The usual trap is planning a lesson for the middle and then trying to bolt on a harder version and an easier version. By Wednesday you are doing it at midnight. A better habit is to decide what must stay the same and what is allowed to flex.
Fix the target, flex the route
Keep the learning objective identical for everyone. Then you can vary four things, which are the ones teachers usually reach for:
- Content: what students read or watch, and at what level.
- Process: how they make sense of it, alone, in pairs, with a model.
- Product: how they show it, a labelled diagram, a paragraph, a talk.
- Support: sentence starters, worked examples, a word bank, a check-in from you.
Most of the time, flexing support and process is cheaper and fairer than flexing the product, because everyone still meets the same standard.
Scaffold, do not lower the bar
A scaffold is help that you remove over time. A lower bar is a different goal. If a student gets a word bank today, plan to take it away next week. If the support never fades, it has become the task.
A worked example: one lesson on food webs
- Target: Students will trace energy through a food web and predict what happens if one organism disappears.
- Start together: One common example on the board, thought through aloud.
- Then three paths, same task: Everyone builds a food web for a pond. One group gets the organisms already listed with arrows to draw. One group gets the list and must decide the arrows. One group gets only the habitat and finds the organisms.
- Same exit question for all: If the frogs vanish, what changes, and why?
That is one lesson with one question, three entry points, and a marking load that is the same for everyone.
Use data, not your gut, to group
Groups based on last month's impression go stale. Flexible groups built from a recent check, and reshuffled every unit, stop students being labelled. A quick exit question, a mini-whiteboard round, or a mastery grid is enough. See the small-group instruction page for how to run the group you pulled aside.
Common mistakes
- Giving the struggling group less work, and the advanced group more of the same. Give the advanced group a harder question, not a longer list.
- Making the choice board a sorting hat. If you pick for them, say so.
- Treating learning styles as a way to sort children. The research does not support matching instruction to a student's supposed style. Offer choice for engagement, not as a diagnosis.
Where ClassSense can lighten the load
ClassSense does not differentiate a lesson for you. It builds the raw material that makes differentiation cheaper. Each skill pack carries explanations at three depths, shown in the review screen as beginner, intermediate and advanced, and practice items that each carry a difficulty marker. Students can also choose how they practise: Game-Based, Reading & Quiz, Visual or Experiential, and switch whenever they like. On a student's page, What helps (name) learn lets you turn on supports for that student only, such as read aloud, easier-to-read font, extra spacing or a low-pressure mode. These are supports you choose; ClassSense does not diagnose anyone. The Students grid shows who has which skill, which is a ready-made way to form groups. The differentiated instruction page covers the product side, and the mixed-ability classrooms page looks at the classroom side.
What it will not do: decide your groups, redesign your task, or know your students the way you do. That part is yours.
Common questions
Do I need a different lesson plan for every group?
No. Keep one objective and one exit question. Change the entry point, the amount of support, or the level of the text, not the whole plan.
Is differentiation the same as individualised instruction?
No. Individualisation plans for one student at a time. Differentiation plans a small number of options inside one lesson.
Should I group by learning style?
No. Evidence does not support matching instruction to a style. Group by what students currently know about this skill, and let them choose how they practise.
Can ClassSense automatically differentiate?
It gives you three explanation depths, difficulty-marked practice, student format choice and per-student supports. You still decide the groups and the task.