The scene: Students busily at work in a classroom.

Narration: When students work on independent projects, they often need guidance in developing the organizational skills necessary to do quality work.

Megan Reed, an eighth grade biology teacher at Isaac Young Middle School in New Rochelle, New York, meets periodically with some of her advanced students to guide them in planning and executing work they are doing as part of a mentoring program that pairs them with local health professionals.

The scene: 8th grade teacher Megan Reed discusses her strategies.

Megan Reed: We have a mentoring program here in our middle school that enables students to research medical topics that are of interest to them.

The scene: Carol Tomlinson describes benefits of differentiating practices.

Carol Tomlinson: It's a great opportunity for kids to have the chance to work with people beyond the four walls of their classroom, whether it's with older students, or adults in the community. But, that kind of coordination does not necessarily come naturally to students or even sometimes to the mentor, so it's very important to have a classroom teacher who helps the students keep a focus. It's often the organization and coordination of the teacher that contributes in maximum ways to the worth of the experience.

Megan Reed: Doctors who are affiliated with the medical center … pair up with the students and mentor them in assisting them to write their research papers.

The scene: A student enters a doctor's office; a receptionist greets him at the window.

Student: Hi. I'm here to see Dr. Mitros.

Receptionist: OK, he'll be with you in a moment. You can hang up your coat behind the door there and have a seat.

Megan Reed: I also think that a good working relationship with adults is fostered there. The kids can learn to relate to professionals in the field. They have experience working not only with the mentors but [also] the people that are in their office. There are patients that are coming in and out, and there's office staff that students are kind of working with.

The scene: Megan Reed with students.

Megan Reed: I wanted to meet with you guys very quickly today. I know you have class you're supposed to be in, but I wanted to see how things are going with your project. So, I'll start with Hans. You recently met with your mentor. Tell me how it went.

The scene: Megan Reed discusses strategies.

Megan Reed: Students meet with the mentors on their own time. I have check points that I do with the students … to make sure that the students are meeting their deadlines.

The scene: Megan Reed with students at table discussing projects and strategies.

Student: We talked about the diseases of the aorta, and he explained to me how aneurisms occur.

Megan Reed: I'm hoping that this program will give them discipline that will help them in studying.

The scene: Megan Reed with students.

Student: When I last met him, January 20th, I basically gave him my paper and he read through it, and I had a lot of things that were right, but it could have been more. He went over that a lot, so we didn't get very far, but …

Megan Reed: And managing and budgeting their time is another thing that's valuable for these kids. Because frankly, they're middle school kids—they don't always know how to budget their time.

But, I'm also hoping it will give them practical research skills that they can use when they're writing papers for their teachers in high school and hopefully in college.

The scene: Megan Reed with students.

Student: Yeah, and my next meeting I might be able to perform an echocardiogram on myself.

Megan Reed: That's so exciting.

The scene: Megan Reed discusses strategies.

Megan Reed: Students do select their research topics for this program. It's the first time that they're really able to choose their own course of study.

The scene: Megan Reed with students.

Student: She also gave me some Web sites for me to check out.

Megan Reed: OK, your topic again was premature babies?

Student: Yes, so I might call her today just to see, check out, when we can meet again.

Megan Reed: We have physicians assistants this year some other hospital workers, like a diabetes consultant, surgeons, pharmacists, [and] alternative medicine practitioners.

The scene: Student in a doctor's office.

Doctor: You've reviewed diabetes and heart disease? And, what have you learned about the relationship between diabetes and heart disease?

Student: Well, because of high blood sugar, high blood pressure—it can lead to heart disease or cardiovascular disease.

Doctor: That's correct.

The scene: Megan Reed discusses strategies.

Megan Reed: The program is definitely rewarding for students. It taps into their natural strengths and interests. And, it's really the first time they're academically independent. They're choosing their research topics. They choose the way that the research topic develops alongside with their mentor. But it's not an assignment that's handed down to them from the teacher with a certain rubric—you must meet these criteria—they really decide what they want to get out of it and I guide them with that.

The scene: Student in a doctor's office.

Doctor: [gives student a stethoscope] Just put this in your ears. It feels a little weird, right? OK, don't worry about it. You'll get used to it. Now, do you hear me tapping?

The scene: Megan Reed discusses strategies.

Megan Reed: This program is a great example of differentiated instruction, and I really do think that it can be applied in a lot of different areas. Doctors seem like a nice natural choice with science students. But, if you wanted to look at it from a social studies perspective, you could get local legislators, local business people, and the students could work alongside those people as mentors. From a language arts perspective, you could get authors or playwrights and help students develop their own bodies of literature. So, there are definitely ways that this can be applied outside of the realm of science.

The scene: Carol Tomlinson discussing strategies and differentiation techniques.

Carol Tomlinson: We can hope that all of us as teachers become more and more proficient with the various facets of our profession over time. And yet, even under the best of circumstances, we can't be experts in everything. That, however, does not excuse us from the need to adjust our teaching to help students succeed.

We can do that in very commonsense ways by looking at some of the big factors in the classroom and supporting students' needs in those. How do I help my students become better organized? How do I help them become better writers? How do I help them develop the vocabulary that's a foundation for so much of what we do? How can I help them become more competent and confident with text?

By looking at some of those big areas that are pervasive in nearly all classrooms, and working collaboratively with experts in those areas, we really can develop a wide array of support strategies that we can use to adjust our curriculum in ways that meet the needs of a very diverse learning population.

Source: From The Common Sense of Differentiation: Meeting Specific Learner Needs in the Regular Classroom, 2005, Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.