Differentiation in the Secondary Classroom (or all classrooms)

Differentiation
So often we hear that differentiation cannot be done in my classroom because:

• I see 150 kids per day.
• The range in my classroom is so great.
• It's too much work.
• I don't have a para in my room.

When planning, many teachers shoot for the middle and hope to bring as many students with them as possible.  Is this what is really best for kids?  Are we creating an environment that is conducive to learning for ALL students?

ASCD has a great article on Five Tips for Getting Started with Differentiation in a Secondary Classroom.  The article provides some good pointers and reminders about differentiation.

We also often forget that there are three ways in which to differentiate in our classrooms (Process, Content, and Product).  If we do differentiate in our classrooms, we often only differentiate in one way and forget about the other two.  For instance, if we differentiate the product, we give our students choices as to how they want to show their learning, and we do this with all our assignments and never get to differentiating the process or the content.

Edutopia has quick list of examples of ways in which to differentiate by process, content, and product in the article 3 Ways to Plan for Diverse Learners: What Teachers Do by John McCarthy.