tiered instruction template

Tiered Lesson Plan Template

I wrote about creating a tiered lesson plan , and here I’m sharing a template teachers can use themselves.

I created this template for myself because none of the ones I found met my needs.

Using the Tiered Lesson Plan Template

When I’m creating a tiered lesson plan, I begin by filling out the top part. I don’t know the length of the lesson yet, so I leave this blank.

In the “background/previous knowledge” section, I list everything I’m assuming students know.

If I’m going to pre-assess students before the lesson, I put in that section how I’m going to do it.

In the “materials” section I list what I need to teach the lesson.

The “notes” section is for anything I might need to keep in mind or for anything that I want to jot down after I facilitate the lesson.

Then, I create the Tier III activity (the most challenging). I copy and paste that, then I adjust for Tier II and then repeat for Tier I. I have my tiers aligned vertically, but if you watch me creating the lesson plan, I often switch to horizonatlly for ease of formatting (that’s literally watching me – it’s a screencast).

I put in the assessment I’m doing, and then any extra accomodations. For example, I may have a student with an unusual 504 that I need to make note of for the lesson.

I go back up to the top, now that I’m done, and I fill in how long I think it will take for the lesson. It could be anywhere from 30 minutes one time to three weeks!

After I’ve executed the lesson, I adjust that if needed and add any notes. I also make any changes needed.

When I was in the Army there was a saying, “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.”

Our students are obviously not our enemy, but logistics, time, and unforeseen consequences sometimes are, and our plans need frequent adjustment because of that.

I’m not saying you’ll have to change the whole plan; I’m just saying don’t laminate it quite yet.

Getting Your Own Tiered Lesson Plan

If you’d like to use my tiered lesson plan template, I’ve got three versions for your personal use:

• a pdf version in case you like it to look exactly like you see it below
• a Word version you can edit (understanding that if you don’t have (the free) Montserrat font , it won’t look the same as you see below)
• a Google doc that you can edit and expand and call your very own (though not share with others – see legally notice below – They can get their own for free!)

Note: Unfortunately, I have to say this, so sorry if it’s a little cold. I share this with readers for their own personal use. It is a violation of both Copyright and DMCA law to post it on the internet or share it in any way. It would probably shock you how often I find that people have taken things I’ve made and posted them on sites that are the places copyright goes to die. This is illegal and unethical. Do not do this.

Wrapping Up:

Creating differentiated lesson plans is so rewarding, and good tools make it even more approachable. I hope you like this template and find modifications for it that will work for you! I’d love to see what you do with it!

You May Also Like:

• Differentiation Gone Wrong: A Worksheet Nightmare
• What Teachers Need Parents to Know about Differentiation
• Differentiation Intervention: A Case Study

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How to Tier Your Lessons Successfully

• Differentiation , Planning

We all have heard of differentiation. I’m sure at some point we have all wondered just how exactly are we suppose to make sure that we are tiering our content so that we can meet the needs of  all  of our students, both high and low. In this post, I’m going to help you understand how to tier your lessons successfully so that you can help reach all of your students without writing out individual lesson plans for each student.

Honestly, we have all heard that there is no “one-size fits all” lesson plan, but when it comes to planning out lessons for each student where they are– at their individual level –it can become daunting and very time-consuming. Here is how I do it.

Sorting Students to Differentiate

First I sort my students into three different groups. I typically call these groups my low, medium, and high, but you can call them whatever. No one sees this list but me and it changes depending on what concept we are learning. I sort students based on their data from a major test, such as the ITBS. If I don’t have any information from a test such as that, I make sure I provide students with a pretest before I start a unit to get an idea of their level of understanding.

Students who are grouped into the “low” group are students who don’t quite have the concept mastered or are below-grade level. Students who are in the “medium” group are students who are exactly where they should be: on-grade level. Finally, students who are in the “high” group are students who have already grasped the concept and are ready for a challenge, or above-grade level.

While I understand that this doesn’t “individualize” each student, it does help get us closer to their needs.

Tiering Your Lessons

Next, I start with my students who are on-grade level  (medium)  and plan my lesson for them. This is likely what you normally plan each week anyway. I write all of this in my lesson plan book and prepare everything I need as I normally would. Then, I look at what I have planned and the standards I’m addressing.

So let’s say that I’m addressing the fourth-grade reading literature standard RL.6 –

“Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including the difference between first-and third-person narrations.” 

For me to tier my lesson plans for my below-level students  (low) , I can do this one of two ways:

1.) Examine my data (pretests or other tests) to determine what specifically I need to address with these students.

2.) Look at the standards for the previous year as my starting point.

In this case, I would likely consult both. I would make sure my students understood what point of view was and then have them practice a bit more by distinguishing their point of view from a character’s in a story. I wouldn’t necessarily have to print new material for these students. I could pull small groups with these students and together we could work on it using trade books or picture books. This would also help me see any particular misconceptions or address anything specifically from my data.

How you choose to tier your lessons would depend on your students and their needs. This may even vary from year to year.

For my above-grade level students  (high) , I have two options:

1.) Look at the standards for the year after as my starting point (acceleration).

2.) Enrich the standards for on grade level with more critical thinking (think top-level blooms with independent projects) (enrichment).

Using the same standard above with this example, I could look ahead at the fifth-grade standards and have them examine how the narrator’s point of view actually influenced how the events in the story are described. Or if I’m thinking independent projects, I could have them all work together in a literature circle and read two different books that are similar in subject but with different points of view. Then I could have them create a presentation of some sort.

I have also used the above-level students to “peer-tutor” on-level students or below-level students for some activities.

Planning Tiered Activities

Another option when planning tiered lessons is asking yourself “how can I scaffold this content for my students who are not on grade-level?” That will help you take the activity and break it down a bit more for those students. When trying to reach your above-level students, you can always ask yourself, “what more can I do to help them understand this topic a bit more or even deeper?”

Ultimately, when planning, remember that you need to reach all students in your classroom regardless of what level they are at. This can be done without spending extra time making multiple copies of different worksheets for each learner. When you tier your lessons in a way that can both scaffold instruction and enrich, students will be able to learn and you’ll save time.

• Differentiation Featured , Lesson Planning , Tiering

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Tiered Assignments

What are tiered assignments.

