While many of us know about differentiation in teaching, adaptive teaching strategies can allow you to take things a step further and fix some of the problems that differentiation can cause.

While differentiation means tailoring lessons based on students’ abilities, this can unintentionally lead to lower expectations for some students. On the other hand, adaptive teaching aims to help all students reach the same level of understanding and skill.

Usually, you think about differentiation when you plan your lesson. But adaptive teaching is about being flexible and making changes to your teaching as you see how your students are doing.

Adaptive teaching strategies

This download contains five great ways to use adaptive teaching in your classroom today. Ideas covered include:

• RAG rating cards
• Silent debates
• Question cards
• Secret ballots
• Pair feedback

Hannah Day is a teacher in the West Midlands with a specialism in art and design. Read more from Hannah about adaptive teaching.

Similar resources

• Year 6 English worksheets – Free printable KS2 resources
• Number bonds to 20 worksheet – Free KS1 printable maths PDF
• Sarah Forbes Bonetta – Significant individuals KS1 lesson
• Speckle the Spider – KS1 cross-curricular planning ideas
• Shut the box game – Rules and printable board (plus Subitising Snap)