Differentiation without tripling your prep: one fractions worksheet at three levels

Definition

Differentiated instruction: Keeping one lesson goal for the whole class while the task that leads to it changes with what each student can do right now. Also called differentiation or differentiated teaching.

What you need before you start

• One goal with a verb you can see on paper: “add two fractions with unlike denominators and write the answer in simplest form.”
• Yesterday's exit tickets, or one question you ask at the start of the lesson.
• A core sheet you write first, then derive the other two from.
• Extra time the first time only; later sheets are built on the same template.

In “The Goals of Differentiation” (ASCD's Educational Leadership, November 2008), Carol Ann Tomlinson calls differentiation “student-aware teaching” and asks that the task “fit” what a student can do now. Work that is always too hard keeps a student busy avoiding humiliation instead of learning; work that is always too easy teaches them to mark time instead of meeting a challenge. Among the teacher's tools she lists task options with common learning goals — which is exactly what the three sheets are: one goal, three tasks.

The three sheets: one goal, one shared last question

The problems were written for this post, not copied from a textbook; they suit Grade 6. The last question on every sheet is the same: $\frac{2}{3}+\frac{1}{4}$. There is no answer key on this page, so solve the problems yourself before you hand them out.

Notice what did not change between the sheets: the goal, the last question and the working time. What changed is what supports the student on the support sheet, and how deeply they think on the stretch sheet — not the number of problems.

The steps: from one sheet to three

1. 1

   Write the goal in one sentence, and keep it the same on all three sheets

   If the goal differs between sheets, you have three lessons, not one differentiated lesson. The goal here: add two fractions with unlike denominators and simplify the answer.

2. 2

   Write the core sheet first

   It is what you expect of most of the class in this lesson. The other two sheets are derived from it, so you never start from a blank page three times.

3. 3

   Build the support sheet by adding support, not by removing the goal

   Add a worked example, a fraction strip, easier numbers at the start, and a steps card. But keep the last two problems at the level of the goal, so the student reaches it before the sheet ends.

4. 4

   Build the stretch sheet with depth, not volume

   Ten more problems of the same kind punish the student who finished early. Ask instead for a mistake explained, a missing fraction, or a problem with more than one right answer.

5. 5

   Put the same question at the end of all three sheets

   This shared question is your next exit ticket: it tells you whether every student reached the goal, whichever sheet they started on.

6. 6

   Group students in two minutes

   From the exit tickets, as in the next section. Do not mark the tickets; just sort them.

7. 7

   Change the groups every lesson

   Tomlinson describes the teacher in a differentiated classroom as flexible with time, seating and student groupings. A level describes today's need; it is not a name for the student.

Grouping students in two minutes from exit tickets

“Classroom Assessment: Minute by Minute, Day by Day” (ASCD, November 2005), by Dylan Wiliam, describes the exit pass as an index card on which each student writes an answer and hands it in before leaving — sometimes used to decide where the next day's lesson begins. That is what you do here: yesterday's question was $\frac{2}{3}+\frac{1}{4}$ with “write the first step you took”, as in the lesson plan.

No tickets from yesterday? Ask the same question at the start of the lesson with four answers on the board, and have each student hold up the card for the letter they chose (A, B, C, D). The same article describes these cards: the whole class answers at once, and you see who understood and who did not. There are more ticket examples in the exit-ticket guide.

When differentiation does not work

• When the support sheet becomes a student's permanent seat: if they get the shared question right, start them on the core sheet tomorrow. The shared question is the way out of the support sheet.
• When the gap sits one step before the goal: a student who does not know what $\frac{1}{4}$ means will not be rescued by a support sheet on addition. They need time with you on the meaning of a fraction itself — that is the job of a remedial plan, not a worksheet.
• When students read the sheets as a ranking: never write “weak” or “advanced” on a sheet. Label them with neutral symbols — circle, square, triangle — and change who gets which symbol every lesson.
• When you have no time for three sheets: start with two levels, as in the lesson plan: core for everyone, harder for early finishers. Add the support sheet when the exit tickets show you need it.

The most honest limit: the first time takes longer than a single sheet. That shrinks once you keep the three sheets as a template and change only the numbers for the next lesson.

Written with String's editorial team: we use AI for research and first drafts, and a person checks every fact and every source before anything is published. How we write