According to Tomlinson (1995), tiered assignments are used by teachers within a heterogeneous classroom in order to meet the diverse needs of the students within the class. Teachers implement varied levels of activities to ensure that students explore ideas at a level that builds on their prior knowledge and prompts continued growth. Student groups use varied approaches to explore essential ideas.

Williams (2002) offers the following definition on her website: Tiered assignments are parallel tasks at varied levels of complexity, depth and abstractness with various degrees of scaffolding, support, or direction. Students work on different levels of activities, all with the same essential understanding or goal in mind. Tiered assignments accommodate mainly for differences in student readiness and performance levels and allow students to work toward a goal or objective at a level that builds on their prior knowledge and encourages continued growth. 

How can tiered assignments help your students?

Using tiered assignments allows for the following:

• Blends assessment and instruction,
• Allows students to begin learning where they are,
• Allows students to work with appropriately challenging tasks,
• Allows for reinforcement or extension of concepts and principles based on student readiness,
• Allows modification of working conditions based on learning style,
• Avoids work that is anxiety-producing (too hard) or boredom-producing (too easy), and
• Promotes success and is therefore motivating. (Tomlinson, 1995)

How can you implement tiered assignments in order to effectively meet the diverse learning needs of students?

One of the main benefits of tiered assignments is that they allow students to work on tasks that are neither too easy nor too difficult. They are highly motivating because they allow students to be successful at their level of readiness. Tiered assignments also allow students to work in their specific learning styles or preferences (Williams, 2002).

What are the guidelines for implementing tiered assignments?

Tomlinson (1995) offers the following guidelines for implementing tiered assignments:

• Be sure the task is focused on a key concept.
• Use a variety of resource materials at differing levels of complexity and associated with different learning modes.
• Adjust the task by complexity, abstractness, number of steps, concreteness, and independence to ensure appropriate challenge.
• Be certain there are clear criteria for quality and success.

Where can you find more information about tiered assignments?

Cherokee County Schools This homepage by Eulouise Williams has additional information on tiered assignments including examples of tiered assignments created by teachers in their district.

• Our Mission

Developing a Multi-Tiered System of Supports

Teacher collaboration is essential for this system of differentiated instruction to work.

P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School’s Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is a framework used to meet the needs of every student. The school has implemented grade-level Student Success Team meetings with a cross-functional team that plans for, monitors, and evaluates both the academic and behavioral needs of each student, instead of having two separate teams.

Together, the teachers and support staff collaborate to analyze student data and make action plans. Those in need of additional academic support are identified, and interventions are planned and monitored. Additionally, opportunities for students exceeding benchmarks or in need of a challenge are developed.

P.K. Yonge has used the MTSS since 2006. Every student receives core instruction, known as Tier One. Some students need supplemental instruction, which is referred to as Tier Two, and a small cohort of students receive the most intensive intervention and supports, known as Tier Three.

Academic supports are integrated with behavioral supports in the MTSS framework. See how this school provides behavioral support for every student.

How It’s Done

Using Data to Personalize Instruction: The Student Success Team (SST) makes all decisions about tiered instruction. The team is made up of the K–12 MTSS support specialist, the learning community leader, all of the core teachers, administrators, guidance counselors, speech and language pathologists and sometimes occupational therapists. Additional people are brought in on an as-needed basis, and parents are consulted on all decisions.The SST meets every four-and-a-half weeks across K–12.

Determining Tiers:  For academic instruction, the majority of students get their needs met through core, or Tier One, instruction. P.K. Yonge uses a standard measure of 80 percent effectiveness for students hitting targets in core instruction. Tiers Two and Three are seen as deep, meaningful support for students, not as Band-Aids for what’s not working in Tier One. If less than 80 percent of students are succeeding in Tier One, then Tier One instruction needs to be strengthened. Typically, Tier Two has about 15 percent of students, and Tier Three about 3 to 5 percent.

Each tier builds upon what’s happening in the tier before it. For example, in reading, core instruction could be centered on comprehension strategies and specifically inferring, and then Tier Two would be supplemental instruction on inferring.

For Tier One, the student-teacher ratio is approximately 22-to-1; for Tier Two, approximately 6-to-1; and for Tier Three, between approximately 3-to-1, and occasionally 1-to-1.

Collecting Data:  The SST collects a variety of data that helps determine how students are doing, and what specific supports they need. At the elementary level, the school uses measures like DIBELS progress monitoring, Fox in a Box diagnostic measures, and a Gates-MacGinitie reading test. The school also analyzes the outcomes of the annual state reading test for the third grade and above. For math, it has used standardized measures that include AIMS and GMADE. It is important that measures are valid and reliable and generate some kind of norming or statistical information that will help faculty know how students are doing as compared to students across the classroom, district, or nation.

In the sixth to 12th grades, the faculty spend a lot more time looking at students’ grades, attendance, and discipline records. They may also look at some district measures or class-made assessments to determine students’ progress in their skill development. All of the conversations in the upper grades include an analysis of state and national testing as appropriate.

Questions Used to Monitor Progress:  The SST looks at all the data for every student in the school and then determines an action plan based on the following questions:

• What percentage of students are getting their needs met through core (Tier One) instruction?
• Which students need supplemental instruction in a Tier Two configuration?
• How is the supplemental instruction defined? There can be multiple Tier Two defined supports—some students may need to work on a certain set of skills, while other students have different needs.
• What about students already in Tier Two—how are they progressing? Are there students in Tier Two who may need Tier Three supports?
• How are students already in Tier Three doing?

The SST works diligently to have a sustained period of time that students receive the intervention to see if it’s effective. Students are typically in Tier Two for at least four-and-a-half weeks, and in Tier Three from nine to 27 weeks, with progress being monitored on a regular basis.

Students who need Tier Three support for significant periods of time beyond 27 weeks may receive placement in exceptional student education, to receive an IEP, an EP, or a 504.

Using Individual Strengths:  Teachers organize themselves around tiered instruction in a variety of different ways depending on teacher strengths and student needs. When Tiers Two and Three are defined, teachers determine who leads a particular part of the instruction based on their individual strengths or on students in that tier who respond well to them.

During instruction time, all teachers teach core instruction to their 22 students for about 30 minutes. Then everyone moves into Tier Two, Tier Three, or autonomous time for another 30 minutes. Another rotation then occurs, and teachers and students reorganize themselves again. At all times, teachers are either leading a tiered group or supervising autonomous time.

