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 things you can ask learners to do or use, also called self-scaffolding.

Switching Roles in the Classroom by Getting Learners Teaching

There are lots of different ways you can get learners to take on the role of teacher.

Whatever method you chose, there are benefits. At the end, I’ll highlight how doing this supports differentiation.

First, here are four strategies for you to think about.

Learners Lead a Class Debate

One of the advantages of this approach is that it requires little planning.

Skilled, confident learners should be able to lead and manage a debate given nothing more than a starting point in the form of a question or statement.

The idea here is that, rather than you leading the debate, you let one or two learners do it.

In my experience, there are some learners who absolutely love this.

If you teach some who are like this, make use of their enthusiasm by having them take charge.

Immediately, the class dynamic changes.

You can take a back seat and observe or go and support a learner or group of learners who might struggle to contribute to the debate.

Should you feel the learners leading the debate need more support, you can provide prompts in the form of:

• Supplementary questions they can ask
• A list of things connected to the debate they can use to pose follow-up questions
• A list of related topics they can use to move the debate forwards

Group Activity Teach

Take a group of learners and separate them off.

Give them an area of the topic and explain that you would like them to plan an activity they can teach to the rest of the class.

If necessary, give learners some additional guidance and/or success criteria.

You should also ensure learners have a timeframe – both for their planning and for when they will deliver the activity.

A good example of when to use this approach is if you have a group of more-able learners who are working beyond their peers.

You can challenge them to plan and then teach an activity around a new part of your topic.

While they are doing their planning, you can continue working on the topic with the rest of the class – giving them the time they need to make sense of it.

Research, Then Teach

Divide the class into groups.

Give each group an area or question to research, connected to the topic of study.

Explain that learners must first conduct their research and must then plan how they will teach what they’ve found out to the rest of the class.

Give learners a set of success criteria they can use to help target their efforts.

For example:

• Ensure everyone in your group has a role
• Identify the most important information your peers will need to know about your research area
• Create an activity you can use to teach the rest of the class about what you find out
• Use drama in one part of your teaching
• Decide how you will assess whether your peers have understood what you have taught them

One additional suggestion here.

It is worth setting a time limit for the teaching section of the activity and communicating this in advance.

This has two benefits.

First, it means learners are thinking about how to keep to the time limit when planning what they will teach.

Second, when you get to the teaching phase, it means you can sustain the pace, as you will probably have five or six mini-teaches to get through.

Show and Teach

Invite learners to regularly share items, ideas or experiences with their peers, and to teach them about these.

This technique is mainly used in primary schools.

However, if adapted, it can be highly effective in secondaries as well.

In a primary context, the teacher might ask learners to share things connected to a topic that the class are studying.

Or show and tell could be a chance for learners to simply teach others about something in which they are interested.

In a secondary context, the teacher might set learners the challenge of finding out something connected to the topic that they believe no one else in the class will be able to discover.

Learners who succeed in this then have a chance to teach what they’ve discovered to they’re peers.

For example, a design and technology teacher might be doing a unit of work looking at materials.

They might challenge their learners to find out about a material they believe no one else in the class will discover.

Learners who are successful then have the chance to teach the rest of the class about their material.

How does getting learners to teach help you to differentiate?

Learners share social codes.

It is therefore likely that, if they are teaching one another, they will find information and ideas easier to access than might be the case if everything comes directly from the teacher.

Asking learners to teach gives them responsibility and encourages independence.

It is confidence-building, motivational and engaging.

Teaching is an active process.

It involves the manipulation of information and ideas, so that these can be conveyed in a meaningful and intelligible way to other people. Learners who act as teachers – whatever their starting position – are challenged and will have their thinking stretched because of these inherent requirements.