Bridging the Learning Gap: Real-World Differentiation Strategies for Reaching Every Student Without Burning Out

How to Appeal to All Learners at Different Levels

By Catherine Patterson-Sterling, PhD, RCC

In teaching there are two realities that each teacher must face-

Reality #1: Students often struggle to be present in class (emotionally and/or physically) because there is a lot going on with screen time digital overload, disengagement, distractions, life events and more.

Reality #2: The distribution in learning abilities across same age learners is unfathomable. Teachers have to teach across a vast range of abilities while keeping everyone engaged, and students may range from struggling to read to completing work at an early university level all within the same grade and class.

The work of a teacher is a constant juggling act of keeping one group focused with a ball in the air while holding the other students' attention on another ball in a juggling game everyone is participating in at the same time.

This means that teachers are often working a lot harder than students while battling student distractions and disengagement.

Real-World Differentiation

Real-World Differentiation means that learners are all engaged in the same activity but that they have entry points at different levels. Often this can feel for teachers like building five different lesson plans for one activity while rounding up learners to stay focused which means one adult for, in some instances, over thirty children.

The impossible becomes possible with a program such as “Twenty” (Grades 5 to 10) whereby learners are able to explore over 60+ modules supporting 20 indicators of healthy youth. Students are able to journey with six animated characters at “Urschool” who struggle with similar issues of focus and concentration, belonging, identity, screen time overload, social relationships and more. Students are able to watch engaging videos of these characters and skill build by solving the characters’ challenges in particular social and emotional areas while also engaging in interactive quizzes and reflection exercises with ready-made materials all integrated into a learning management system with teachers utilizing their own free copy or as students have their own individual login accounts.

Real-World Differentiation occurs because teachers can share age/stage relatable animated videos, have class discussions, get students to mind map solutions to character’s challenges, complete quizzes, engage in reflection writing at student’s own levels, and there is also a section for basic literacy-building for students who do not even have functional literacy.

This is all within one program for free and available instantly. This program is perfect for Language Arts, English, and Humanities classes as well as Career Life Education.

There is an opportunity you have to set yourself up for success this school year, by teaching soft skills to your class that will help them to be more focused learners, develop study skills, manage screen time digital overload, and also meet your core competencies for social and emotional learning.

For more information and to access your Free Teacher Copy visit: https://www.softskillstrainingcenter.com 

This site also includes school-wide or even district-wide infographic implementation plans for quick reference and use amongst educators.

Your Call To Action

Get your free Teacher Copy of “Twenty” and pass along this article to every teacher you know so they can keep their love of teaching in tact while setting their learners up for success!

About The Writer:

Catherine Patterson-Sterling, PhD, RCC is an educator of 20+ years with diverse experience in all levels of elementary, high school, and post secondary education as a teacher, counsellor, and clinical supervisor. With extensive experience in research and counselling, she understands the impact as well as sources of disengagement as well as chronic absenteeism on learners at all levels. She is also the creator of this new innovative program “Twenty” sponsored by Soft Skills Training Center and Patterson-Sterling Consulting and Counselling Services.