Teacher Collaboration:  At P.K. Yonge, all core teachers in each grade level have a common daily planning time. While they may quickly check in during this time, it is really during the weekly learning community meetings that they have time to talk about instruction and students. Collaboration continues in the SST meeting, where the focus is on data assessment and problem solving.

Trust and communication are developed between teachers within the learning community to talk about the students they share and the work they’re doing across the tiers.

Reducing Stigma:  One of the things P.K. Yonge has worked hard on is reducing the labeling and stigmatism that can go with being identified as a student who needs more support. Some of that normalizing and making students feel safe comes from the ways the school has organized personnel, and some from the ways faculty try to balance “pushing in” and “pulling out.” The staff strive to ensure that there’s not a certain cohort of students who are always in Tier Two or Three in all subjects. As the school’s director, Lynda Hayes, says, “It can be quite an orchestration. We don’t always accomplish that, but that’s always our goal: How do we make this seamless and as normal for all of our students as possible?”

• MTSS Handbook: A Resource Guide
• MTSS Flowchart: How the Academic Tiered System Works and Interventions Provided
• Scheduling Time and Students: MTSS Teacher Schedule
• Informing Parents of Their Child’s Needs: MTSS Parent Letter
• MTSS Graphic Organizer: The Basics
• Planning Sheet for Tier Support

P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School

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A Starter Kit for Differentiated Instruction

November 19, 2014

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You have probably come to this article for one of two reasons: Either you want to start differentiating instruction in your classroom and don’t know where to start, or you already differentiate, but want to see if you’re missing anything. I have combed through tons of online resources on how to differentiate instruction, and have put together this collection of the clearest, most high-quality resources for learning how to differentiate in your classroom. Off we go, then!

Step 1: Learn the Basics

In addition to explaining basic principles, the book shows you how to manage a differentiated classroom, teaches you specific strategies, and lets you peek inside a few sample differentiated classrooms so you can see how all the parts work together. I really can’t recommend this book highly enough…get it!

Step 2: Watch Real Teachers Differentiate

Reading about how to differentiate on paper is helpful, but seeing other teachers actually doing it will give you a far better understanding of how to implement the strategies in your own classroom.

This Edutopia video shows how one school has set up a system they call Reteach and Enrich , where time is built into the schedule every day to reteach students who haven’t met learning targets or provide enrichment activities for those who have. Watching this process in action makes it really clear HOW to make it work:

In this Teaching Channel video (click below), high school math teacher Maria Barchi demonstrates how she tiers instruction by giving different exit slips to students based on their mastery of a lesson, then adjusts instruction the following day based on their responses:

Click to open video in new window.

Below, second grade teacher Robert Pronovost shows how he uses two separate online programs , Planet Turtle and Dreambox, to meet students’ individual needs in 2nd grade math (Teaching Channel):

Click image to open video in new window.

The next video shows 5th grade teacher Stacy Brewer demonstrating how she  differentiates process for readiness in writing responses to a text: Because this group of ELL students needs additional help, she works with them while the rest of the class responds to their questions independently (Teaching Channel).

Finally, this Teaching Channel video shows how Mary Vagenas uses Learning Menus to differentiate in her 7th grade Social Studies class:

Step 3: Gather Differentiation Tools

Once you understand the basic principles of differentiation, it’s a good idea to have a few basic tools on hand.

Task Cards What are task cards? They are all the rage in some classrooms: The basic idea is that you take tasks and questions that might normally appear on worksheets and put them onto laminated cards (one item per card), which allows you to better individualize instruction, set up centers, and group students according to need (plus, you can re-use them year after year!). You can make your own or browse through thousands on Teachers Pay Teachers . This free e-book by Rachel Lynette explains how to use them in detail:

Tiered Lesson Template This blog post from Marsha McGuire at A Differentiated Kindergarten  shows you how to plan a tiered lesson and includes an editable template. Even though the featured classroom is a kindergarten, Marsha’s system would work effectively with all age groups.

Using Color to Help You Tier Differentiated Activities

Learning Menus This packet from the University of Virginia Curry School of Education teaches you how to create learning menus or choice menus, which offer students a variety of learning activities to choose from, depending on their interests and learning profiles.

Choice Menus  (PDF)

Further Reading

There’s No Time to Differentiate: Myth-Busting DI, Part 2 by John McCarthy This Edutopia article discusses some of the myths about and objections to differentiation.

Dr. Kathie Nunley’s Layered Curriculum This website is based entirely on the Layered Curriculum philosophy. Somewhere between a learning menu and a tiered unit, a layered curriculum looks like an interesting take on differentiation and is worth a look once you’ve got the basics down.

What to Read Next

Categories: Instruction

Tags: differentiation , lesson planning , teaching strategies

23 Comments

Soy profesora de nivel elemental en PR y ahora este tema ha incrementado..,me gustaria conocer mas alternativas.Gracias

Con la ayuda de Google Translate , estoy en condiciones de responder a su comentario – perdonar los errores de gramática ! Yo sugeriría que lea el libro de Carol Tomlinson ( se recomienda más arriba ) para las estrategias más específicas .

This is what I’ve been looking for. Thank you so much. My team is going to change the way we look at our data and plan our instruction.

That’s awesome, T.D. Thanks for letting me know.

One thing I cannot seem to find an answer to when it comes to differentiating is how to grade and keep up the grade book. Any insight to this?

One thing to try to keep in mind is what differentiation is and what it isn’t. Differentiation is about using formative assessments to attend to the learning needs of a student or group of students. For example: In math, some kids might benefit from using counting manipulatives or a number line when practicing counting on from the larger number. In writing, some kids might benefit from using a graphic organizer to plan out ideas. For kids who need support with word spacing/motor planning, I’ve provided paper with word lines on it. Determining what a child needs to help them get to that next step is at the heart of differentiation.

Here’s another article about what differentiation is and what it isn’t that you might want to check out. As far as managing grades, take a look at Kiddom: Standards-Based Grading Made Wonderful and How Accurate Are Your Grades? I hope this helps.

This was a helpful introduction. Thank you! Your explanations with the embedded videos helped me to understand more clearly. I think some teachers in primary grades have done this in various ways for a long time but didn’t have a name for it. It’s SO great to see it being stressed in 4th-8th grade classrooms as well.

