differentiated instruction in music education

How To Differentiate In The Music Classroom: Real Examples

So let’s look into how to differentiate in the music classroom. 

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What Is Differentiated Instruction?

How to differentiate in music lessons, approach from different intelligences, prepare to step back and push, allow students to choose their level , group by ability, example of differentiation in the music classroom, what differentiation is not, recent posts.

The Musical Me

Maximising Music Learning With 7 Differentiated Instruction Techniques

Differentiated instruction in music education and how to implement it.

Differentiated instruction is a teaching approach that recognises that students have different learning styles, interests, and abilities, and adjusts instruction to meet their unique needs. In music education, differentiated instruction can be particularly important because music is an art form that can be experienced and interpreted in many different ways. By taking a differentiated approach to music education, teachers can help all students to find joy and meaning in music, and to develop their musical skills and understanding to the fullest extent possible.

To implement differentiated instruction in music education, teachers need to be aware of their students’ needs and interests, and to create a flexible learning environment that allows for a range of approaches to music-making and learning. Here are some tips for getting started:

Assess student needs:

Start by assessing your students’ needs, interests, and abilities in music. This could involve formal assessments, such as music aptitude tests or assessments of individual skills and knowledge, or informal assessments, such as observation and conversation with students.

Create flexible learning activities:

Create learning activities that allow students to work at their own pace, to choose the way they will learn, and to explore their own interests in music. This could involve individualised projects, group activities, or a combination of both.

Offer a variety of materials:

Provide students with a range of materials and resources that they can use to explore music in different ways. This could include sheet music, recordings, videos, software, and other digital resources.

Encourage student choice:

Encourage students to choose the learning activities and materials that best suit their needs and interests. By giving students some control over their own learning, you can help them to take ownership of the learning process and to feel more motivated to engage with music.

Use flexible grouping:

Group students in different ways to meet their needs and to allow for a range of learning styles and approaches. This could involve whole-group instruction, small-group instruction, or individual instruction, depending on the needs of the students and the goals of the lesson.

Provide support and feedback:

Provide students with support and feedback as they engage with music. This could involve individualised instruction, coaching, or mentoring, or more structured feedback, such as assessments or evaluations.

Evaluate and adjust:

Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of your differentiated instruction approach, and adjust as needed to better meet the needs of your students. This could involve collecting data on student learning and performance, surveying students about their experiences and preferences, or making other observations about student behavior and engagement.

In conclusion, differentiated instruction in music education can help to create a more inclusive and engaging learning environment for all students. By recognizing the unique needs and abilities of each student, and by creating flexible learning activities and materials, teachers can help students to find joy and meaning in music and to develop their musical skills and understanding to the fullest extent possible.

For more music education resources and training on how to achieve engaging and inspiring music lessons in your schools just  click here  for more information.

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But how do I actually differentiate in the music room?

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If you have been to any meeting, any class, or had a discussion with any teacher in the last five years, then you would know that the hot topic is differentiation. I hear it all of the the time. And last year I thought, there is no way that I can differentiate in the music room.

Turns out, I was wrong.

Now, music teachers are constantly differentiating without realizing it. I have a whole post about that here (which is really great if you need to prove you differentiate on your TKES!). This post is about being intentional with your differentiation.

As far as differentiating goes, we are certainly at a disadvantage. I teach 650 students– and I know other teachers who have even more. Most of us see our kids once a week. And we don’t have any MAP testing or iReady or whatever programs and tests your state uses to tell us what the kids know.

So… how do you actually get started with differentiation? How much work is it to differentiate? And when do I have time to do it? Let’s talk. Because I promise, it is less work than you think it is.

Prefer to watch or listen? You can watch the video version of this post below.

So where do I start?

The first thing in differentiation is finding out what your students currently know– AKA a pretest. You can do this via paper and pencil, or through observation (I talk about a lot of different options for assessment in this post ).

I started at the beginning of the year with a (short) pretest and interest survey that covered the major concepts we are working on this year. If it’s the middle of the year, don’t stress. You can also go unit by unit.

For example, my fourth graders have been working on treble clef notes for a few months now. And some of them are still not totally getting it. So, I gave them a super short quiz which told me how much they know and what some struggles are.

You can actually get that quiz in the free resource library– if you have signed up for the library, than you can click the “Free Resource Library” tab at the top of the page. If you haven’t, then you can signup here to get the password. Once you have the password, you can download anything that you want from the library– and check back, because I add more resources monthly!

