Making a Difference

Part 1—Making a Difference
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Meeting diverse learning needs with differentiated instruction
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High response
• 
—All students are expected to respond within a short 
period of time. For example, with the “response cards” strategy, the 
teacher asks a question and all students write a response. Simply by 
walking around the room the teacher can quickly see who is responding 
correctly and can use the opportunity to do some on-the-spot prompting 
and teaching for students who need it.
Foster metacognition
• 
—Students self-assess and re
fl
ect on what they 
have learned and on how they learn. For example, students may be asked 
to complete an “exit slip” at the end of class. This is an opportunity for 
them to re
fl
ect on their own learning, record their re
fl
ections and then 
pass this written record to the teacher as they exit from the classroom.
What assessment 
for
learning strategies you use will depend on your existing 
knowledge about your students, as well as the speci
fi
c purpose for the assessment 
and where in the activity the assessment will occur; e.g., at the beginning, in the 
middle or at the end.
Position in the learning activity
Beginning
Middle/During
End
Example of 
assessment 
purpose 
To 
fi
nd out 
whether students 
have retained 
a skill learned 
in a previous 
activity.
To 
fi
nd out if the 
remainder of the 
learning activity should 
be restructured to 
accommodate differing 
learning needs.
To 
fi
nd out the 
extent to which 
students have 
overcome a 
misconception 
common to the 
topic.