Differentiation, The Easy Way!
Differentiation is such a powerful tool in our teaching, but I think so many of us are guilty of overthinking it. When I first started teaching, I thought that differentiating my classwork meant that each group of students needed a completely different assignment, based on their needs. This is a misconception about differentiation. Too often, new teachers are left to exhaust themselves prepping 4-5 different assignments for each subject area, every day. I want to change that!
Today, I am kicking off a new blog series by sharing with you differentiation techniques that won’t create extra work for you. In fact, applying these tips might even get you out the door a little faster because you are working smarter and not harder! So, let’s kick things off today with tip number one: change the numbers.
Change the Numbers
When we are talking about differentiating in math, the bulk of any assignment is going to be numbers. So, sometimes the easiest way to help each student master standard, but take things to their level, is to change the numbers that they are working with.
If you have a group that is working below grade level, but you need them to master regrouping, maybe it makes the most sense to have them work with a two digit number and a single digit number. Overtime you can build up to two, 2-digit numbers, because that may be what your standard is. But if mastering the regrouping is simpler with just a single digit number as the second addend, start there.
Your next group may be fine with 2-digit numbers. This is the standard, and that group is working on level, so it makes perfect sense to just have them continue to work on grade level material. Maybe overtime you will see that that group can handle bumping up to three-digit numbers. Or maybe you have a group that is ready to try a challenge with a four digit number, or working with three addends instead of just two.
There are so many ways to differentiate by changing out the numbers themselves. And it doesn’t create any extra work! Create a base template of a few word problems and just swap out the numbers that you use each time a group comes to your teacher table. Or, if the kids are working independently, just copy and paste different numbers into the same worksheet. It takes no effort, and the kids aren’t aware that they are doing different work. But, everyone’s needs are met, which is the goal!
Numberless Word Problems
One resource type that is ideal for this type of differentiation is a numberless word problem. Using numberless word problems means that you really are only prepping one thing for everyone, but the finished product will look drastically different depending on each level. Numberless word problems are exactly what they sound like. They are word problems with blanks where the numbers would normally be! Your students plug in their own numbers.
Benefits of Numberless Word Problems
The benefit of using numberless word problems is that the students have to focus on the vocabulary of the word problem in order to decide what kinds of numbers need to be used. If the verbiage of the word problem makes it clear that this is supposed to be a subtraction problem, then your students need to understand that the first number in the problem will be the biggest number. If it is an addition problem, then the order that the numbers are in doesn’t matter as much. Numberless word problems open up the doors for conversations about operations and how to approach a word problem because there are no numbers to distract the students!
The other benefit of numberless word problems is that they creates automatic differentiation. The tips that I discussed earlier about using bigger or smaller numbers depending upon the level of the group is easy to implement with a numberless word problem. You can give the students parameters. (ex: one group must work with all 2-digit numbers, while another group can use 3-digit numbers). Or, leave the parameters totally open for students to choose their own numbers!
And there you have it! Simplify differentiation by simply changing the numbers from one assignment to the next! Or, keep things extra simple by taking the numbers out altogether! No extra copies, stress, or time!
And, if you are in the market for numberless word problems I have seasonal booklets in my store. They also come in a digital format so you can share them with students virtually if you are distance-learning!