Making a Difference

Meaningful activities
D
ecisions about grouping, scaffolding and choice all must be built on a belief 
and a pro
fi
ciency in designing activities that are meaningful for students. 
Meaningful learning activities are:
developmentally appropriate
• 
connected and relevant to life experiences
• 
authentic
• 
engaging
• 
respectful and fair to all students.
• 
Meaningful activities are built on an understanding of both individual students 
and good instructional practices. Activities should actively engage students in 
exploring, questioning, applying and re
fl
ecting on concepts and skills. This may 
include opportunities for: 
identifying similarities and differences
• 
summarizing and note taking
• 
using and creating visual representations
• 
generating and testing hypotheses
• 
using cues, questions and advance organizers to make sense of learning.
• 
Implementing meaningful activities
Consider the following guidelines for creating meaningful, respectful activities:
explicitly discuss the activity’s purpose and importance with students
• 
provide clear directions and expectations to reduce uncertainty, surprise 
• 
and disappointment
challenge students of all ability levels to work to their full potential
• 

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Part 1—Making a Difference
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Meeting diverse learning needs with differentiated instruction
65
use learner pro
fi
les, pre-testing and other information to tailor activities 
• 
and resources to student interests, backgrounds and learning preferences
anticipate any challenges or barriers to learning and build in supports to 
• 
reduce these barriers
share or develop assessment tools with students (e.g., criteria, rubrics, 
• 
exemplars) to clarify expectations 
provide learning resources students will need for the activity that are 
• 
accessible, engaging and build understanding
plan for ef
fi
cient delivery to create momentum and keep the focus on 
• 
learning
assess and re
fi
ne activities and tasks to maximize learning.
•