This was such a helpful blog. I particularly loved the math one, as I am a math teacher. I was wondering if you have any suggestions for how to differentiate within the context of a rotational model in a middle grades math classroom. Thanks so much!

Wow, that’s a great question. I’m not sure if this answers it, but you might want to check out our posts on working with playlists , hyperdocs , and this one about a middle school self-paced math class . I hope these help!

Hello – did you ever get the samples of high quality lesson plans using differentiation? I would love to see them!

I work for Cult of Pedagogy and wanted to let you know that unfortunately, we really just haven’t gotten a lot of response.

Thanks for the wealth of information!!

I looked up your recommendation for Tomlison’s book – How to Differentiate Instruction and I noticed that she also wrote a book called “How to Differentiate Instructon in Academically Diverse Classrooms.”

I teach ESL to college level students and am wondering which book would be more helpful.

Sara –

Having read both books for my master’s program, I can tell you that they are almost two sides of the same coin. Both are really good “differentiation bibles”, so you’re not going to go wrong with either one as far as the differentiation goes. I would lean a little more towards the academically diverse classroom book, however, if you’re teaching ESL, as that book goes a little more in detail regarding how to accommodate wide skill gaps and academically challenging situations. The other book is more of a general handbook for differentiation.

Another great resource from the Cult of Pedagogy. Thank you!!!

I think that this is a nice example in a school that has the advantage of multiple teachers in a grade level, but how would you suggest differentiating if you teach multiple grade levels and are the only person teaching your subject? I teach at a K-8 school, and I teach 6th, 7th, and 8th grade ELA and I’m the only ELA teacher. I have multiple abilities in a grade level at a time, and usually when I get my 6th graders, they are several grade levels below in reading. I always have a few that are several levels above as well. I know that I’m probably in a good position to differentiate, but I’m struggling at it.

Hi! Differentiating can seem daunting, but if you keep in mind that it isn’t about creating 29 different lessons for 29 kids, but rather about offering choices and choosing intentional teaching strategies, it can feel a lot less overwhelming. For example, let’s say you introduce theme in a whole class lesson. Differentiation happens in the way kids practice the concept. Some kids may want to choose from their independent reading books, others might benefit from listening to an audio book or podcast. Another student might benefit from listening to an audio book that they can also follow along with visually. Or you might choose a NewsEla article that you want the whole class to read, while letting kids choose the article’s reading level. While kids are practicing, you might need to meet 1:1 or with a small group to offer more guidance and modeling. You might find that some kids need more instruction (see youtube videos) or need help organizing their ideas via graphic organizers, post its, etc. Some kids might be more successful working individually in a different part of the room, while others might work with a partner. The bottom line is that everyone can be working on the same concept, but formative data is going to drive the choices and instructional strategies. Here’s another article that might be helpful, but I also really recommend investing in Carol Tomlinson’s book if you haven’t already done so.

There are also a ton of resources on our Differentiation Pinterest board . See what might be relevant. Also take a look at the posts in our English Language Arts category. Something like One-Pagers could be successfully completed by all kids regardless of reading level. Hope this helps!

This information is very helpful for identifying the strategies used for differentiation in class and also to see and learn different strategies used in class environment. It is also good to see that we, teachers, have been doing some of these strategies without realizing them. Thanks for that.

This was very helpful information with a surplus of resources! I find the reteach and enrich concept particularly helpful as students in every class are at different levels. I have worked in an ESL classroom where there are students that are “newcomers” with limited English skills and highly advanced speakers all within the same class. I think building in a time block for reteaching concepts to certain students and providing enrichment opportunities for others is the best way to tailor learning concepts for each individual student to their level.

I particularly enjoyed learning about the Reteach and Enrich program. It has reaffirmed what my colleague and I are currently doing. Thanks

I have multple intelligence in my class and so i find reteaching very helpful. I also appreciate the additional resources.

Differentiated instruction really helps children to be skillful and confident with their content. As we have our own teaching styles, it is important for us to understand that students have their own learning styles.

I have always worked with students in which Differentiated instruction was needed and made a difference in how the students grasped the skills that were being taught. Although I have always used these skills as I taught my students, I find that this information was very informative.

Thank you, Jacqueline. Jenn will be happy to know that you found this useful.

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Differentiated Instruction Strategies: Tiered Assignments

Janelle cox.

• September 23, 2014

Many teachers use differentiated instruction strategies  as a way to reach all learners and accommodate each student’s learning style. One very helpful tactic to employ differentiated instruction is called tiered assignments—a technique often used within flexible groups.

Much like flexible grouping—or differentiated instruction as a whole, really—tiered assignments do not lock students into ability boxes. Instead, particular student clusters are assigned specific tasks within each group according to their readiness and comprehension without making them feel completely compartmentalized away from peers at different achievement levels.

There are six main ways to structure tiered assignments: challenge level, complexity, outcome, process, product, or resources. It is your job, based upon the specific learning tasks you’re focused on, to determine the best approach. Here we will take a brief look at these techniques.

Ways to Structure Tiered Assignments

Challenge level.

Tiering can be based on challenge level where student groups will tackle different assignments. Teachers can use Bloom’s Taxonomy as a guide to help them develop tasks of structure or questions at various levels. For example:

• Group 1:  Students who need content reinforcement or practice will complete one activity that helps  build  understanding.
• Group 2:  Students who have a firm understanding will complete another activity that  extends  what they already know.

When you tier assignments by complexity, you are addressing the needs of students who are at different levels using the same assignment. The trick here is to vary the focus of the assignment based upon whether each group is ready for more advanced work or simply trying to wrap their head around the concept for the first time. You can direct your students to create a poster on a specific issue—recycling and environmental care, for instance—but one group will focus on a singular perspective, while the other will consider several points of view and present an argument for or against each angle.

Tiering assignments by differentiated outcome is vaguely similar to complexity—all of your students will use the same materials, but depending on their readiness levels will actually have a different outcome. It may sound strange at first, but this strategy is quite beneficial to help advanced students work on more progressive applications of their student learning.

This differentiated instruction strategy is exactly what it sounds like—student groups will use different processes to achieve similar outcomes based upon readiness.

Tiered assignments can also be differentiated based on product. Teachers can use the Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences to form groups that will hone particular skills for particular learning styles . For example, one group would be bodily/kinesthetic, and their task is to create and act out a skit. Another group would be visual/spatial, and their task would be to illustrate.

