Differentiating Instruction to Increase Comprehension for Secondary Readers

A welcoming, inclusive, and equitable classroom accounts for student differences and makes learning accessible regardless of a student’s starting point. This is the perennial challenge for high school teachers who assign readings to a diverse range of students. They ask themselves, “How can I ensure that all my students will learn at high levels regardless of their reading skills?” and “How can I meet my students where they are while utilizing one text?” The answer lies in some simple, sustainable shifts. By utilizing targeted and systematic scaffolding, we can better match readers to text in order to grow their skills – in a way that is manageable and sustainable for teachers.

Join me to consider the intersection of best reading practice and differentiated instruction. Using “The Road Not Taken” as our sample text, we’ll focus on before and during reading strategies to differentiate both content and process in order to address varying student needs in a way that is not only appropriate for a short poem but also for longer texts, including novels. Participants will walk away with a stronger understanding of how reading comprehension occurs, the reading challenges our students face, and manageable, immediately actionable ways to support them as they wrestle with complex texts.