The Myth of the "Average" Student
There's a version of teaching where you aim for the middle and hope for the best. I tried that my first year. It didn't work. The kids who needed more support checked out. The kids who needed more challenge got bored. And the "middle" I was aiming for? It didn't really exist.
Differentiation isn't a teaching philosophy for me — it's a non-negotiable. Every student who walks into my classroom deserves an on-ramp to the same rigorous, meaningful work. The ramps just look different.
Tiered Materials, Same Destination
When I design a close reading lesson, I typically build three tiers. Not three different assignments — three versions of the same task with different levels of scaffolding. Tier 1 might include a chunked text with annotations and guiding questions embedded in the margins. Tier 2 gets the full text with a graphic organizer. Tier 3 gets the text and an open-ended analytical prompt. All three groups are working toward the same standard. All three are doing real, challenging thinking.
The key is that students don't always stay in the same tier. I reassess constantly. A student who needed heavy scaffolding for informational text might fly through poetry analysis. Flexibility is everything.
Supporting English Language Learners
For my ELL students, language supports aren't extras — they're access. I build in bilingual glossaries, visual vocabulary cards, and sentence frames as standard practice. One of my favorite strategies is "language layering": I introduce key academic vocabulary through images and discussion before students ever encounter it in a text. By the time they're reading, the language isn't a barrier — it's a bridge.
ESE Accommodations That Honor the Student
I work closely with ESE specialists to make sure accommodations are baked into my lessons from the start. Extended time, text-to-speech options, modified response formats — these aren't concessions. They're design choices that say to a student: I see you, and I built this with you in mind.
The most important thing I've learned about differentiation is this: it's not about lowering the bar. It's about building more ladders to reach it. And when you get it right, you don't just meet students where they are — you show them where they can go.