What is the difference between differentiation and modification

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Post comment. Skip to content. Facebook page opens in new window Twitter page opens in new window Pinterest page opens in new window Linkedin page opens in new window. Toll Free Local How to Differentiate and Scaffold — Before the Lesson. Create My Educeri Account. As much as we especially in the arts would like to think teaching is about our content area, I have come to believe that understanding differentiation is what it means to be a teacher.

Here are six things you need to know about differentiation in art. Differentiation is for all students. At the core of differentiation is should be a mindset that every child can succeed and it is our job, as teachers, to do whatever we need to, for each child to make that happen.

While this may not be very difficult to wrap your mind around when you consider an elementary classroom teacher with 24 students, it becomes more challenging for a secondary teacher who likely teaches students each semester, a much more daunting task for an elementary specialist art, music, or physical education teacher who may have more than An important distinction to understand and recognize in the context of differentiation is the difference between accommodations and modifications.

Each course has expected learning outcomes defined by standards or a program of studies. If a teacher takes extra steps to help a student try to achieve those outcomes, she is differentiating instruction by making accommodations. Accommodations include those described in an Individualized Education Program IEP or a plan and therefore required by law and those made for any other student. If they succeed when the teacher provides those accommodations, then they succeed.

In the case of a student without requires supports, a teacher may consider how much support was required when assessing the student, but ideally the differentiation provided helped the student to grasp the content. That end result is what we are looking for and what we should communicate in a progress report.

Modification, on the other hand, is when you adjust the curriculum to meet the needs of the student. These may include anything from fine and gross motor, to communication and executive functioning goals. The best way to not be overwhelmed by the individual needs of students is to plan instruction to include a variety of supports and scaffolds for all learners. They must pull textual evidence from the book to support their predictions and claims.

But Diana is seated over there, frustrated. She is struggling with the concept of inference, partly because she is reading below her grade level. Knowing this about her reading abilities, and other challenges indicated on her IEP, do I expect her to stay the course, or do I admit that success for her with this assignment as it stands is not likely? I decide to give Diana the task of listing five adjectives to describe the character Crooks. She has to find one quote from the character in the book to prove one or more of the words she has chosen.

There are similarities to these two assignments, but different enough to ensure a higher probability of success -- and learning -- for her. Differentiated instruction for Diana, and for other struggling students, may mean providing a handout with sentence starters or a graphic organizer to help them with constructing meaning.

It may mean providing extra time to complete an assignment, giving directions again, reducing the length of an assignment, or offering alternate assignments or projects altogether. You can also provide struggling students with leveled text -- less difficult reading that contains the same content.

For more differentiated instruction ideas and examples from the classroom, check out this Edutopia group discussion on the topic. Do I pre-plan variations of an assignment? Not always, but when I know my struggling students and their challenges well enough to predict road bumps ahead for them, I'm ready.

One way to be ready? They may include altering the standard expectations for a course or assessment, as the student may be unable to learn all of the material, or particular portions of the material presented. Some modifications can include the number of problems a student needs to complete on a given assignment, but other modifications can include providing material that is quite different than that of the rest of the class.

Modifications can take various forms. In science, students can be provided copies of the notes by the teacher. In math, if the student is below grade level, the problems can be provided in whole numbers rather than fractions. The purpose of modifications is to provide support for the student to the very skill that is being measured and even altering the skill to meet the ability of the student. When teachers provide differentiated opportunities, they are taking into account the student.

In a math class, a student could build 3D scale models, or design charts and graphs to demonstrate understanding. A health teacher can have students create diagrams, brochures or design a new app to promote better health.

Differentiation promotes voice and choice in how learning takes place and uses whole-group, small-group, and individual tasks designed around the content to meet the needs of the learners whether they may be delayed, gifted or somewhere in-between. It makes learning applicable and promotes intrinsic motivation which helps instill deeper learning.