Differentiated Instruction

In my second year of teaching, I obviously still consider myself a new teacher.  Although I have many experiences in the classroom that I can take with me and I continue to learn new strategies, there is one thing that I have trouble with . . . differentiated instruction during reading lessons.  For guided reading, students are already grouped by their ability (reading level) and so each group is already receiving differentiated instruction to fit their needs.  The main area I need help in is in my whole group lessons each day.

We have a new curriculum, and although it has amazing lessons, there are minimal chances to differentiate how to teach them.  Maybe I'm doing it, and I don't realize it, but I really think I know my area of growth!  I know I'm already doing things like setting high standards for all of my students, and assessing them to plan out future instruction, but it's the other stuff I'm not so sure on.  For instance, I need to be varying follow-up activities for my students, but I'm not sure how.  It's hard for me to give one type of worksheet to some students, and a different one to others.  Also, many follow-up activities are supposed to be done with a partner, so I have a difficult time deciding on which way is best to pair them.  Our curriculum does not give us many examples for differentiated activities, and it's hard to develop them on my own.  I do give my struggling students sentence starters, or help them more often than the students that are more "abled," but I just don't know what else to do.  I do not make adjustments to make a lesson necessarily easier, because I feel as though all students should be learning the same things.  If I can challenge them, then I do so with that group of students individually, or during guided reading.

Is there an easy way to differentiate during whole group lessons?  I am afraid to do something way off-base with the fear that I would get "in trouble."  I am to follow the lessons as they appear in the curriculum and so I can't change them up to much.  I am in desperate need of help to learn some new ways to differentiate during whole group (other than the couple of things I am already doing).  Do you have any ideas???  Please lend a helping hand . . .