Tiering resources means that you are matching project materials to student groups based on readiness or instructional need. One flexible group may use a magazine while another may use a traditional textbook. As a tip, you should assign resources based on knowledge and readiness, but also consider the group’s reading level and comprehension.

How to Make Tiering Invisible to Students

From time to time, students may question why they are working on different assignments, using varied materials, or coming to dissimilar outcomes altogether. This could be a blow to your classroom morale if you’re not tactful in making your tiers invisible.

Make it a point to tell students that each group is using different materials or completing different activities so they can share what they learned with the class. Be neutral when grouping students, use numbers or colors for group names, and be equally enthusiastic while explaining assignments to each cluster.

Also, it’s important to make each tiered assignment equally interesting, engaging, and fair in terms of student expectations. The more flexible groups and materials you use, the more students will accept that this is the norm.

Tiering assignments is a fair way to differentiate learning. It allows teachers to meet the needs of all students while using varying levels of tasks. It’s a concept that can be infused into homework assignments, small groups, or even learning centers. If done properly, it can be a very effective method to differentiate learning because it challenges all students.

• #DifferentiatedInstruction , #TieredAssignments

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Tiered Lessons: One Way to Differentiate Mathematics Instruction

This article is about differentiation. Due to the broad range of academic needs among students, teachers find themselves in a dilemma. The Burris Laboratory School outlines how teachers can reach all the students in their classrooms when they are academically diverse, have special needs, are ESL learners or have some combination of any or all of these factors.

Author: Adams, C. & Pierce, R. Publications: Gifted Child Today Publisher: Prufrock Press Volume: Vol. 27, Issue 2, pp. 50-65 Year: 2004

The movement toward inclusion has impacted classrooms by requiring teachers to respond to a broader range of academic needs. How can we possibly reach all the students in our classrooms when they are academically diverse, have special needs, are ESL learners, or have some combination of any or all of these factors? An answer to this question lies in differentiating instruction. Working in the Burris Laboratory School, an inclusion school using a resource consultation model to serve the needs of all its students, we have found that using tiered lessons is a viable method for differentiating instruction.

What is Differentiation?

Although differentiated instruction is not a new idea, the differentiation movement has recently taken center stage as a means of meeting the needs of all students in the classroom. It is an organized, yet flexible way of proactively adjusting teaching and learning to meet students where they are and help all students achieve maximum growth as learners (Tomlinson, 1999). Instruction may be differentiated in content/input, process/sense-making, or product/output according to the students’ readiness, interest, or learning style. By  content , we mean the material that is being presented.  Process  activities help students practice or make sense out of the content, while  product  refers to the outcome of the lesson or unit, such as a test, project, or paper.  Readiness  refers to prior knowledge and a student’s current skill and proficiency with the material presented in the lesson. A student’s interest may be assessed with an interest inventory for the particular topic being studied or by an individual conversation with the student. Many teachers use the theory of multiple intelligences to characterize learning styles (Armstrong, 1994; Gardner, 1993; Martin, 1996).

Essential elements for successful differentiation include specific classroom management techniques addressing the special needs of a differentiated classroom, planned use of anchoring activities, and flexible use of time, space, and student groups. In a differentiated classroom, the management plan must include rules for working in a variety of configurations. You can only work with one group or individual at a time. Therefore, we have developed two critical rules that thwart chaos and preserve sanity. The first is “Use six-inch voices,” meaning that students should modulate their speaking level so that their voices can only be heard six inches away. The second rule is “Ask three before me.” If students need assistance completing a task or come to a stumbling block in a lesson and you are not available, they should find three other students to ask before they may interrupt you. If their three peers cannot answer the question, the student has permission to interrupt you. Adding the caveat that the student should also bring along the three students who were asked will nearly eliminate the chance that you will be interrupted except in extreme cases. Anchoring or “sponge” activities are provided for students to use when they are waiting for you to assist them before they can go any further or at the beginning of the class period to get them ready to work. A wide variety of materials and resources can serve as anchoring activities (see our  website  for a listing of books that have great activities for anchoring). Flexible grouping arrangements such as pairs, triads, or quads, as well as whole-group and small-group instruction, create opportunities to meet individual needs. A flexible use of time allows lessons to proceed to their natural conclusion, rather than being carried out in set blocks of time. The desks or tables should be arranged in such a way as to facilitate group work, as well as wholeclass groupings that encourage sharing of ideas.

A variety of instructional strategies, including compacting, learning contracts, cubing, and tiered lessons, can be used to differentiate instruction (for a discussion of these and other strategies, see Gregory & Chapman, 2002; Heacox, 2002; Smutney, Walker, & Meckstroth, 1997; Tomlinson, 1999; Winebrenner, 1992). It makes sense to alert your administration and the parents that you will be trying some new strategies in the classroom in case there are questions.

The tenets of differentiated instruction support both the Equity Principle and the Teaching Principle of the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2000). These principles direct us to select and adapt content and curricula to meet the interests, abilities, and learning styles of our students; to recognize our students’ diversity; and to encourage them to reach their full potential in mathematics.

What is a Tiered Lesson?

Tomlinson (1999) described tiered lessons as “the meat and potatoes of differentiated instruction.” A tiered lesson is a differentiation strategy that addresses a particular standard, key concept, and generalization, but allows several pathways for students to arrive at an understanding of these components based on their interests, readiness, or learning profiles. A lesson tiered by readiness level implies that the teacher has a good understanding of the students’ ability levels with respect to the lesson and has designed the tiers to meet those needs. Think of a wedding cake with tiers of varying sizes. Many examples of lessons tiered in readiness have three tiers: below grade level, at grade level, and above grade level. There is no rule that states there may only be three tiers, however. The number of tiers we use will depend on the range of ability levels in your own classroom since you are forming tiers based on your assessment of your students’ abilities to handle the material particular to this lesson. Students are regrouped the next time you use tiering as a strategy. Hence, the idea of flexible, rather than static, groups is essential.

