The two major components of differentiated instruction for teachers to consider are the learning and cultural dimensions.

To facilitate differentiated instruction for learners we can work to create lessons and assessments that are clear, explicitly described, and focused on specific curriculum components. By doing so we then have clear understanding of what we can cannot alter to best suit the learning needs of our students and also better see which parts of our lessons are causing difficulties. Students’ learning needs are so diverse that it can be overwhelming and easy to focus on what ‘good’ and ‘bad’ school work looks like rather than what are we actually teaching and testing.

Does the writing need to be in essay style or can students be more concise? Are we marking their preforming ability or their content understanding? Is this assignment larger and more involved that it needs to be to address the outcome I desire? As teacher’s these are all things that we need to consider.

To differentiate our instruction culturally, we must think critically think about all of the resources and language we are using and not just repeat lessons as we received them. We can reach out to different groups in our community to become involved in our classroom. As teachers we must model and encourage listening and understanding in our classrooms in all situations, and then we must expose our students to diverse cultures and perspectives. This is all an effort to create a welcoming and inclusive classroom environment for all of our individuals students without othering or emphasizing one point of view.