adapt. If I noticed students were not doing well or as engaged I could alter the lesson as I saw fit for the class. Sometimes different classes respond differently and I could either adapt for that here or in Domain 2.

Finally, a good lesson needs reevaluated. I would ask myself "What went well?" "What could be improved?" "Were the students engaged?" and so on. I would reflect on my teaching in this stage and take notes for what could be improved upon. This is the stage that never truly ends, as it is part of the job of an educator to ensure that they remain learning and staying up to date on the best pedagogical practices.

Lesson Plan Examples:

Honors World History Lesson Plan

Agendas & Outlines

To structure lessons as well I would use the curriculum to outline the next few weeks. That way I could ensure the students were learning what they needed to learn for the class and that they were aware of what was going on each day to not only provide structure but to ensure that they students would know what they would miss in class in case they were absent.

The agendas were linked with the assignments so all of the materials would be conveniently in one place.

There is an example below for AP Psychology and US History :