General Introduction

This blog is part of my Differentiation and Adaptive Teaching Knowledge Base.

I use the terms differentiation and adaptive teaching synonymously. To me, they are the same, as genuine differentiation has always involved adapting your planning and your teaching to meet the needs of the learners in front of you.

For me, differentiation is all the practical strategies, activities and techniques teachers use to personalise learning.

For ease, we can break that down into my five categories of differentiation: Activities, Questioning, Words and Writing, Things the Teacher Can Do and Things You Can Ask Learners to Do or Use.

This blog falls into the category of questioning.

Thinking Time and Differentiation

It can be tempting to ask a question in expectation of an immediate response.

Sometimes it feels as if there is an in-built reflex that causes us to expect an answer barely a second after we’ve finished speaking.

Reasons for this might include a desire for pace, a fear of silence, the learned experience we all have from our own schooling, countless hours of television detective dramas, or something else entirely.

Whatever the cause, what matters is that we try to avoid it happening.

Because, when we expect an immediate response, we are removing the learner’s opportunity to think.

And if they can give us an immediate response, that may well indicate that they have simply recalled something they know, and know well (hence the speed of retrieval).

Now, in some situations, that’s fine.

Maybe we want to do some quick-fire recall, for example, or get quick answers from half a dozen learners who are champing at the bit to tell us what they know.

But those are specific situations in which the lack of thinking time is intentional and done with purpose.

At other times, failing to provide thinking time (or wait time, as it’s also known), dilutes the impact of our questioning.

And makes our questions harder to access for many learners.

When we ask a question and then wait, we give learners time to think.

Time to process the question, order their thoughts, and work out what they want to say.

Sometimes ten second is enough.

Sometimes two minutes might be best.

You can give thinking time in lots of different ways. For example:

• We ask a question to a learner, then wait, before prompting them for a response.
• We pose a question to the whole class and then say: ‘Thirty seconds silent thinking, then I’ll take some answers,’ or ‘Thirty seconds, talk to your partner, tell them what you think. Off you go.’
• We ask a learner a question and then say: ‘I’m going to go and have a chat with … I’ll come back in a couple of minutes, once you’ve had time to mull it over.’
• We ask a question to a group, then say, ‘Thirty seconds, discuss it between yourselves while I check everyone is on track.’ After which, we rejoin the group to see what they think.
• We pose a question to a learner and then say, ‘Let’s both note down the first three things that came into our heads, then we’ll compare.’

In each of these examples, we gain two benefits.

First, the overall standard of response is likely to be higher.

This is because learners can think about what answer they might give.

Second, all learners can engage with the question.

This is because the thinking time provides a space in which learners can consider and reflect on the question and what it means.

This is particularly important for less-able learners, or learners who lack confidence.

But thinking time is even beneficial for more-able learners.

Sometimes it is good to slow these learners down and get them to develop their answers or add nuance (as opposed to them trying to ‘win’ the questioning game by answering as quickly as possible).

Here are five more examples of how you can let your learners know you’re giving them thinking time:

• ‘OK, thirty seconds silent thinking about the question.’
• ‘What are your thoughts on this? Have a think to yourself and then we’ll hear some responses.’
• ‘Have a look at this question (which is displayed on the board). I’m going to leave it up there and let you think about it before we start our discussion.’
• ‘Why do cats have fur? I’d like you to think about this for a few moments. When I say, I’d like to you to share your thoughts with your partner.
• ‘How might tomorrow be different from today? Take a few moments to think about the question. When you’re ready, note down your thoughts.’

How does giving thinking tome help you to differentiate?

Learners have an opportunity to think carefully about the question.

This makes it easier for many learners to engage with your questioning.

In a whole class context, it stops those learners who are particularly able from dominating, but it also avoids feelings of failure when less-able learners find it difficult to answer immediately.

Learners who swiftly come to answers are encouraged to think in greater depth.

This may contrast with their normal way of doing things.

The result is that they are challenged to reflect on and develop their first thoughts.

The teacher can use the thinking-time to talk to individual learners or to observe their body language.

Both of which see us eliciting information about how learners are dealing with the question.

Information we can use to inform our next steps.

Rephrasing Questions – A Super-Easy Differentiation Strategy

To rephrase something is to put it differently – to use an alternative set of words to communicate a similar meaning.

Here are three ways you can rephrase your questions when you are teaching.

You can use all of them as differentiation strategies.

Subtle tweaks that change how learners perceive your questions.

Technical – Simpler – Simple

First, ask a question using the terminology that is appropriate for the subject/topic.

Then, repeat the question using slightly simpler, less technical language.

Finally, rephrase the question a second time, this time simplifying it even further.