You could even just use an assignment that they have done and use it as an indicator– even if it is not a quiz. I did this last week with my fifth graders and their write the room activity which told me that they needed some help with differentiating between the brass and woodwind families. It wasn’t an official “assessment” but it game me the information I needed!

So I have data… Now what?

I am a fan of simplicity when it comes to differentiation.

I take out three sticky notes. Then, I write an X on one, a – on one, and a check on the other. Then I divide the number of questions by three. This gives me the ranges for each sticky note. (I like to get these with the lines on them.) So if I had 12 questions on a quiz, students who got 1-4 correct would have an X, 5-8 correct would be a -, and 9-12 correct would be a check. I also like to put a star by anyone who got 100%– more about that later.

These sticky notes are the basis of my student groupings during centers. I like to have six groups, so I will split the names on the sticky notes into two groups. Each sticky note represents two groups. If they are not even, then I will adjust them (or if I have students who should not be together, then I will adjust them). In general, I will put – with X or checks, but do not put checks with X’s.

It is also how I decide who gets which activity when I am doing something like my treble clef dice activity, which has many different versions for different levels of understanding.

So I have groups… Now what?

So now you have to decide how you are actually going to differentiate. There are three main ways that you can differentiate in the elementary music classroom.

Sidenote– you do not have to differentiate every. single. day. I probably do portions of lessons that are differentiated once or twice a month. Because if you are having a drum circle or playing Lucy Locket … how are you going to differentiate that?

Ok. So. On the days that you do want to differentiate (intentionally), there are three main ways: chunking, centers, and tiered instruction. (Although when you think about it, it’s all tiered instruction.) We’re going to talk about each one so that you know what they are and how you can do them.

Chunking is basically the concept of not making students do things they already know how to do. If you have a few students who are a bit ahead of the others and have proven they understand the material, then they can have an alternate assignment.

I did this in January with one of my treble clef activities. On the pretest, I had 1-5 students in each class who got 100%. Instead of continuing to make them practice every day, I had the other students working on treble clef activities, and they worked on their recorder songs. They were still working– even still working on reading because they had to read recorder notes– but they were not bored while going over material they had down.

This is not something I would suggest doing with every activity, but it is good every once and a while, especially if you have been working on the same unit for a while. (Plus it makes the other kids work harder because they want to play recorder too!)

Next week’s blog post is going to be a deep dive into differentiating with centers, so I am not going to go super in depth here. But there are a lot of ways you can differentiate during centers. It is a great way to give students activities tailored to their skill level without them noticing that different people have different activities.

My centers differentiation is really just in one of the groups. One group is always the teacher group, and that is where I assess and differentiate. Sometime I have different lessons for each group, but most of the time, it is pretty much the same, but with different levels of guidance. So the group where everyone understands may not get any help from me while the group that is struggling will have a lot of remediation.

I really love having a teacher group for centers because I feel like I can give more attention to each student. I actually know my students and their musical capabilities much better now than I used to.

Also read: Music Center Classroom Management for “Bad Classes”

Tiered instruction.

The third main way to differentiate is through tiered instruction. This just means that students are doing different activities based on their levels.

If you are just getting started, this is where I would start. I would pick a concept, pick two activities and split the students up based on data from whatever quiz or observation you have.

One thing I will say is try to find things that are equally fun. Don’t give one group a worksheet and the other one a game. They don’t have to be the same, but they do need to be equally fun.

A few examples are:

• Have one set of students play rhythms from flashcards and have the other set make up their own rhythms to play. (You could use these and these .)
• If working on treble clef, one set of students can identify one note while the others find words (such as egg) on the treble clef. You can check that out in my TPT product here .
• Have some students matching notes on the staff while others match notes and staff and recorder fingerings. Or have the second group write notes onto the staff because that is more difficult than matching.
• Have both groups play a game like Kaboom!, but give one group more difficult rhythms. (You can get levels 1 and 2 in my TPT)
• Have students create measures of rhythms with words. (Kind of like in this or this ) You can give the lower group only one beat rhythms to manipulate and the higher group one beat and two or three beat rhythms. They will have to work harder to make sure they have the correct amount of beats in the measure.
• When playing instruments, you can tier up by having staff notation and tier down by having just the letters or the letters inside of the note heads.
• Have one group finding all of the letters in words on the treble clef and the other group coming up with their own words (like BAG or EGG or FADE) to put onto the treble clef like on this.
• Have students play hands together instead of alternating hands on the xylophones.

Those are just a few ideas to get you started, but you get the point. It seems sooooo daunting– “I not only have to come up with lesson plans, but now I have to do twice as many!”– but once you start thinking of ideas, it is much more simple than you think.

