What I Learned About Differentiation from Cleveland's Sports Teams

Are you a Cleveland Indians fan? How about the Cleveland Browns? Cavs? Growing up in Cleveland, I have learned a lot about how to differentiate my instruction by being a fan of Cleveland sports.  The most important lesson? Give kids many opportunities to show you what they can do.  And, when they are not successful, focus on what they learned from the mistakes they made and plan for the next step in their learning.  Here are some other lessons for you to reflect on:

From the Cleveland Indians:

• Be intentional about the order you call on students to share their strategies or their thinking. 
• If you teach the same lesson the same way all the time, some students will connect with it, and others will continue to struggle.
• Even the best students won't be successful every time they face a new lesson.  Recognize their strengths. Stretch their comfort zone. 
• Pay attention to the data. When are students likely to knock their learning out of the park? When do they strike out? 

From the Cleveland Cavaliers:

• Assists are an important part of any instruction. What supports have to be in place for a student to make sense of the learning?
• Give students time to collaborate with others to build their knowledge or test out their strategies. Students are not as likely to be successful if they do all their learning on their own.  
• Students have preferred learning environments, some may do better near the center of activity in the classroom, others may prefer to participate from the edges.  Think about what learning zones you might set up in your classroom. 

From the Cleveland Browns:

• There are many ways to get students from their starting point to the end learning goal.  Make sure all of the students know the game plan.  Be aware of potential blocks to their progress.
• How do you use all of your staff as a support network for your students? Who can act as a position coach focusing on specific skills or learning? 
• Students need to work toward clear learning targets.  Progress monitoring along the way helps them see how far they have come in their learning - and what their next steps for learning will be.