​The reality of modern teaching is that within your class there will be a range of learning needs. Differentiating the lesson to make it accessible to all students is key to positive student engagement and success. It also saves you some serious stress having to manage behaviour! The other reality is that your time is a rare and valuable commodity, and we need to be savvy on our differentiation styles to save as much of it as we can. We are going to look at 2 main areas; ‘Differentiating by Task’ and ‘Differentiating by Outcome’.

​Every teacher enjoys a class where their pupils are engaged, having fun but most importantly, learning! To ensure learning has taken place, as teachers, we generally give our pupils an exam and grade their responses. But the best way to check their learning, is by having an immediate response. This can be completed in class through student responses, feedback and participation. A student who is struggling with the content of the lesson will not be able to take part in the learning, therefore a barrier is created, preventing the pupil from success. An effective way to measure the success of the lesson is by how involved the pupils are. Below are some tips to help student participation in class. 

​Do you have a class that seems jittery, unfocused, inefficient, and with some behavior problems that are difficult to deal with? A simple solution to many of these issues for a large proportion of  students is brain breaks.

Imagine working non-stop, learning new things all day, and trying to retain it all without much of a break in between. It’s probably fair enough to say that your focus will start to dwindle as the day goes on, the ability to absorb information will fade, and the quality of work will reduce. Hence, a not so calm and unfocused classroom will result too.