#166: Why telling teachers to ‘just differentiate’ is helping nobody (and what we need to do instead) | The Differentiation Series: Part 2

Let me be real with you for a second, the word "differentiation" has a bit of a reputation problem.

For most teachers, hearing it conjures up images of three separate lesson versions, colour-coded ability groups, and a to-do list that never ends. No wonder it sends a shudder up your spine.

But here's the thing: that version of differentiation? It's not what I'm talking about. And it's not what's actually going to help your students, or you.

This is Part 2 of my differentiation series, and today I'm giving you a front seat to what differentiation actually looks like when it's done in a way that's realistic, sustainable, and genuinely effective. We're busting the biggest myths, reframing the whole concept, and I'm walking you through my Differentiation Toolbox, the strategies I actually use to embed adaptive learning into lessons, not on top of them.

If you haven't listened to Part 1 yet, I'd recommend starting there, because it sets up the whole behaviour-learning link that makes this episode make sense.

But if you're ready to stop feeling guilty about differentiation and start actually doing it? You're in exactly the right place.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why the way we've been taught to differentiate is setting us up to fail — and what to do instead
• The biggest misconceptions teachers have about differentiation (and why they're holding us back)
• What "true differentiation" — or adaptive teaching — actually looks like in practice
• Why differentiation needs to be hardwired into your lesson design, not added on afterwards
• The ladder analogy that reframes scaffolding in the most practical way possible
• The tools inside Claire's Differentiation Toolbox: scaffolding, success criteria, learning maps, starter activities, visible learning, and more
• How one lesson can meet every student at their level — without creating multiple versions of anything
• What's coming up in Part 3 of the series (spoiler: it's all about scaffolding and modelling in detail)

Resources mentioned:

• The Behaviour Club — differentiation training + 50+ Canva scaffold templates: https://www.theunteachables.com.au/tbc

RESOURCES AND MORE SUPPORT:

• Shop all resources
• Join The Behaviour Club
• My book! It’s Never Just About the Behaviour: A holistic approach to classroom behaviour management 
• The Low-Level Behaviour Bootcamp
• Free guide: 'Chats that Create Change'

Connect with me:

• Follow on Instagram @the.unteachables
• Check out my website

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hi there, teachers. Welcome to the Unteachables Podcast. I'm your host, Claire English, and I am just a fellow teacher, a top of the mama, and a big old behaviour nerd on a mission to demystify and simplify that little thing called classroom management. The way we've all been taught to manage behaviour and classroom manage has left us playing crowd control, which is not something I subscribe to because we're not dancing with teachers. So listen in as I walk you through the game-changing strategies and I've seen the things that we can actually do in action in a classroom that'll allow you to lean into your beautiful values as a compassionate educator and feel empowered to run your home with a little more calm and dare I say it's a lot less chaos. I will see you in the episode. Hello and welcome back to the Unteachables Podcast, everybody. Thank you for joining me here. I cannot wait to dig into this week's episode because this

Welcome And The Behaviour Mission

SPEAKER_00 0:58

is part two of my differentiation series. Last episode, when I spoke about differentiation, I was going into like when a student doesn't do the work that's in front of them, when they react in a big way, escalate, tune out, disrupt, all of those things, what's actually happening? Even when you think that they can do the work, that doesn't necessarily mean that they can. They can, they can. They might be capable, uh, but they can also have a really big stress response to whatever's in front of them. Um, and it can leave us feeling quite baffled, which is where differentiation comes into it. However, telling teachers like yourself to simply differentiate is really helping nobody. There are a lot of problems, there are a lot of misconceptions with the concept of differentiation, and it really has that word differentiation

Why Work Refusal Is A Clue

SPEAKER_00 1:52

had always sent a shudder up my spine, mainly because I felt like it was something that I needed to do, but it felt so unattainable with the time that I had. So I would always carry this like immense guilt around because I'm like, okay, I know that to be a quality teacher, I'm talking about like my first years of teaching. Like I was walking around thinking, like, I know that I have to be a quality teacher, I know that I have to support my students, I know that this is really important, but how? Like, how do I do this? What how can I possibly sit down in the one hour that I'm given to, in terms of ratio, like one hour to every like 10 hours of actual like face-to-face teaching and plan those lessons, but then on top of planning those lessons, differentiate them for the amount of learners that I have, like 180 learners. Like, how can I possibly do that? And I know that I'm not alone in those feelings because I recently did a presentation with an incredible bunch of teachers where I was speaking about differentiation and teaching and learning and the link between those things with behavior, just like I was talking about last lesson in the last episode. And I asked everybody before I dug into anything in the training session, when you hear somebody say you need to differentiate, what immediately comes to mind are some of the barriers to doing that. And their answers reflected everything that I had once felt about differentiation. Things like, I don't have time, obviously. Uh, that's obviously the main one, is too much planning. Um, the other ones were students will just pick the easy work, uh, which makes me think that people are understanding differentiation to be something that you have to create all of these different levels for. Some persons, like some people said um, some students will feel dumb because I'm giving them the simple work, the dumb work. These are particular miscon these are all misconceptions, and they're misconceptions because we have framed differentiation in this certain way, and it has been misunderstood. And I think that yes, some people do differentiate in this way, some people do create different levels, some people are taught to do so, but there is

