Summary:
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Differentiated Tasks
4.3 Differentiated Texts
4.4 Differentiated Levels
4.1 Introduction
The reality of most classrooms is that they contain students ofvarying ability. To cater for this reality it may be necessary to adopt a differentiated approach to teaching. A number of strategies is possible e.g.
- Differentiation through classroom organisation
- Differentiation through task
- Differentiation through materials.
4.2 Differentiated Tasks
Group-work and pair-work in particular allow for different outcomes which is vital in mixed-ability classes. Students of similar abilities and aptitudes could be allocated tasks to work on in pairs or groups. This would allow them to work at their own pace. Another pair or group of students could work simultaneously on another related task which might be a sub-component or a high order skill. Members of pairs or groups might then be interchanged for purposes ofexplaining difficulties to others. Pairs or groups could also pool information through whole class activities.
The setting of open-ended tasks allows each learner to respond according to his or her ability while promoting a sense of challenge and achievement. It is also possible to devise tasks differentiated on the basis of difflculty. Thus in responding to an aural or written stimulus, some learners might be required only to extract global and clearly sequenced information through multiple choice questions. More able learners might be set more demanding goals such as selecting specific details involving the extraction of implicit information or identifying how communicative function is achieved through linguistic or stylistic devices e.g. how tone, attitude etc is expressed.
While weaker learners might be required to identify surface meaning only, others could be asked to interpret texts and separate literal meaning from implied meaning. Transferring information into specific headings in a chart or answering true or false questions can be considered less complex tasks than, say, summarising the contents of a text or drawing comparisons between two texts.
4.3 Differentiated Texts
Differentiation could also be based on quantity and quality of texts. In relation to teaching and learning materials these might have to be adapted in some cases for less able learners. More able learners will probably be better able to cope with longer texts which may be based on less familiar or abstract topics while texts with built-in visual supports may be suitable for slower learners.
4.4 Differentiated Levels
The model based on an integrated approach to all three components of the syllabus suggested in the hext section of these guidelines describes activities in relation to the same theme at three different levels of difficulty. While the syllabus framework is common to both Higher and Ordinary levels and designed to cater for the full range of pupil ability in the senior cycle, the reality of the classroom is that some pupils will be more capable than others of performing the various tasks outlined in the Performance Targets. Thus while all pupils should be capable of engaging in some activities related to the various themes some pupils will be capable of pursuing these to a more demanding level e.g. extracting information from more complex texts or speaking and/or writing about a particular topic using a more extensive vocabulary and fange ofstructures and concepts.