Differentiation in the classroom is providing instruction in a variety of ways that can appeal to different types of learners. This can be a difficult task for many teachers because of the variety of different learning styles. The ways that you can teach every child maybe different. A teacher needs to plan a variety of methods to help students learn. Differentiation might be hard to do but if teachers would strive to do the best they can then learning will become easier for students.
Differentiation requires teachers to look at a lesson with multiple approaches. Depending on the students ability level and interests shows how the student learns best. There are three aspects of instruction:
- Content- information that is taught
- Process- how a student understands the content
- Product- demonstrates what the student has learned
These different aspects should be differentiated to fit a students needs and to help them show their best effort. The instruction should allow a student to think for himself or herself. This allows the students to learn at their own pace. Lessons should also be mixed with a variety of independent and group activities to help the students learn to build people skills and to make the classroom feel like a community.
There are many ways to help students learn in a special education diverse classroom. Visual aids are a great way to engage students. Some children do better seeing a picture with a word problem because it helps them understand if they are visual learners. Vocabulary flashcards. sight words, and safety signs are great for visual learners. Peer coaching is a great way for students to work in collaborative groups. This type of coaching has students partner up a couple time a week. They will work with one another with school activities such as reading, writing, and math.

Differentiation is becoming the new way to teach students of all learning abilities. Wether they are visual, kinesthetic, or auditory each teacher should try to accommodate all the styles when they can. There are many different methods that a teacher can take to make a classroom fit the needs of all students such as more visual aids, multi-sensory learning, and accommodating students with disabilities. Having a differentiated classroom is hard but if it is achieved it helps make learning more enjoyable for students.