The Misconceptions That Create Guilt

SPEAKER_00 4:20

a better way, and differentiation is really important, so why not make it as easy as possible for teachers to execute? If you did listen to part one of this differentiation series, you definitely would have heard me talk about the behaviors that do pop up when students struggle with the work, which is why it's so important for us to be able to do this because we're inundated by behaviors, teachers are struggling immensely, you might be sitting there struggling in your classroom. We can't control the behaviors of anybody else. Like nobody is a puppet on a string, but we have to control what we can control. And differentiation and the learning that we're providing is one of those things that we can control. And if we are not doing, if I'm not teaching you to do that in a way that is actually sustainable, I wouldn't be telling talking to you about this. If it's not in our control, I wouldn't be telling you this or talking to you about this. When we do differentiate the work properly, it is not only something that can help behavior by keeping students inside of their window of tolerance, reducing the chances of those behaviors flaring up in the first place, removing those barriers that lead to overwhelm and disruption. But if we are differentiating in the way that I teach differentiation, the way that I believe differentiation actually is meant to be done, then it's also supporting us to plan in a way that is clear, easy, quick, efficient, quality. And I'm not just saying that, like I mean it when I'm talking about true differentiation, I think they call it adaptive teaching in different parts of the world, it keeps it also helps us feel more in control, feel empowered, feel like we're doing what we can to minimize those behaviors. Because the way that we are being taught and told to differentiate is not realistic. If we are still seeing differentiation as replicating the work to different levels and needing to cater for all of these different learners in this individualized way, it's not going to be helpful or realistic for us or for students. We need to reimagine what differentiation can look like and has to look like because you've got a full curriculum to deliver. You've got 30 unique learners in front of you at any given time. You've got a to-do list that will never be ending. So individualizing the learning for all the needs of students feels impossible because it is. So what do we need to do instead? What is true differentiation? In I am so sick of saying the word differentiation. I hope that no one's playing some kind of drinking game here with my podcast because it would not end well. Uh, differentiation. Let's try to like, you know, uh cut down on that word. So instead, we need to be designing our lessons in a way that is embedding that adaptive learning, that differentiation within it automatically, hardwired in there, because it can't be something that we do in isolation to everything else. It can't be us creating a lesson and then going, okay, so now am I going, how am I going to differentiate this lesson? It can't be two processes. We don't have the time for it. It's not effective. It's not an effective use of our time. And it's actually not a great way to cater for the needs of all of our students. It can't be something that we do after. It needs to be

Adaptive Teaching Built Into Planning

SPEAKER_00 7:52

something that we just do in our planning. It is just good teaching and learning. So let's dig into what this looks like. True differentiation. It is not 30 different worksheets. It is clear supportive structures that help every single student in your classroom succeed together. You just need a few simple strategic tools that you use consistently, that you embed in every single lesson that help every student access that lesson, not tacking it on, not making sure that students, you know, meet different kinds of like if you've got a lesson with 30 students and you're like, okay, how can I differentiate this? I'm gonna have like three different levels, three different outcomes, meet this if you're level one, meet this if you're level two. Like, that is an absolute logistical nightmare and a planning nightmare. These strategies are powerful, they're practical, and they are easy to embed in your everyday planning and routines. These are strategies that take the guesswork out of it and make, and more importantly, they they meet students where they're at. So they're actually accessing the learning

The Differentiation Toolbox Overview

SPEAKER_00 8:59

together. Um, I teach this as my differentiation toolbox. This differentiation toolbox is not, they're not the only strategies out there by any means. They're just little ones that I've cherry-picked as my favorites for helping students to access the learning and reduce that stress response that I spoke about in the first part of the series. So if it's reducing the stress response, it's going to be reducing that off-task disruption, all of those bits and pieces. And it's going to support students with their learning, it's going to support students with their engagement, and it's going to help you with really strong, proactive classroom management, that you're not, you know, just reacting to behaviors, but instead you are mitigating those behaviors. So these are some of the tools in my differentiation toolbox. Things like scaffolding. For example, you want students to do something. How are you ensuring that they're able to get there through that scaffold? Just like if I needed somebody to jump on my roof right now to um to, you know, fix a leak, if they didn't have a ladder, then they're not going to be able to do that. Like it's just not possible for them to get up to that roof. So instead of lowering the roof, instead of making that roof, you know, um shorter uh and making it just easy for them to step onto it, I will create a ladder for them. And they will step up that ladder until eventually they get to the roof of that house. Uh, and that's how scaffolding needs to operate in a classroom. We just need to create a ladder for students to reach the outcomes that we're setting for them. And that can look like a variety of different things. It can look like

