Professional Learning Package
Type: Assignment – Written Assignment and Creative Synthesis
Learning Outcomes Assessed: 4, 5
Weight: 60%
Marked out of:
Length: 1500 – 2000 words
Circumstances in today’s schools are requiring a rethinking of pedagogical approaches so
that equitable learning opportunities are provided to all students. Differentiated instruction
is a comprehensive, established teaching approach recommended for meeting the needs of
all students in mainstream multi-ability classrooms.
Task Description
Background: Differentiated instruction is a “praxis of teaching a variety of empirically
supported (teaching) strategies across the areas of curriculum planning, assessment,
monitoring, instruction, and classroom organisation” (Coubergs et al., 2017, p. 41).
Coubergs, C., Struyven, K., Vanthournout, G., & Engels, N. (2017). Measuring teachers’
perceptions about differentiated instruction: The DI-Quest instrument and model.
Studies in Educational Evaluation, 53, 41-54.
The course uses Tomlinson’s (2014, 2017) model of differentiated instruction and this
should be used as the basis for this assessment task. She is an expert in this field.
Part A (1000-1400 words +/- 10%) /30
You are to write an overview of the key points of differentiated instruction (other terms
used include differentiated learning, differentiated teaching, differentiation) that could be
given to other pre-service or in-service teachers who may have little knowledge or
understanding of differentiated instruction as a teaching practice well suited to all
students.
To do this, you need to identify and explain the key elements and guiding principles of
differentiated instruction in order to meet the specific needs of students across a range of
abilities. The elements and principles of differentiated instruction should be intertwined,
not presented and discussed as two separate sub-headings.
In the overview, you will need to consider:
The barriers in providing differentiated instruction for all learners in mainstream
classrooms.
The important elements and key guiding principles of differentiated instruction that
teachers need to understand to teach effectively in multi-ability classrooms.
The order in which you think professional learning about the important curriculum
elements and key guiding principles should be presented. Justify why your selected
order is important. There is no wrong or right order, the key to this part of the
assignment is your justification of the order. Remember to present these together
not as two separate sub-headings. For example:
First to teach to pre-service or in-service teachers who may have little knowledge or
understanding of differentiated instruction as a teaching practice well-suited to all
students is the key element Product. This is because….. Following this, educators
should then focus on flexible groupings because….
*Dot point 2 and 3 could be presented as a table. If you decide to include a table, it
should be brief (containing key DI elements and guiding principles order only) and
presented as per APA 7 th Ed. requirements (word count is included in tables). You
then explain your list. Academic writing is required – full sentences and paragraphs.
Refer to the table in your writing by stating:
As seen in Table 1…
Part B (Word Count for the resource is N/A; 200 words +/- 10% for the summary) /20
From the overview above, focus on one of the key curriculum elements or guiding principles
that you discussed in Part A to design and create a visual representation for pre-service or
in-service teachers to use so that they would be able to effectively implement one of aspect
of differentiation in their future or current classrooms.
The resource could be but is not limited to: a brochure, a poster, PowerPoint (no more than
5 slides), Newsletter, or an info-graphic that would be disseminated to the educators so
they could begin to use differentiated learning in their classroom.
Please provide a heading for your resource to clearly identify which key curriculum element
or guiding principle you are using. See Lecture 6 for some guidelines.
There needs to be enough detail to explain the element or guiding principle so that the
audience will have full knowledge and understanding of the content in the resource so they
can use it.
Provide a 200-word summary (using high-quality evidenced-based research) to explain and
justify how the resource relates to a key curriculum element or guiding principle of
differentiated instruction. The summary can be placed at the end of the resource or as a
heading titled Part B after Part A.
Part C (400 words +/- 10%) /10
The resource must include at least 2 links (and the title) to further professional learning
opportunities, mentoring, community networks or forums available to pre-service or in-
service teachers to enable them ongoing professional development to broaden their
knowledge and improve their skills and practice of differentiated instruction. It does not
have to relate to your resource.
In Part C justify why you have included these 2 professional learning opportunities as
important for continual upskilling for pre-service or in-service teachers.
Further information
It is expected that you will be able to analyse, interpret and discuss in your own words
what you have read rather than relying on direct quotes. Please make sure that you
have a very good understanding of what is considered Academic Integrity.
Please ensure you reference recent (where possible) and high quality evidenced-based
literature. (As a GUIDE one reference should be included per 100 words so around 20
references are expected for this assignment. However, it is the relevance of these
references and how well they are used to support your discussion that is really
important). Markers would rather have fewer references that are of higher quality
rather than many references that are websites and/or references that are not
evidenced-based.
Please ensure that you use academic writing throughout – sentences, limited dot points,
full paragraphs using APA 7 th Edition referencing.
Start with an introduction (one paragraph) that informs the reader about what they will
read in this assignment. There is no need to provide an overview of differentiated
instruction here. After your introduction, your first heading is Barriers in Providing
Differentiated Instruction for all Learners in Mainstream Classrooms.
Please ensure you read and follow the Criteria Marking Rubric to ensure you fulfil the
requirements of the task.
Marking Criteria
C1. Identify and interpret the key barriers related to providing differentiated learning in
mainstream classrooms. /10
C2. Analyse, apply, and synthesise knowledge about high-quality differentiated teaching
and learning practices, drawing on material from the course and wider reading to design
and justify a coherent and relevant overview. /20
C3. Creates a coherent and relevant resource that identifies and explains a specific element
or principle of differentiation well-suited for students in multi-ability mainstream
classrooms. /20
C4. Apply content effectively to the intended audience demonstrated including the inclusion
of two professional learning opportunities. /10
