The importance of recognizing learning differences builds on the importance of learner development. Learners bring a variety of differences to the classroom, from their learning styles to their background knowledge to their cultural context and their lives outside of school, and these differences are valuable additions to the learning environment.
Teachers need to recognize and respect the diversity of the classroom, finding ways to reach and inspire students from different backgrounds and experiences. These different backgrounds and experiences should enhance the classroom, building respect for diverse opinions and ideas. Teachers need to expect high achievement from all learners while recognizing that high achievement is not uniform, and may vary by learner.
One powerful way to accommodate learning differences is through the power of choice. I use choice texts for independent reading, but to accommodate learning differences, I also strive to offer choice in the assessments that I provide. These assessments need to be focused on the central concept I want students to achieve, but incorporating choice honors student learning differences. As an example, here is a link to the final assessment choices I offered to a 10th grade Honors English class on the novel Siddhartha: Siddhartha Final Project. Giving students choices in modes of representing understanding is a powerful tool for accommodating learning differences.
Another way that I honor this standard in my classroom is through the use of Tiered Applications. Tiered applications give students of varying readiness levels opportunities to achieve the learning objectives of the lesson. Here is an example of a tiered application I designed to address the English concept of the hero, differentiated by readiness and interest: A New Hero.
Another strategy that I often use in my classroom to accommodate difference is to vary grouping between heterogeneous and homogeneous groups of students to facilitate different learning objectives. For some tasks, grouping students by ability level allows the teacher to differentiate the tasks among groups. In others, heterogeneous grouping drives learning for both high and low achievers as high achievers learn by teaching and low achievers learn from their peers. Here is a link to a matrix that I use to “sort” classes heterogeneously and homogeneously: Flexible Grouping Matrix
