Glossary of Differentiation Terms
bullet Adjusting Questions - Teachers can use the level of thinking and the verbs that match those levels to
advance the thinking of student response.
bullet Anchor Activities - Students are expected to understand and know how to complete such activities with no teacher participation so that teacher can work with small groups or individuals. Teachers often spend time early in the school year describing such activities for independence throughout the year. An example of an anchor activity would be using a geoboard and following directions on an activity card.
bullet Choice Activities - Many teachers build choice activities into their week to empower students.  Students may be given product choices to demonstrate their learning process, choices to acquire information, or content choices where they determine a topic of study.
bullet Creative Thinking- Creative thinking includes fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration.
bullet Critical Thinking - Critical thinking comes in various forms such as: logical reasoning, developing inferences, using inductive and deductive reasoning, posing questions, developing solutions,summarizing conclusions and evaluation results.
bullet Curriculum Compacting - This is the process of compressing the required curriculum into a shorter time period so students who master the basic content faster than others can use the time to do alternative activities.  When paired with pre-assessment, it allows the teacher to find out what students already know and not re-teach it to them; find out what students don't know, and make sure they learn it ; and to use the time that is saved for interesting, creative, and challenging activities.
bullet Cluster Grouping - A group of identified gifted students are placed in the classroom of a teacher who has received training in curriculum differentiation.
bullet Differentiation - The process of adapting the curriculum according to the ability level of the student is called Differentiation. It is specifically geared to content, process, or product.  Any changes in these areas constitute some type of adaptation or differentiation.
bullet Flexible Grouping - Students are put in groups that do not remain the same and the composition of the group is determined by interest, skill, learning style, compacting.
bullet Graphic Organizers - A visual representation of organizing thinking and ideas such as a Venn diagram or a word web. Useful for all students and particularly for those who organize visually.
bullet High Level Questioning - Classroom teachers ask specific questions which will train students to think on a higher level than basic knowledge or comprehension.
bullet Interest Centers - Areas in a classroom set up with learning experiences directed to a specific interest.
bullet Interest Groups - A learning group composed of those interested in a specific interest of learning.
bullet Independent Study - Student chooses a topic of interest that h/she is curious about and wants to discover more. Their reasearch is guided by questions developed by the student with imput from the classroom or differentiation teacher. Research is culuminated by a product that is shared with class.
bullet Interest centers - Areas set up in the classroom with learning activities directed at a specific interest
bullet Jigsaw - Individual students or groups of students are asked to study one component of learning while other students or groups study another component. Sharing information gathered puts the pieces together and the students are required to learn from each other. Jigsaw can also have students create different components of an end product.
bullet Literature Circles - Flexible grouping of students who engage in different studies of a piece of literature. Groups can be heterogeneous or homogeneous.
bullet Multiple Intelligences Options - Students select activities or are assigned an activity that is designed
for learning a specific area of content through their strong intelligence (verbal-linguistic, interpersonal,
musical, etc.).
bullet Open-ended Questions- Open ended questions have multiple answers or lead to other questions.  These types of questions require a higher level of thinking rather that a single answer question.
bullet Pre-Assessment - Pre-assessment determines what a student knows about a given topic or content area.  It may occur through the use of observation, conversation, interviews, or written work.  Teachers use pre-assessment to determine the entry point for instruction.
bullet Product Choices - After learning experiences are completed using the same content or process, the
student may have a choice of products to show what has been learned. This differentiation creates
possibilities for students who excel in different one modality over another (verbal vs. visual).
bullet Skills Mini-Lesson - A short, specific lesson with students who are ready to learn or practice a skill
that is needed by all those in the group.
bullet Stations - Areas in a classroom set up with learning experiences that are steps in a progression of
learning an area of content or a skill. Beginning and ending points for students can vary for
bullet differentiation.
bullet Think-Pair-Share - Students are working in pairs, asked to think about a question(s) for a specific
amount of time, then asked to share their answers with each other.
bullet Think-Tac-Toe - A choice board for students to complete learning experiences.
bullet Tiered Lesson/Assignment/Product - The content is the same but the process and/or the products
are varied according to level of skill attained.
bullet

Varied Rubrics - statements that describe levels of student response to an assignment or a product;
the stated levels of response begin at the minimum and continue to an exceptional response. Can be
used to determine grades or teacher assessment of student work. When rubrics are varied, an A
response for one student might look different than an A response for another student.