Here is an example:

• Why might Marxist sociologists be dismissive of secondary education in the United Kingdom?
• What problems might Marxists have with what happens in secondary schools?
• What different things that go on in school might Marxists dislike?

And another:

• What kind of habitat might give amphibians the best chance of survival?
• What kind of habitat might be best for creatures like frogs?
• If you were a frog, where would you most like to live?

Visual Demonstration

Display a question on the board using the terminology that is appropriate for the subject/topic.

Talk about the question with your class.

Explain what it means and rephrase it once or twice, using simpler language (like in the first strategy).

Then, write your rephrased questions on the board, below the original question, and visually demonstrate the similarities and differences between them.

This gives learners purchase, making the exercise more concrete (by virtue of us moving from a purely auditory rephrasing to one that is also visual).

Can you make it simpler?

Display a question on the board.

Ask learners to help you rephrase it so that it is simpler.

There are several ways you can do this:

• Learners work in pairs to rewrite the question.
• Learners work in groups to rewrite the question, and the teacher sets a time limit to create a sense of pace.
• The teacher sets a challenge: ‘Which pair/group can rewrite the question so it is as simple as it can possibly be?’ This creates competition, which some classes love.

A final point to note with this strategy is that it works well when used consistently.

When introducing it, model for your learners how you would simplify a question.

Then ask them to do it.

Bring the activity back out multiple times.

This will habituate learners into understanding how to do it.

As they become more familiar, they will get better, and quicker, at simplifying the questions you give them.

How does rephrasing differentiate?

Rephrasing a question so that a similar meaning is conveyed more simply means that learners who are struggling to understand the initial question have another route through which to make sense of it.

If a question is rephrased multiple times (as in the first example) it is more likely to be accessible to all ability levels.

Initially stating or displaying a question in a more sophisticated form means that, when you rephrase it, you give learners who do not understand the terminology an opportunity to make sense of what it means and how it is used.

They will be able to compare the simpler question with the more complex one and make deductions.

This is us scaffolding their assimilation of complex language.

By starting with the technical form of a question (and then rephrasing it), the teacher ensures they challenge all members of the class.

Those who are more able are encouraged to respond in a similarly technical manner.

Those who are less able are challenged to decode the meaning of the question.

Bouncing Questions – Drawing Learners into the Learning

Here’s one example of what ‘bouncing a question’ looks like:

• Teacher: How might the volcano have formed?
• Learner A: Could it have been caused by the surface bits of the Earth moving?
• Teacher: That’s a very interesting answer. Learner B, what do you think about Learner A’s answer?
• Learner B: Well, I remember when we studied earthquakes that we found out that bits of the Earth’s surface can move. So maybe by moving they could create a gap that a volcano comes out of.

And here’s another example:

• Teacher: ‘What’s the difference between an exoskeleton and an endoskeleton? Thirty seconds, talk to your partner. Off you go.’
• (Thirty seconds elapse)
• Teacher: ‘Morgan, what did you and Jamie discuss?’
• Morgan: ‘We said that exo means outside and endo means inside. So, an exoskeleton is on the outside, and an endoskeleton is on the inside.
• Teacher: ‘Very well put, Morgan, thank you. So, based on what Morgan has said, my next question for you is this: Why might some creatures have evolved with a skeleton on the outside, whereas others have evolved with one on the inside? Thirty seconds, talk to your partner, off you go.’

In both cases, the teacher poses the question, gets a response, and then ‘bounces’ this back to the class.

In the first example, the questions and answers are bounced from learner to learner.

In the second example, the whole class takes part.

Doing this changes the questioning dynamic in your classroom.

It means we get out of that scenario where all answers flow through us, the teacher.

There’s nothing wrong with that, per se, but what we’re looking for here is having another way of doing things.

Both to provide variety and to achieve different outcomes.

When we bounce questions and answers around, we encourage learners to think actively about what their peers have said and to construct knowledge in concert.

In the first example above, the teacher could bounce Learner B’s answer in multiple ways: to Learner C, back to Learner A, or to the class as a whole.

If a discussion begins to develop naturally out of this bouncing, the teacher can step back and facilitate, letting the learners take the lead.

How does bouncing questions around help you to differentiate?

The atmosphere bouncing engenders is a positive one.

Learners are invited to contribute and to engage with each other’s ideas.

This helps draw all learners into the lesson.

‘Bouncing’ diminishes the role of the teacher.

They move from director of discussion to facilitator.

This gives learners an opportunity to lead their own learning, helping to engage more members of the class.

In whole class bounce, as per the second example above, every learner has multiple opportunities to discuss the questions posed by the teacher.

This means everyone can engage in verbal rehearsal and take part in the discussion.

Plus, if anyone doesn’t, the teacher can spot this immediately and intervene to offer support.