Also, if your school groups students into classes based on ability level, you can differentiate for whole classes. Even with whole group lessons, I will adjust based on the collective understanding. For example, last week my students did an Orff arrangement of a Japanese song called Star Festival. One group did a great job with four different instruments and different patterns on the xylophones. In another class, it was a hot mess. So I ended up making the arrangement easier for the second class (I took out the glockenspiels and changed the xylophone part to hands together on the steady beat) and they were much more successful. And yes, that counts.

So how often do I have to differentiate?

That totally depends on you! Personally, I think as music teachers, we don’t need to do this every day. I do centers once a month with my upper grades, and I usually do one other differentiated activity in the month– but it depends on what we are working on! Right now my fifth graders are working on Orff skills and drum circles, so, frankly, I am not worried about differentiating right now. Music is inherently differentiated (don’t believe me? Read my post about the differentiation you are doing without realizing it here. )

With my younger students, I really don’t differentiate much at all. That may sound bad, but it’s the truth. I am much more concerned with them singing, playing, listening to music, and more.

Some lessons also lend themselves better to differentiating than others do. That’s why I keep going back to treble clef activities– they are so easy to differentiate!

Basically, you know your students. You know what is best for them. So you should do what is best for them. Sometimes that means tiered instruction, sometimes that means centers, and sometimes that means whole group drum circles. Do whatever is best.

Do you differentiate in your elementary music classroom? How do you do it? Let me know in the comments so that we can have even more ideas!

Happy teaching!

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/    News Posts    /   Engaging All Types of Learners in the Music Classroom

Engaging All Types of Learners in the Music Classroom:

Tools and techniques to reach different types of learners in the music classroom.

By NAfME Member Brian Wagner-Yeung

Music teachers often have a difficult job creating exciting and innovative activities for students. These activities can include: singing songs, listening to musical examples, learning to play different types of instruments, learning to read music, incorporating folk dances, composing, and being exposed to historical and multicultural music.

Nevertheless, not every student who enters the music room learns in the same way, especially special learners. Music teachers can easily change the way instruction is presented to allow all students to have an entry point into the musical activities. Three key words that are used when discussing special learners include:  adaptation ,  modification , and  accommodation . In addition,  differentiation  can be incorporated into this group as well.

As mentioned, music teachers can easily change (or adapt) the way instruction is presented to allow all students to have an entry point into the musical activities. Some examples of adapted instruction can include:

• color-coding
• using non-traditional materials
• using icons or pictures
• and incorporating all four types of learning modalities

Adapting Music Literacy

Many students enter the music classroom without the ability to immediately connect with traditional music literacy. Music teachers can find alternative ways to allow students to connect with literacy. These can include:

• using icons
• using rhythm flash cards to isolate sections in music
• incorporating movement to teach rhythm or pitches
• utilizing technology

When teaching rhythm, music teachers can easily differentiate how musical notes look to allow all students to have an entry point. Teachers can start with using a “go” and “stop” sign to represent steady beat. One “go” sign could be equivalent to a quarter note, and one “stop” sign could be equivalent to a quarter rest. Therefore: each “go” sign could mean one clap, and one “stop” sign would mean a sound of silence. Music teachers can also use icons to represent a specific command (such as clap, tap the drum, hit the claves, etc.). Teachers can also use color-coded note values to differentiate between different rhythms. For example: quarter notes can be green and quarter rests can be red (to connect with “go” and “stop”), eighth notes can be blue, sixteenth notes can be purple, etc. Lastly, teachers can also use traditional black-and-white notation. By providing four different ways to showcase the same objective, teachers are allowing more opportunities for students to connect with one, and eventually increase their demand.

*These are examples of four differentiated levels of the same piece of music.

*This is a musical example of teaching through icons.

*This is the same musical example using color-coded notation.

A similar approach can be used when teaching melodic literacy to students. For emerging leveled students, they can use color-coding to represent the different pitches. The rainbow spectrum can be organized to teach a melodic scale ( do  is red,  re  is orange,  mi  is yellow, etc.) Teachers can start with colored circles representing a pitch, and have a student play it back on an instrument. Teachers can also begin writing notation with actual rhythm values, but still having each pitch be colored in accordance with the rainbow spectrum to help students differentiate between them. Lastly, students can have the colors taken away, moving up to traditional mu     s can also include note names or solfege syllables as an in-between step if necessary.

These are examples of four differentiated levels of the same piece of music.

This is a musical example using color-coded notation, also incorporating the original rhythmic colors.

