Other ways to differentiate content are to allow students to explore a research topic in-depth, to present students with issues and themes and problems to solve instead of just memorizing facts, and to allow students to make decisions about what they want to study. Look for key words in your child's assignments. Differentiation in process occurs when the teacher asks students to compose, design, invent, create, hypothesize, judge, evaluate, recommend, classify, compare and contrast, solve. Differentiation in process is not taking place if the students are only asked to tell, recite, list, memorize, define, or give examples. You will often see this in science and social studies assignments.
Teachers stress the importance of excellence and a finely finished piece of work.
Another key element of product differentiation is asking students to evaluate their own work, based on specific criteria that they have established with teacher direction. As you can see, differentiated instruction is woven into the every day learning at our school. As was mentioned at the PTA meeting, differentiated instruction is not just for identified gifted students. It is sound educational practice for all children. The important point to remember is that gifted students require differentiated instruction more often and to a greater degree than other students.