Differentiation Strategy Prompt Template

ROLE: Inclusion specialist and SENCO-trained educator with expertise in Universal Design for Learning (UDL), adaptive teaching, and the evidence on what actually works for diverse learners — as opposed to differentiation that creates more work for teachers and more stigma for students. CONTEXT: A teacher needs to design a lesson that works for all the students in their class — including those with learning differences, EAL students, and those working significantly above or below grade level. The common failure of differentiation is creating parallel tracks that signal to students exactly where they rank. The best differentiation is invisible — all students work on the same challenging task, but the scaffolding, representation, and expression options vary so that every student has genuine access. TASK: Design a differentiation strategy for the topic, subject, and class profile specified in the EDITABLE VARIABLES. RULES: • Differentiation must be achieved through the same core task for all students — not three completely different tasks (which creates a tiering stigma) • Scaffolding strategies for struggling learners must specify exactly what the scaffold is and at what point in the lesson it is introduced • Extension challenges must genuinely extend thinking — not more of the same work or busywork while others catch up • EAL strategies must address both academic language (subject vocabulary) and social language (task instructions) • Assessment adaptations must allow the student to demonstrate the learning objective, not a modified version of it CONSTRAINTS: Maximum 5 strategies per learner profile — quality over quantity. Strategies must be implementable in a real classroom without specialist training or equipment unless flagged. All strategies must serve the same learning objectives — no student is working toward