In both of these examples, teachers are using a step-wise scaffolded system. Some students might need to begin on level 1 and move their way up, while other students can easily start at level 3. In both examples, you can also include speaking and singing (rhythm syllables and solfege syllables). For some students, they might easily connect more with speaking or singing, and this is still allowing them an entry point into the music-making.

Adapting Active Listening

All students can be taught how to listen to music. By incorporating all four types of learning modalities, students can easily connect with listening examples. These modalities include:

• kinesthetic (movement)
• tactile (touching)
• auditory (listening)
• visual (seeing)

Every listening example can be made to include these four types of modalities, which will increase student success.

While visual and auditory modalities are already common in music classrooms, kinesthetic and tactile can be included to. Movements or dances to teach the melodic contour can allow students to physically feel or trace the melody of the music. Listening maps in which students actually touch specific materials (ex: sandpaper to show rough, cotton balls to show smooth), can allow students to physically feel the music and this can transfer into other modalities.

One listening example to demonstrate this is “A Cuckoo in the Deep Woods” by Camille Saint-Saens from “Carnival of the Animals.” Below are the steps that can be taken to allow students to experience this piece through all modalities. The focus of this listening activity is to discriminate between the piano and clarinet sounds.

• Have students listen to music. (auditory)
• Have students tiptoe around the room to the piano sounds, and point up into the imaginary trees when they hear the cuckoo sound. (kinesthetic)
• Have students follow a listening map showcasing the two different instruments. (visual)
• Have students create their own listening maps and share with a friend. (tactile)

A second listening example to demonstrate this is “Aquarium,” also from “Carnival of the Animals.” The focus of this listening example is to recognize the different themes in the music.

• Have students listen to music. (auditory).
• Have students locate the different themes in a teacher-created listening map. (visual)
• Have students create animal movements for each theme in the music. (kinesthetic)
• Teachers can include pre-made shadow puppets, or students can create new ones.

*This is an example of a teacher-made listening map for “Aquarium.”

Adapting Composition Activities

All students are able to compose music, and composition should be included in the music classroom at all ages. Composition allows students to incorporate skills they have been learning, while allowing them to have a creative outlet. As with the other activities, composition can be made available with the proper amount of adaptation and differentiation.

Composition allows students to incorporate skills they have been learning, while allowing them to have a creative outlet.

By incorporating alternative types of materials and manipulatives, students can easily be motivated to compose and showcase their composition in alternative ways. Student compositions do not need to use traditional literacy, students can use fun types of materials to showcase their composition with the same results. Some examples of alternative types of materials include: construction paper, yarn, dried noodles, colored tape, popsicle sticks, and stickers. Below are two composition activities that can be taught by just using construction paper.

Long and Short Sounds Composition

• First, create a sound bank of long and short sounds (vocal, natural, instrumental, etc).
• Next, have students rip long and short pieces of construction paper.
• Next, have students choose between the ripped pieces and tape it onto a larger “master score.”
• Next, have students choose between the long and short sounds from the bank.
• Last, have students perform their compositions just using ripped pieces of construction paper.

Composing with Colors

• First, introduce how different colors can represent different pitches (easily connects with color-coding mentioned earlier).
• Next, use colored construction paper and compose melodies on the board.
• Next, have students play the songs on melodic instruments with colored connections (either use instruments that already follow the rainbow spectrum or you can tape the colors on).
• You can add more guidelines such as using pentatonic colors, or specific pitches if you want.
• You can also add rhythm by using different sizes of paper.

Once all types of musical activities are adapted or differentiated, more students will find success in the music classroom. Alternative modifications can still be made for specific students or learners. Nevertheless, by allowing everyone to have an entry point, teachers will allow for a more positive music-making experience.

About the author:

NAfME member  Brian Wagner-Yeung  received his BA and MSED in Music Education from CUNY Queens College. He is currently split between two schools in Brooklyn: PS 370K and Brooklyn School of Inquiry. He has worked with students on the elementary, middle school, and high school level, where he has worked with students who have severe special needs—in addition to students who are gifted and talented. Mr. Wagner has taught: general music, string orchestra, musical theatre, and performing arts. He is a classically trained cellist, and currently plays regularly in the NYC area.

He has presented, and co-presented workshops for: NYSSMA, NYCDOE, SCMEA, OMEA, NJMEA, CMEA, NYSCAME, NAfME National In-Service Conference, NAfME Biennial Eastern Division Conference, NAfME Western Division Conference, and two  online webinars  for  NAfME Academy . He has also presented lectures at CUNY Brooklyn College, CUNY Queens College, and NYU. In addition, he has had papers and articles published in:  International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences ,  School Music News ,  Tempo ,  Maryland Music Educator , and  Bluegrass Music News.

