Differentiation

In education good ideas are too often passed-over because they will be too much for the over worked teacher.

One of those good ideas that may suffer that fate is  Differentiated Curriculum.  Differentiation is all about giving students what they need to grow.  This is typically done by having students work on differing assignments.

The typical complaint about having students working on different projects about the same concept is a management issue.  How can I manage all that work when I hand out several different projects?  Take a look at your tools.  

Do you have a class room management system at your school?  Blackboard and Moodle are two common ones that are worth a look.  With easy computer access and one of these programs available to you and your students, you have the problem solved.  With some clever grouping you can unleash your inner differentiation master.

SmartMusic will help with a music teacher's differentiation needs as well.  Using Impact you can very quickly send an assignment to everyone, a small group or even an individual.  These features are not surprising, because music teachers have been dealing with differentiated classrooms since the invention of the ensemble.  For instance, your flute players need to know very different things from the tuba section! 

Giving students what they need to grow is why we got into education in the first place.  Take a look at your tools.