Differentiation in Preschool
Once teachers get to know preschool students well, it’s possible set up learning experiences that keep them all appropriately challenged.
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Differentiated instruction allows us to tailor our teaching to the needs of individual students. Is it possible to offer very young children differentiated learning contexts and challenges? Does it involve too much extra planning, materials, or space?
From my experience, it’s not only possible but absolutely necessary to give these young students the chance to enjoy the learning experience fully. We need to offer learning contexts, tasks, and activities that carry the appropriate challenge and involve the child’s interests. We must also set reachable skills development goals, so that every child can participate in the learning experience feeling self-assured.
How to Begin
To decide when and how to differentiate your teaching approach, techniques, and strategies, you need to get to know your learners and, from there, plan your lessons accordingly. Here are some guidelines:
2 Examples of Differentiation
3-year-olds using blocks in the classroom: Offer the children construction blocks and observe them playing. Ask them questions like these as they play: Why are you making this tower? How many blocks have you used? What colors have you used? Why?
Some children will struggle to make a tower of more than five blocks. Others may start putting different towers together to make a large wall. Allow them to do this, and even offer them other materials and toys for them to integrate if they choose.
Some children may not be interested in building walls or towers. In that case, offer them other ways to work with blocks:
5-year-olds using planting materials and tools in the playground or classroom: A good question to get started working on this topic is, How do we know if a plant needs a bigger pot or a bigger spot to live in? Invite the learners to observe plants in pots in the classroom or outside on the grounds and figure out if the plant needs to be transplanted to a bigger place. This gives you the chance to work on the different parts of a plant and their functions, what a plant needs to grow and why, and what each resource provides the plant. You can also teach about the soil—the texture, smell, and color, and even the composition.
To differentiate the tasks you offer the learners, it’s important to interact with them while they walk around and observe the plants.
Differentiating learning opportunities so that children can have an effective and inspiring developmental experience shows the commitment of the school and the teachers in respecting the children and addressing their needs, interests, and skills development with equity.
While differentiation isn’t as difficult as it may seem at first, it’s a good idea to start small. Choose a task or one part of a task to differentiate the activities or questions. Give yourself the chance to learn how to handle this together with the children. They will guide you. Trust yourself and trust your learners.