Visit  Brian’s website .  Connect with Brian on LinkedIn .

Did this blog spur new ideas for your music program?  Share them on Amplify!   Interested in reprinting this article? Please  review the reprint guidelines .

The National Association for Music Education (NAfME) provides a number of forums for the sharing of information and opinion, including blogs and postings on our website, articles and columns in our magazines and journals, and postings to our Amplify member portal. Unless specifically noted, the views expressed in these media do not necessarily represent the policy or views of the Association, its officers, or its employees.

Published Date

July 21, 2017

• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access (DEIA)
• Educational Topics
• Special Education

July 21, 2017. © National Association for Music Education (NAfME.org)

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Implementing Differentiated Instruction in Music Education: Strategies for Success

• Author Corinne Hope
• Published July 5, 2023
• 0 comments Join the Conversation

Music education embraces the concept of differentiated instruction, an approach that acknowledges the diverse learning styles, interests, and abilities of students and adapts teaching methods accordingly. Since music is an art form open to various interpretations, differentiated instruction becomes particularly crucial in this field. By adopting a differentiated approach, music teachers can foster a sense of delight and significance in music for all students, while maximising their musical abilities and comprehension.

To effectively implement differentiated instruction in music education, educators must be attentive to their students’ needs and interests and establish a flexible learning environment that accommodates various approaches to music-making and learning. Here are some valuable tips to get started:

• Assess individual student needs: Initiate the process by evaluating the musical needs, interests, and abilities of your students. This evaluation can involve formal assessments, such as music aptitude tests or assessments of specific skills and knowledge, as well as informal methods like observation and conversations with students.
• Foster flexible learning activities: Design learning activities that enable students to progress at their own pace, select their preferred learning methods, and explore their personal interests in music. This may entail individualized projects, group activities, or a combination of both.
• Provide a diverse range of resources: Supply students with a variety of materials and resources that facilitate exploration of music through different avenues. This might include sheet music, recordings, videos, software, and other digital resources.
• Empower student choice: Encourage students to make choices regarding their learning activities and materials based on their own needs and interests. Granting students some degree of control over their learning process fosters ownership and motivation to engage with music.
• Utilize flexible grouping: Organize students into different groups that align with their needs and cater to diverse learning styles and approaches. This could involve whole-group instruction, small-group instruction, or individualized instruction, depending on students’ requirements and lesson objectives.
• Provide ample support and feedback: Offer students support and feedback as they engage with music. This support can manifest in the form of individualized instruction, coaching, mentoring, or structured feedback such as assessments and evaluations.
• Continuously evaluate and adapt: Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of your differentiated instruction approach and make adjustments as necessary to better meet the needs of your students. This evaluation process may include collecting data on student learning and performance, surveying students about their experiences and preferences, or making other observations related to student behavior and engagement.

In conclusion, differentiated instruction in music education fosters an inclusive and captivating learning environment for all students. By recognizing the unique needs and abilities of each student and implementing flexible learning activities and resources, teachers can help students discover the joy and significance of music while cultivating their musical skills and understanding to their highest potential.

For resources to support your implementation of differentiated instruction in your music classroom click here to browse the full list.

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Differentiated Instruction: A Primer

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How can a teacher keep a reading class of 25 on the same page when four students have dyslexia, three students are learning English as a second language, two others read three grade levels ahead, and the rest have widely disparate interests and degrees of enthusiasm about reading?

What is Differentiated Instruction?

“Differentiated instruction”—the process of identifying students’ individual learning strengths, needs, and interests and adapting lessons to match them—has become a popular approach to helping diverse students learn together. But the field of education is filled with varied and often conflicting definitions of what the practice looks like, and critics argue it requires too much training and additional work for teachers to be implemented consistently and effectively.

Differentiated Instruction Definition

The process of identifying students’ individual learning strengths, needs, and interests and adapting lessons to match them

Differentiation has much in common with many other instructional models: It has been compared to response-to-intervention models, as teachers vary their approach to the same material with different students in the same classroom; data-driven instruction, as individual students are frequently assessed or otherwise monitored, with instruction tweaked in response; and scaffolding, as assignments are intended to be structured to help students of different ability and interest levels meet the same goals.

