ABSTRACT
This chapter expresses that to be an effective teacher, one need to adopt a 'teach to the top' approach, catering explicitly for the needs of the most able students in the class as a priority, before getting into some of the specific strategies for differentiation. A key aspect of differentiation in questioning is to reinforce expectations of student's oral responses, supporting literacy development. The key to success with differentiation is to create an environment where the language of differentiation permeates every lesson. Mixing up the groupings over time, using a range of differentiation strategies and creating a general deep-end, high-challenge spirit are needed; knowing how students deal with this on the self-esteem scale is part of the knowledge bank, just as much as their data targets. On the surface, differentiation may appear to be a series of concrete strategies. It is the blending of those skills that leads to the overall impact; this is the 'spirit of differentiation'.
