Differentiating Instruction

There are many ways to differentiate instruction in elementary physical education. Let's start with a difficult locomotor skill: skipping. Skipping is one of those skills that all students are not ready for, but most will eventually be able to do. In Kindergarten, there are many children who cannot skip, but will be able to by first grade. Most first graders can skip. So let's say you have broken down the skill of skipping and you have asked the children to skip forwards, backwards, and at different speeds and pathways. You notice that several children cannot skip. While the others are skipping you go over to those children and help them. Some may still not be ready to skip. In this way you are giving the children individual help, but you are not yet differentiating instruction.

Here is a simple way to differentiate locomotor skills instruction: ask the children to move in a variety of ways. For example, play a simple tag game and ask the children to either skip, gallop, or slide. Those who cannot skip will gallop or slide. Some who can skip will choose another locomotor skill.

Here are some ways to differentiate instruction of other skills: have the children use different types of equipment and/or balls (volleyball trainers versus the real thing or different sizes of basketballs, playground balls and so on), different levels of skills (striking a ball back and forth versus striking a ball and having partner catch it before striking it back), different distances (children choose their own distance from a target). Use the challenge by choice method: Give the children a variety of choices in the way they approach a task. Challenge the children to find the level that is not too hard or not too easy.