Federal education laws and regulations do not generally set out requirements for how schools and teachers should “differentiate” instruction. However, in its 2010 National Education Technology Plan , the U.S. Department of Education lays out a framework that places differentiated teaching under the larger umbrella of “personalized learning,” instruction tailored to students’ individual learning needs, preferences, and interests. This framework assumes that all students in a heterogeneous classroom will have the same learning goals, but:

• “Individualization” tailors instruction by time . A teacher may break the material into smaller steps and allow students to master these steps at different paces; skipping topics they can prove they have mastered, while getting more help on those that prove difficult. This model has been used in iterations as far back as the late Robert Glaser’s Individually Prescribed Instruction in the 1970s, an approach which pairs diagnostic tests with objectives for mastery that is intended to help students progress through material at their own pace.
• “Differentiation” tailors instruction by presentation . A teacher may vary the method and assignments covering the material to adjust to students’ strengths, needs, and interests. For example, a teacher may allow an introverted student to write an essay on a historical topic while a more outgoing student gives an oral presentation on the same subject.

That distinction is accepted by some, though far from all, in the field.

The ambiguity has led to widespread confusion and debate over what differentiated instruction looks like in practice, and how its effectiveness can be evaluated.

For example, a 2005 study for the National Research Center on Gifted and Talented, which tracked implementation of “differentiation” over three years , found that the “vast majority” of teachers never moved beyond traditional direct lectures and seat work for students.

“Results suggest that differentiation of instruction and assessment are complex endeavors requiring extended time and concentrated effort to master,” the authors conclude. “Add to this complexity current realities of school such as large class sizes, limited resource materials, lack of planning time, lack of structures in place to allow collaboration with colleagues, and ever-increasing numbers of teacher responsibilities, and the tasks become even more daunting.”

Evolution of the Concept

Differentiated instruction as a concept evolved in part from instructional methods advocated for gifted students and in part as an alternative to academic “tracking,” or separating students of different ability levels into groups or classes. In the 1983 book, Individual Differences and the Common Curriculum , Thomas S. Popkewitz discusses differentiation in the context of “Individually Guided Education, … a management plan for pacing children through a standardized, objective-based curriculum” that would include small-group work, team teaching, objective-based testing, and monitoring of student progress.

Carol Ann Tomlinson, a co-director of the Institutes on Academic Diversity at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, and the author of The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners , 2nd Edition (ASCD, 2014) and Assessment and Student Success in a Differentiated Classroom (ASCD, 2013) argues that differentiation is, at its base, not an approach but a basic tenet of good instruction, in which a teacher develops relationships with his or her students and presents materials and assignments in ways that respond to the student’s interests and needs.

Differentiated Instruction Strategies

In theory—though critics allege not in practice—differentiation does not involve creating separate lesson plans for individual students for a given unit.

Ms. Tomlinson argues that differentiation requires more than creating options for assignments or presenting content both graphically and with hands-on projects, for example. Rather, to differentiate a unit on Rome, a teacher might consider both specific terms and overarching themes and concepts she wants students to learn, and offer a series of individual and group assignments of various levels of complexity to build those concepts and allow students to demonstrate their understanding in multiple ways, such as journal entries, oral presentations, creating costumes, and so on. In different parts of a unit students may be working with students who share their interests or have different ones, and with students who are at the same or different ability levels.

During the 1990s, teachers were also encouraged to present material differently according to a student’s “learning style”—for example, visual, auditory, or kinesthetic. But while there have been studies that show students remember more when the same material is presented and reinforced in multiple ways, recent research reviews have found no evidence that individual students can be categorized as learning best through a single type of presentation.

Rick Wormeli, an education consultant and the author of Fair Isn’t Always Equal: Assessment and Grading in the Differentiated Classroom , instead suggests in a 2011 essay in the journal Middle Ground that teachers differentiate based on “learner profiles” : “A learner profile is a set of observations about a student that includes any factor that affects his or her learning, including family dynamics, transiency rate, physical health, emotional health, comfort with technology, leadership qualities, personal interests, and so much more.”

Impacts of Technology

Differentiated and personalized instructional models have also evolved with technological advances, which make it easier to develop and monitor education plans for dozens of students at the same time. The influence of differentiation on school-level programs can be seen in “early warning systems” and student “dashboards” that aim to track individual student performance in real time, as well as initiatives in some schools to develop and monitor individualized learning plans with the student, his or her teachers, and parents.

Advocates of hybrid education models, such as the “flipped classroom” —in which students watch lectures and read material at home and perform practice that would normally be homework during class time—have suggested this could help teachers differentiate by recording and archiving different lectures that students could watch and rewatch as needed, and providing more one-on-one time during class.

Professional Development

By any account, differentiation is considered a complex approach to implement, requiring extensive and ongoing professional development for teachers and administrators.