Scaffolding With The Ladder Analogy

SPEAKER_00 10:54

sentence starters, it can look like modeling, it can look like joint construction, uh, it can look like um, you know, physical like writing scaffolds, thinking scaffolds, analysis organizers, things like Venn diagrams, even. Um, so if we're asking them a question, they have something there for them. It can look like uh having cheat sheets available for students. Uh, it can look like having quality examples, just those kinds of things that help students understand what success looks like. And when I'm talking about kids meeting their outcomes for the lesson, they all also don't have to meet it in the same way. They might meet it in like at different levels, and that's okay as well, but it's about getting them there. Sometimes students are going to start on the second step of that ladder and they're going to need a lot more support to climb to the top. Sometimes students are, you know, at the second from the top, and they're only going to need a little bit of an extra step up. Sometimes students are already on that roof and they don't need that scaffold anymore. We can kick that ladder down and they will be fine without it. This is probably not the best analogy to use, but I hope you're understanding where I'm coming from here with this ladder analogy. If students are already on that roof, if they're already meeting that outcome, they don't need the scaffolding to get there. But it's about creating those steps up along the way. So that is scaffolding. Everything else kind of like flows on from that, by the way. But success criteria, really great way of students understanding what success looks like when it comes to a task. They can be really clear. Ticker box, just giving them an understanding around how they can be successful. So they're not starting from zero. Uh, learning maps, so students understanding and like so learning maps and task cards, anything where it's really clear what students need to be doing. Again, they can have uh to-do list on there, they can have the outcomes there for them. Anything that gives them a lot of visibility around what they need to be doing. Starter activities, it doesn't seem like it'd be a great differentiation tool, but I'm telling you, this is a great way for students to reduce their stress response because if they know that they're walking into a lesson where they are going to be immediately engaged with something that's doable, that's relevant for them, it's going to be pen to paper, five minutes, they're expecting it, they know that they'll walk into Miss English's class and they'll be successful. That immediately creates a little friend for their amygdala and their stress response is less likely to be spiked. And if we can get them to a place where their thinking brain is switched on, their prefrontal cortex, they're going to be far more likely to then be able to engage in the learning that we're going to give them once we transition from that starter task. Uh, visible learning, any way that we can make learning super visible for students is a great way to differentiate. Um, teaching through concept. These tools are things that aren't done in isolation from your lesson. They are your lesson. These are things that are the bones of a quality lesson, not an addition. So when we're thinking about differentiation, we think about the lesson that we're teaching our students and how we can embed the rungs of the ladder within that for them to get to those outcomes that we are setting for them. So if the outcome for the lesson, for example, is uh write a peel paragraph based on this text. Some students will immediately know how to structure a paragraph. Some students will need the, you know, an overview of what it is. So they might need like one sentence starter for every one of those sections of the paragraph. Some students might need a series of sentence starters. Some students might need a quality example of what that looks like. If they haven't done that before, we might need to model it for them. So getting up the front, modeling it, joint constructing it, and then getting them to do it by themselves. But there are going to be different levels of support that we need to provide to get to that same outcome. And we can do all of those supports in the same lesson. And then some students are going to meet that, like some students might write that paragraph with three different examples of techniques

One Outcome With Many Supports

SPEAKER_00 15:18

with a detailed explanation of the evidence that they've found, a really great discussion on the thesis that they have created for that question. Other students might be using the scaffold and they might do one sentence, they might just create that four-sentence simple paragraph. Every single one of those students has still met the outcome of right, that pill paragraph, that analytical paragraph, but they're doing it to different levels, and that's also okay. That's a really good example of embedding that differentiation to meet those outcomes, and you're not doing it as an addition to anything. You're just creating those conditions in your classroom. So that is uh that's my differentiation toolbox. Next uh part of this, I'm gonna call it a series. Like the next part of this podcast series around differentiation, I'm gonna be taking one of those strategies. I'm gonna be talking about scaffolding and modeling, and I'm gonna be going into detail about it next episode. So make sure you're following the show so you don't miss that. If you haven't already, it'd be great for you to follow along. And if you haven't already, actually, leave me a podcast review. That'd be amazing because it helps me to um reach more teachers. However, if you want my whole differentiation training and to grab my entire differentiation toolbox that has a bunch of different scaffolds. Like I've got like a bunch of Canva templates, like 50 plus, that cover writing and maths and history and science and all the things and thinking and analysis, then that's also something I've created for the Behavior Club this month. So I've got a whole differentiation training. Uh, it's called Differentiation, the game changer. Um, and my whole resource library with those um those templates in there. You'll find that inside of the Behavior Club. You can head to thedeshunteachables.com forward slash TBC. Uh, depending on when I release this episode or like when, sorry, when you listen to this episode, you'll be able to either join or join the

Next Steps And Behaviour Club Invite

SPEAKER_00 17:15

wait list, depending on what time of year it is. It's not always open. But this is the stuff that is going to be like flicking a switch in your classroom when it comes to student engagement and busting those low-level disruptions that are such a huge challenge. So make sure you're tuning in for that. But until then, go out into your classrooms and keep spreading that classroom management magic all over the place. See you next time, friend.