Differentiate Product: Element of Curriculum
A teacher can also differentiate products. We use the term products to refer to the items a student can use to demonstrate what he or she has come to know, understand, and be able to do as the result of an extended period of study. A product can be, for example, a portfolio of student work; an exhibition of solutions to real-world problems that draw on knowledge, understanding, and skill achieved over the course of a semester; an end-of-unit project; or a complex and challenging paper-and-pencil test.
A good product causes students to rethink what they have learned, apply what they can do, extend their understanding and skill, and become involved in both critical and creative thinking. Among the ways to differentiate products are to:
A good product causes students to rethink what they have learned, apply what they can do, extend their understanding and skill, and become involved in both critical and creative thinking. Among the ways to differentiate products are to:
- Allow students to help design products around essential learning goals.
- Encourage students to express what they have learned in varied ways.
- Allow for varied working arrangements (for example, working alone or as part of a team to complete the product).
- Provide or encourage use of varied types of resources in preparing products.
- Provide product assignments at varying degrees of difficulty to match student readiness.
- Use a wide variety of kinds of assessments.
- Work with students to develop rubrics of quality that allow for demonstration of both whole-class and individual goals.