Defeat the "Yeah, Buts..." to Differentiate!

As a coordinator of High Potential Services I often speak with teachers about differentiating instruction for gifted learners. Differentiation is likely the most complex and challenging instructional techniques we are asked to employ in meeting the ever more diverse needs of our learners.

The very thought of differentiating content, instructional processes, and/or products for anywhere from 20 to 150 students is daunting at the least and utterly defeating at the most. When confronted with what seems like an impossible task, the human mind is compelled to save itself from what it deems certain failure. This defense mechanism, which I refer to as the "yeah, buts..." blocks the creative process needed to be an agile and responsive educator.

What can we do to make the enormity of differentiation not only manageable but inviting? We must address the "Yeah, buts..." head on.

Yeah, but ... #1:
Yeah, allowing students to "test out" or move at a faster pace through content sounds good, but I am responsible for teaching ALL of the standards to all of my students.
Answer:
No you aren't! As Susan Winebrenner states in her book Teaching Gifted Kids in Today's Classroom "You are not required to teach all the standards to all of your students. You are only required to document that the standards assigned to you have been mastered by the students assigned to you." Keeping this in mind frees you from feeling you must "cover" every standard with every student. If a child knows how to do something already you are free, and even obligated, to excuse them from the work required of others to allow for a different path for learning.

Yeah, but ... #2:
Yeah, pre-testing sounds like a great idea, but it wastes valuable learning time.
Answer:
Technology is helping enormously with the time challenge. Through quizzes on Schoology or games on Kahoot you can gather a whole lot of data in very little time. Best yet, these programs do the correcting for you!  Keep in mind that for students who have already mastered the content, or very nearly so, a pretest could capture instructional time that would have otherwise been lost.

Yeah, but ...  #3:
Yeah differentiation sounds like a great idea, but I teach many subjects every day. How am I supposed to differentiate for every learner in every subject that I teach?
Answer:
You aren't!  Start very, very, small. One subject for one student is enough in the beginning. Think of a student that you know obviously needs something more to be truly challenged. Open the door to an independent extension project. Though seemingly small, this act will have a big impact on that learner.

Yeah, but ... #4:
Yeah, allowing gifted students to work on more advanced topics sounds great, but what if they just waste their time?
Answer:
Set expectations. Gifted students still need their teacher to guide their learning and set expectations. Let your students know that you need evidence of progress and learning from them because as a teacher it is your responsibility to make sure they are growing. If they decide not to use time given well, you will have no choice but to provide for them structured tasks that provide evidence of consistent learning. In other words, get to work or you are going to loose the privilege!

"Yeah, buts" are an understandable product of your brain's recognition that differentiating instruction is really, really hard to do.  Push beyond "Yeah, buts" to open your mind to the great possibilities of differentiated instruction.