3 Quick Ways to Differentiate Homework

Last week I posted about homework in Should I Assign Homework? Is it Even Worth it? In it, I describe how to make homework beneficial for your students. One of the ways I discuss is differentiating homework. When you differentiate homework, it better meets the needs of ALL learners in your classroom. We provide differentiated instruction in our classrooms, so why wouldn’t we want to do the same for home?

We know differentiating lessons to make them accessible to all of our students leads to better outcomes for our class as a whole. However, differentiating homework can be time-consuming. Furthermore, while we may know how to differentiate in the classroom, we may not know how to differentiate the homework we send home. That’s where this post comes in! I want to share with you three quick ways to differentiate homework, so ALL of your students can reap the benefits (at least the ones who complete it 😉).

Difficulty Level

One way to differentiate homework is to have different homework for different ability levels. This could mean having a separate homework sheet for below grade level, a sheet for on grade level, and a sheet for above grade level.

Sometimes curriculums will provide this, but other times you will have to do a little bit of searching to find something appropriate. The best way I’ve found to do this is by doing a google search thet includes the skill and the words “free printable”. An alternative would be doing a Pinterest search in the same way. Then, this sheet can be printed, copied, and sent home.

The way you send home the sheet can, also, be done in a couple ways. You could either place these sheets into the students’ take home folder each day. Another option is to label the master copy with a symbol of some sort and make copies of each. Then, the copies would be placed in separate bins labeled with the symbol for the students to take the correct worksheet to place in their folder before dismissal. For instance, student A and student B, take worksheets from the sunshine bin, and student C and student D, take worksheets from the star bin.

Furthermore, an even easier way to differentiate by difficulty level is with homework assigned on an adaptive digital program. Check to make sure that students are allowed to access the program outside of school hours. Then, a certain amount of lessons or minutes can be required by the end of the week for homework.

Amount

Homework can be differentiated by amount. Students with special needs or attention issues could be assigned to do every other question, while the rest of the students must complete the whole assignment. Another option is having students who have mastered the skill to complete fewer questions as a review, and the ones who need more practice, complete the whole assignment.

This can be done by privately letting those specific students and/or parents know who they are, so they can do the reduced assignment. Otherwise, make one copy of the assignment and circle the ones that you want the students to complete before copying them for the rest of the students.

Scaffolded

Yet another way to differentiate homework is by scaffolding it based on student need. This is similar to having a separate sheet for varying diffiulty levels. The difference would be everyone would have the same homework, but with differing levels of support.

Here is one example. You could add visual directions to the top of the sheet for students with special needs or ML students. This will make the directions understandable for these students, so they know how to complete the assignment. The rest of the sheets would not include the visuals. If homework is digital, a voice recording of the directions could be included in the same way as adding visuals.

Another example is writing sentence stems on the answer part of a worksheet or adding a word bank. Again, this would be for your lower level students who need that extra support to get started. Once they gain the necessary skills, those students can receive the sheet without the sentence stems or word bank.

Another way is by sending home a graphic organizer with students who would benefit from this. A graphic organizer would be sent with reading assignments where note-taking is needed. Most likely, upper elementary grades and up. Graphic organizers can be sent for use with organizing writing assignments, too.

A final way to scaffold homework is by making sure students have access to manipulatives at home and are encouraged to use them, if needed. Manipulatives are used for both math and reading assignments. A few examples for math are ten frames, counting chips, or number lines. A few examples for reading are Elkonin boxes, ABC chart/portable sound wall, or reading highlighter strips.

Conclusion

By differentiating homework with one of these three methods, you are making homework accessible and appropriately challenging for ALL students! This should be your ultimate goal. This way not only will your on grade level students benefit, but your low level and advanced students will, too. Please add any of your ideas to the comments or let me know which one you plan on trying this year!