by Monica Lakhwani

Created on: May 12, 2009   Last Updated: May 24, 2009

Each year in a classroom brings with it a new group of students: individuals who are different from each other in the ways they express themselves, the ways they process information and think, the ways in which they study, the ways in which they make friends, and the list goes on.So if the children in our classrooms are so different from one another and we respect and honor these differences, then why is our curriculum the same for all of our students?

The idea behind curriculum differentiation is to tailor the way we teach so that students are learning in their own unique ways. Our curriculum should be based upon students' needs, for example, why teach students a list of vocabulary words that are of no interest to them? Why not integrate their words with what they are reading and on their levels? During self-selected reading, students could use a choice of graphic organizers to find information about words they do not know. Some of these graphic organizers may ask students to draw pictures of what the word means benefiting students who have an artistic ability or ones who just love to draw. Some of these graphic organizers may ask students to use the word in a sentence benefiting students who like to write and can process information in this way. Then, these words could be compiled in a list of vocabulary or spelling words which students can study for a future test.

Not all of our students are the same and if we teach the same way to the entire class we are not doing justice to those who are not learning. Although many students may flourish with an inner motivation to succeed, many will not. Those students who are not able to connect with the curriculum because of static teaching methods may lose interest in the pursuit of education. It is when a child doesn't understand or finds something boring that we begin to see other issues develop within a classroom, such as behavioral ones.

Curriculum differentiation allows for a variety of activities within the classroom and opportunities for all students to process content being taught. For the student who likes socializing, group activities are great! For the student who likes reflecting on thoughts, independent assignments are a must! For the student who needs visualization, models and pictures can create the gap needed to learn new concepts and/or ideas!

If our children are truly our future, then do we want our future to look the same or do we want to see all the colors of the rainbow and those in between? Curriculum differentiation allows us to see each child and the diversities that exist. It allows us to appreciate the special things about each one of our students: the athlete, the comedian, the intellectual, etc. Curriculum differentiation allows teachers to keep their classrooms and instruction versatile and encourages students to be the best they can!

Learn more about this author, Monica Lakhwani.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.