It required teachers to confront and dismantle their existing, persistent beliefs about teaching and learning ...

In the 2005 longitudinal study that found no consistent implementation of differentiation, researchers noted that “many aspects of differentiation of instruction and assessment (e.g., assigning different work to different students, promoting greater student independence in the classroom) challenged teachers’ beliefs about fairness, about equity, and about how classrooms should be organized to allow students to learn most effectively. As a result, for most teachers, learning to differentiate entailed more than simply learning new practices. It required teachers to confront and dismantle their existing, persistent beliefs about teaching and learning, beliefs that were in large part shared and reinforced by other teachers, principals, parents, the community, and even students.”

In the 2009 book, Professional Development for Differentiating Instruction , Cindy A. Strickland notes that most schools do not provide sufficient training for new and experienced teachers in differentiating instruction.

Ms. Tomlinson said that teachers can begin to differentiate instruction simply by learning more about their students and trying to tailor their teaching as much as they find feasible. “Every significant endeavor seems too hard if we look only at the expert’s product. ... The success of all these ‘seasoned’ people stemmed largely from three factors: They started down a path. They wanted to do better. They kept working toward their goal.”

Including students of disparate abilities and interests also requires the teacher to rethink expectations for all students: “If a teacher uses flexible grouping lesson by lesson and does not assume a student has prior knowledge because he is a ‘higher’ student but really assesses and groups, based on need sometimes and other times by interest, the students will get what they need,” Melinda L. Fattig, a nationally recognized educator and a co-author of the 2008 book Co-Teaching in the Differentiated Classroom , told Teacher magazine that year.

In practice, differentiation is such a broad and multifaceted approach that it has proven difficult to implement properly or study empirically, critics say.

In a 2010 report by the research group McREL, author Bryan Goodwin notes that “to date, no empirical evidence exists to confirm that the total package (e.g., conducting ongoing assessments of student abilities, identifying appropriate content based on those abilities, using flexible grouping arrangements for students, and varying how students can demonstrate proficiency in their learning) has a positive impact on student achievement.” He adds: “One reason for this lack of evidence may simply be that no large-scale, scientific study of differentiated instruction has been conducted.” However, Mr. Goodwin pointed to the 2009 book Visible Learning , which synthesized studies of more than 600 models of personalizing learning based on student interests and prior performance, and found them not much better than general classroom instruction for improving students’ academic performance.

Both in planning time and instructional time, differentiation takes longer than using a single lesson plan for a given topic, and many teachers attempting to differentiate have reported feeling overwhelmed and unable to reach each student equally.

In a 2010 Education Week Commentary essay , Michael J. Schmoker, the author of the 2006 book, Results NOW: How We Can Achieve Unprecedented Improvements in Teaching and Learning , says attempts to differentiate instruction frustrated teachers and “seemed to complicate teachers’ work, requiring them to procure and assemble multiple sets of materials” leading to “dumbed-down” teaching.

Likewise, some advocates of gifted education, such as James R. Delisle, have argued that advanced students still are not challenged enough in a differentiated environment, which may vary in the presentation of material but not necessarily in the pace of instruction. He argues that “differentiation in practice is harder to implement in a heterogeneous classroom than it is to juggle with one arm tied behind your back.”

“There is no one book, video, presenter, or website that will show everyone how to differentiate instruction. Let’s stop looking for it. One size rarely fits all. Our classrooms are too diverse and our communities too important for such simplistic notions,” Mr. Wormeli said in an interview with Education Week blogger Larry Ferlazzo .

“Instead, let’s realize what differentiation really is: highly effective teaching, which is complex and interwoven; no one element defining it.”

A version of this article appeared in the February 04, 2015 edition of Education Week

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So La Mi Music

• communication
• differentiation
• for teachers

Tips for Differentiating Instruction in the General Music Classroom

This article helped me out a lot. Please keep the suggestion coming

Love your thoughts on simple differentiating ideas. The word "differentiate" always burdened my shoulders when teaching but simple changes can give students different ways to learn and succeed. Thanks!

Great article! Wish I knew who wrote it so I can attribute. Am I missing something or is there no author listed?

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Instrument Labels and "I Can" Posters

• Exit Module x

Planning for and Responding to Learning needs with Universal Design for Learning and Differentiated Instruction

Learning module: planning for and responding to learning needs with universal design for learning and differentiated instruction exit module.