No matter how you choose to differentiate the lesson—readiness, interest, or learning profile—the number of groups per tier will vary, as will the number of students per tier. You are not looking to form groups of equal size. When you form groups based on the readiness needs of individual students, Tier I may have two groups of three students, Tier II five groups of four students, and Tier III may have one group of two students. When the lesson is tiered by interest or learning profile, the same guidelines apply for forming groups: Different tiers may have varying numbers of students. Even when students are already homogeneously grouped in classes by ability, there is still variance in their ability levels that must be addressed.

To take a closer look at the anatomy of a tiered lesson, we have included a mathematics lesson (see Figure 1) that was developed as part of the Javits Grant, Project GATE, a federally funded partnership between the Indianapolis Public Schools and Ball State University, both in Indiana. When developing a tiered lesson, we have found the eight steps described below useful.

• First, identify the grade level and subject for which you will write the lesson.  In this case, the grade level is first and the subject is mathematics.
• Second, identify the standard (national, state, district, etc.) you are targeting.  A common mistake for those just beginning to tier is to develop three great activities and then try to force-fit them into a tiered lesson. Start with the standard first. If you don’t know where you are going, how will you know if you get there? The author of this lesson has selected the Content Standard “Number and Operations” of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ (2000)  Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (pp. 78–88).
• Third, identify the key concept and generalization.  The key concept follows from the standard. Ask yourself, “What big idea am I targeting?” In this example, it is to understand and represent commonly used fractions. While there are many concepts that could be covered under the standard chosen, this lesson addresses only one. The generalization follows from the concept chosen. Ask, “What do I want the students to know at the end of the lesson, regardless of their placement in the tiers?” In this lesson, all students will develop their understanding of fractions as representing parts of a whole.
• Fourth, be sure students have the background necessary to be successful in the lesson.  What scaffolding is necessary? What must you have already covered or what must the student have already learned? Are there other skills that must be taught first? Before engaging in this lesson, students have been exposed to halves and thirds. Fractions (halves/ thirds) have been introduced to the students, and they have illustrated them with pictures. There are several literature books that illustrate fractional parts using food that could be used to introduce the lesson.
• Fifth, determine in which part of the lesson (content, process, product) you will tier.  You may choose to tier the content (what you want the students to learn), the process (the way students make sense out of the content), or the product (the outcome at the end of a lesson, lesson set, or unit—often a project). When beginning to tier, we suggest that you only tier one of these three. Once you are comfortable with tiering, you might try to tier more than one part in the same lesson. This lesson is tiered in content.
• Sixth, determine the type of tiering you will do: readiness, interest, or learning profile.  Readiness is based on the ability levels of the students. Giving a pretest is a good way to assess readiness. Students’ interest in a topic is generally gauged through an interest survey, while the learning profile may be determined through various learning style inventories. In this lesson, the author chose readiness.
• Seventh, based on your choices above, determine how many tiers you will need and develop the lesson.  When tiering according to readiness, you may have three tiers: below grade level, at grade level, and above grade level. If you choose to tier in interest or learning profile, you may control the number of tiers by limiting choices or using only a few different learning styles. For example, tiering on all eight of Gardner’s multiple intelligences in one lesson may not be a good place to start, so choose only a few, such as logical-mathematical intelligence, spatial intelligence, and linguistic intelligence. (For further information on multiple intelligences in an easy-tounderstand format, see Wahl, 1997). For this lesson, students are placed in one of three tiers based on their ability to work with halves and thirds as assessed by the teacher through observation.Differentiation means doing something different—qualitatively different. Make sure you keep this in mind when tiering the lessons. Second, be sure that students are doing challenging, respectful, and developmentally appropriate work within each tier. In other words, no group should be given “busywork.” We don’t want one group doing blackline practice sheets and another doing a fabulous experiment.Notice in this lesson that all three tiers are working on fractions. Students in each tier use paper shapes to divide. However, the activities for each tier in the sample lesson, beginning in Tier I and moving through Tier III, differ from concrete to abstract and from simple to complex, to use Tomlinson’s Equalizer word pairs (Tomlinson, 1999).
• Finally, develop the assessment component to the lesson.  The assessment can be formative, summative, or a combination of both. You may use some means of recording observations of the various groups, such as flip cards or sticky notes. You could develop a rubric for each tier based on the particular product that is created. You may give a formal paperand- pencil test. Whatever it is, choose your assessment based on your needs and your lesson design.In this lesson, the teacher observes the students as they share their answers and jots down notes for a formative assessment of each student. For example, which child is struggling with the concept? Which child is moving rapidly and accurately through the material? Whose answers show more thought and insight? Answers to these and other questions will assist you in determining who needs reteaching and who is ready to go beyond the material presented. A formal assessment is not used here since the standards emphasize that students should have “informal experiences [with fractions] at this age to help develop a foundation for deeper learning in the higher grades” (NCTM, 2000, p. 83).

When this lesson was taught, the students were engaged during the entire lesson. The lesson was introduced by reading the book  Eating Fractions  (McMillan, 1991). Students were placed in groups based on their level of readiness to interact with the content. Four students did not have a clear understanding of halves and fourths. These students needed a more concrete activity and were placed in Tier I. Another 12 students could recognize halves and thirds and were ready to complete the Tier II activity. They were placed in four triads. Two students had in-depth knowledge of halves and thirds and were placed in Tier III. This pair worked at a more abstract level, and the questions they were asked required them to use different critical thinking skills than the other two groups. Tier I and Tier II students were provided with activities from the book  Fractions  (Watt, 2001) to use as anchoring activities if they finished early or were waiting for the teacher’s assistance. The anchor for Tier III students was  Apple Fractions  (Pallotta, 2002), which introduced fifths through tenths.

The second sample lesson (see Figure 2) is tiered in process according to learning style. In this case, students are grouped heterogeneously based on one of two learning preferences: kinesthetic or visual. The same eight steps for tiering a lesson apply in this case. In the second lesson, notice that the activities are at relatively the same level of complexity. This would be the “layer cake” model as opposed to the “wedding cake” model used when tiering according to readiness.

Final Thoughts

Time, energy, and patience are required to learn to differentiate instruction effectively in an academically diverse classroom. In addition, you need administrative and peer support, as well as professional development over extended periods of time; therefore, don’t expect to have a differentiated classroom by Monday morning. Start small: Choose a favorite lesson in your next unit and differentiate it according to the needs of your students. Seek the expertise of specialists such as special and gifted education coordinators, media specialists, and others with whom you can collaborate to improve instruction in the academically diverse classroom.