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• What to Differentiate

According to researcher Carol Ann Tomlinson, differentiated instruction (DI) is based on the idea that because students differ significantly in their strengths, interests, learning styles, and readiness to learn, it is necessary to adapt instruction to suit these differing characteristics. Differentiated instruction is a flexible form of instruction that allows educators to vary the content, processes, products, and environment of learning.

Differentiating content means making changes to what students are going to learn, and when. For example, a student who struggles with reading may be given a novel that is written at their reading level. This might create the ability to explore similar themes in novels other students are reading. This allows a student with LDs to fully participate in class discussions and assignments.

• Presenting ideas through both auditory and visual means                               
• Using reading buddies
• Meeting with small groups to re-teach an idea or skill for struggling learners, or to extend the thinking or skills of advanced learners
• Using spelling or vocabulary lists at the readiness levels of students

Differentiating the learning process means making changes to the types of tasks and activities students are expected to complete.

Students with LDs may use text-to-speech technology to read a book that is above their reading level. This approach allows the student to focus on comprehension instead of decoding words. In mathematics, students may use manipulatives or have their work broken into steps by the teacher.

Other examples of differentiating the learning process include:

• Providing different levels of support, challenge, or complexity;
• Varying the length of time a student may take to complete a task in order to provide additional support for a struggling learner or to encourage an advanced learner to pursue a topic in greater depth.
• Graphic organizers, speech to text/audiobooks, digital manipulatives

Differentiating the product means making changes to the ways in which students demonstrate learning.

Rather than assigning a single option for all students, such as an essay, students might be encouraged to show learning in a way that highlights their strengths, such as a video, a dramatic performance, or other creative means. 

• Using rubrics that match and extend students' varied skills levels;
• Allowing students to work alone or in small groups on their products; and
• Encouraging students to create their own product assignments as long as the assignments contain required elements.

Environment:

Differentiating the environment means making changes to the context and environment in which students learn and demonstrate learning.

Some students require the classroom to be quiet and without distraction, to work optimally. Others need to move around to learn and prefer collaborative work environments. Help students understand their own ideal learning environments and that others may need different things.

• Providing materials that reflect a variety of cultures and home settings;
• Setting out clear guidelines for independent work that matches individual needs;
• Developing routines that allow students to get help when teachers are busy with other students and cannot help them immediately
• Pre-Learning Self-Assessment
• What is Universal Design for Learning?
• What is Differentiated Instruction?
• Equity in lesson planning
• Using Assistive Technology
• More CAST Resources:
• What guides Differentiation?
• How to Differentiate
• Knowing the Learner
• Knowing the class

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5 Developing a Student-Centered and Inclusive Music Classroom

• Published: August 2024
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This chapter is designed to provide effective tools and strategies at the micro level (e.g., behavior and management techniques) and the macro level by informing the reader of philosophical underpinnings that encompass a successful inclusive classroom. The socialization and lasting relationships that all students develop in school are also of considerable importance. Therefore, it is imperative for music educators to strive for a caring, inclusive environment that is conducive for all students to learn. The practical strategies suggested at the end of this chapter are presented to encourage music educators to create a tolerant, caring classroom that is conducive for music teaching and learning. Many of the techniques discussed in this chapter are just examples of good teaching, regardless of what population of students you are teaching.

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Sounds-Write Phonics, 10 differentiated games for Extended Code 1 -10

Subject: English

Age range: 5-7

Resource type: Game/puzzle/quiz

Last updated

29 August 2024

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If you’re using the ‘Sounds-Write’ phonics programme (like me) then you know its tricky to get games which follow the order of the phonemes taught. Well not anymore!

This game pack is fantastic for consolidating phonic knowledge and strengthening blending skills. It can be played by by one or two students independently; or it can be used for group work. Not only does it really work, but you need a teeny amount of prep, just print the game boards and go! My school have adopted these games for the whole of KS1, with the best results we’ve ever had on this year’s phonics screening test.

I have included games for all of the first 10 units in the ‘extended code’. That means the following phonemes are included: Unit 1 - ai, ay, ea, a_e Unit 2 - e, ea, ee, y Unit 3 - ea (one spelling, two sounds) Unit 4 - o, oa, ow, oe, o_e Unit 5 -o (one spelling, two sounds) Unit 6 - er, ir, or, ur Unit 7 - e, ea, ai Unit 8 - ou, ow Unit 9 - ow (one spelling, two sounds) Unit 10 - oo, ew, ue, u_e, o

Each game includes a colour version and a black and white version for your printing preferences. Units with new phonemes include a game version with the new (focus) phoneme highlighted ( I find this useful for students who struggle with fluency), and a none highlighted version, for more fluent readers.

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