For more information on tiering, contact the Center for Gifted Studies and Talent Development, Ball State University (BSU)  https://www.bsu.edu/academics/centersandinstitutes/giftedstudies .

Author Note

Research for this article was supported under the Javits Act Program (Grant R206A980067) as administered by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education. Grantees undertaking such projects are encouraged to express freely their professional judgment. This article, therefore, does not necessarily represent positions or policies of the government, and no official endorsement should be inferred.

Armstrong, T. (1994). Multiple intelligences in the classroom. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Gardner, H. (1993). Multiple intelligences: The theory and practice. New York: BasicBooks.

Gregory, G. H., & Chapman, C. (2002). Differentiated instructional strategies: One size doesn’t fit all. Thousand Oakes, CA: Corwin Press.

Heacox, D. (2002). Differentiating instruction in the regular classroom. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit.

Martin, H. (1996). Multiple intelligences in the mathematics classroom. Palatine, IL: IRI/SkyLight.

McMillan, B. (1991). Eating fractions. New York: Scholastic. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). (2000). Principles and standards for school mathematics. Reston, VA: Author.

Pallotta, J. (2002). Apple fractions. New York: Scholastic.

Smutney, J., Walker, S., & Meckstroth, E. (1997). Teaching young gifted children in the regular classroom. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit.

Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). The differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Wahl, M. (1997). Math for humans.

Langley, WA: LivnLern Press.

Watt, F. ( 2001). Fractions. New York: Scholastic.

Winebrenner, S. (1992). Teaching gifted kids in the regular classroom. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit.

Disclaimer : The appearance of any information in the Davidson Institute’s Resource Library does not imply an endorsement by, or any affiliation with, the Davidson Institute. All information presented is for informational and archival purposes only. The Davidson Institute bears no responsibility for the content of republished material. Please note the date, author, and publisher information available if you wish to make further inquiries about any republished materials in our Resource Library.

Permission Statement

This article is reprinted with permission of  Prufrock Press, Inc.

This article is provided as a service of the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to supporting profoundly gifted young people 18 and under. To learn more about the Davidson Institute’s programs, please visit  www.DavidsonGifted.org .

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Podcast Articles , Truth for Teachers Collective   |   Jan 30, 2022

Let’s take a more intuitive approach to tiered and differentiated instruction.

By Tia Butts

High School ELA

I remember years ago when I was teaching and the term differentiation was a hot education topic.

Teachers were constantly told to provide differentiation in their lessons and at one point, in the district where I was teaching at the time, differentiation was included as an element in our evaluations.

Teachers were constantly told to differentiate and give examples of differentiated instruction (such as tiered assignments, flexible grouping, and student choice) but I don’t remember ever being told exactly what differentiation was.

It was not until years later (after taking a professional development course outside of my school district) that things clicked:

Differentiation is when we modify our lesson plans and instruction to meet students where they are .

Listen to the audio below, or subscribe in your podcast app

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You can find out where students are by giving pre-assessments at the beginning of the school year or you can simply make that determination after you get to know them and grade several assignments.

Differentiation has always been something that should have been implemented in classrooms, but I think the need is more dire now than before considering that we have students performing on a range of different levels, and in most schools, virtual learning has impacted students, both positively and negatively.

Here are some simple suggestions for differentiating in large classrooms with diverse learners.

#1 Start with 3 tiered lessons/assignments and modify as needed from there

When we talk about meeting students where they are, teachers often think, Does this mean I’m expected to make a separate lesson plan for every student?

No, you don’t have to make a separate plan for all students, but you will have to do some extra legwork when you initially make lesson plans.

Tiered lesson plans will require you to break down each lesson into different levels.

For example, let’s say that you’re doing the initial lesson to introduce students to the narrative essay. A tiered lesson would require you to break this down into three parts – early learners, ready learners, and advanced learners. Here is what the individual lessons might look like if you plan an activity, for example, to introduce narrative writing:

• Early Learners –  Look up the definition of narrative. Describe in 4-5 sentences what an interesting narrative might be about.
• Ready Learners – Look through an example of sample student narratives. For two of the narratives, create a plot diagram and identify the strongest examples of figurative language.
• Advanced Learners – Look at samples of published memoirs. Think of a topic personal to you and write a paragraph that mimics the style of one of the authors.

Yes, tiered assignments require you to do work ahead of time, but if you have students that are functioning on varying levels (which is very likely) this extra work will probably be worth it.

#2 Provide more student choice in the content rather than the assessment

I still remember being a high-school student and being forced to read the same book as the rest of my peers in my class. Luckily, times have changed. The idea of meeting students where they are also includes making accommodations based on student interest.

Our 10th-grade English team decided that we wanted to get students into reading more, but we gave students a choice of reading instead of selecting just one book for the class to read. I thought trying to force students to read (since they probably had not read significantly since the pandemic) would end in significant behavior problems, but it didn’t.

In fact, students were engrossed in reading every time we had time to read in class.

I was blown away by how much they were engaged in silent reading. It took me a while, but I realized that they were engaged because they chose a book they were interested in reading.

Choice is not only for reading. Student choice boards are a great way to give students the feeling that they are in control and have a choice in what they do. However, the teacher is still able to adapt a choice board so that while the options may be different, the same standards and objectives are being fulfilled.

For example, Think-Tac-Toe is a great idea. The teacher sets up a board (like a Tic-Tac-Toe game) and has the student pick three options in a row vertically, diagonally, parallel, and perpendicular. This is a great activity for smaller assignments.

It’s simpler to provide choice in content than in assessment, so when possible, use the same rubric for all assignments, regardless of the choice in content, if your rubric is skills-based.

#3 Offer a mix of digital and paper assignments rather than assuming all students prefer tech and are proficient at it

Another way that you can differentiate to appeal to students’ preferences is to give a healthy balance between written work and digital work. Even in our technologically dominated world, some students (and adults) still prefer pen and paper at times. In fact, some people feel that they are able to perform better if they write their assignments down.

I admit that I recently became very obsessed with going 100% digital, but I don’t think it was always the best instructional decision to make for my students. After many months of staring at a computer screen, many students returned to in-person learning feeling burned out on technology.

As teachers, we often put EVERYTHING online but expect the students to limit themselves on their cell phones. However, when we create a balance between the assignments that are on paper and on the computer, we give ourselves control over which days are digital and which are not.

I recently did some things differently in my classroom. I originally had my students submitting all assignments online, but at a certain point, I just started to have a computer burn-out.

On a regular basis, there was always some type of technical glitch that only seemed to slow us down even more. Some students needed to reboot their computers, some had intermittent Internet issues, and then some had to keep shifting back and forth to charge their computers.

So, I decided to just go back to the basics and have students write the rough draft of their upcoming essay on paper. I initially did it just as a time-saver — at least then there would be no issues with having to wait for them to take out computers or having to deal with managing those that forgot their computer or charger.

This paper and pencil rough draft lesson ended up being one of the most productive days I had experienced in weeks. I think that based on what my students needed, time away from the computer on that day was essential.

The one thing that also adds differentiation to these types of lessons is scaffolding personalized for that group of students.

I didn’t just have students get out a piece of paper and start writing. I had pre-printed papers with templates that helped them write the rough draft and under each template (that focused on individual paragraphs) there was space for the students to write. This scaffolding was necessary for my group of students, which are mainly reluctant writers and ESOL students.

#4: Use pre-assessment scores to guide instruction, but never devalue informal assessment 

Using pre-assessment scores (or any other baseline data) to guide instruction is the most important factor because differentiation is based on data. If you plan to use data from the very beginning, use a pre-assessment as your baseline data.

You can then use those scores to break students up into tiers (early learner, ready learner, advanced learner) and to put them in flexible groups.

You could even use these tiers to help you make a seating chart that mixes all learners together. For example, when doing shoulder partners, you could put a ready learner and an advanced learner together, or an early learner and a ready learner together.

The best part is you don’t have to do this in the beginning of the school year, I’m usually so busy then trying to get to know students that I don’t use the first pre-assessment or test for differentiation. I like to take the time to get to know the students first so that I can look at the dynamic of how they work together before grouping.

So it’s fine to start using certain data as a baseline, but it doesn’t have to be in the very beginning. As long as you use your student scores to guide instruction as you teach, you are differentiating.

It’s fine to use a more intuitive approach to your differentiation instead of always relying on data. You know your students and who’s struggling, and you can prepare lesson scaffolding even without data “proof” that students need it.

Right now, differentiation is essential because diversity is ever increasing in classrooms. These examples are perfect for any teacher that is just starting to use differentiation and doesn’t want it to be too complicated.

Differentiation can become much more complex, but these are great ideas to implement if you want to meet students where they are but slowly become more familiar with how differentiation can help you personalize instruction to fit your students’ needs.

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• Language Arts
• Creating Tiered Lesson Plans for Language Arts

By using tiered lesson plans you can meet each student's individual learning needs.

By Dawn Dodson

While this might not be true for everyone, I find that one of the most challenging aspects in teaching is consistently meeting each individual student’s needs. Although this seems like something simple and obvious to do, for me it means being able to provide challenges for each student at every ability level, in each of my middle school language arts classes, every day. With a minimum of sixty-five students, at times this can be overwhelming. Learning how to create tiered lesson plans allowed me to find a solution to this challenge.   

How to Create a Tiered Lesson Plan

“Where do I begin?” This was a question I asked myself and countless others during my first years of teaching. I’ll never forget meeting my first class. The students in my class had a reading level range of eighth grade to kindergarten. Even with an intervention specialist willing to jump into co-teaching, we were both inundated with the numerous needs presented by each student. Some students were barely able to decode, while others were in need of enrichment and more challenging projects. This was when I began to study and utilize tiered lesson planning. For me, it was, and currently is, a method to organize, plan, and execute lessons in which students are all being taught the same concept(s) at different learning levels.

In order to begin organizing my lesson, I first chose a learning objective. I then turn to pre-assessments that allow me to identify and group students who have similar needs. Depending upon the learning objective, content, and class projects/work, student learning levels/needs can be mixed within each group. My pre-assessments can be as formal as a quiz or test, or as informal as a journal entry, exit slip, anticipation guide, or survey. Once my groups are established, I use a graphic organizer to plan the specific activities/work students will be required to participate in and complete. I searched and experimented with many templates, but the one I chose was quite simple. It defines the learning objective and state-defined learning indicator at the top of the page, and then has three blocks for the three different assignments within the lesson. In each block I define the group activity/work and the assessment of the objective. There are many lesson plan templates available online to assist in organizing a tiered lesson, and I continue to edit my template depending upon what I want to use it for. Here is one example of a lesson template:

Once I began organizing lessons according to learning needs, the next hurdle was designing classroom activities and assignments that would allow each group to successfully learn the content/concept, and also feel sufficiently challenged. For example, if my learning objective is, “Students will learn to identify and use homophones correctly in writing”, I would come up with three activities that would meet student learning levels within this objective.

• The Tier 1 activity may be to have students read and highlight homophones in a passage
• The Tier 2 activity may be to read a passage, and highlight and define the various homophones in a passage
• The Tier 3 group might create a list of the most commonly misused homophones and compose a short story in which they demonstrate the correct usage of homophones.

How to Make Everyone Feel Successful

The next issue takes place during class—how does the instructor execute the tiered lesson without making students feel as if there is a “dumb group” and a “smart group”? In part, I believe this is a reflection of the overall class environment; my students are not always in groups, or when they are, they are not always in the same group. I have a fluid learning environment that changes daily; however, creating tiered lesson plans is an important step in meeting individual student learning needs. Here are more ideas to help meet students learning needs with tiered lesson plans.

Tiered Lesson Plan Ideas:

Differentiated Instruction Organizer

This is a lesson plan template that can help anyone carefully organize any content lesson and activities that meet the needs of all learners. Although this template has a prepared letter writing lesson, this template can be used with any content at any grade level.      

Graphic Organizers for Good Science Reading and Writing

This is a lesson to help students read informational text effectively. I like this lesson because it provides many different kinds of graphic organizers that can be utilized within a tiered lesson plan.

From Graphic Organizer to Composition

This writing lesson allows students to use a variety of graphic organizers to plan and help write a composition. This lesson can also be used at the beginning of the year in order to allow students to explore and discover the best pre-writing organizer for their personal needs and writing style.

Graphic Organizers

This lesson helps students understand the purpose of using graphic organizers. I find this lesson helpful for students to identify the type of organizer that works best for them.

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