ABSTRACT
Tomlinson’s differentiated instructional model was used as a core concept in the CLEAR curriculum and adapted for use in the Promoting PLACE in Rural Schools project. In this chapter, Tomlinson reflects on the differentiated instructional model and its application in rural classrooms. In particular, the concepts of differentiation of content, process, product, and learning environment highlight ways teachers can make choices that will maximize the potential of advanced learners who differ not only from their classroom peers in readiness to learn, interest, and learning profile but also from identified gifted students in suburban or urban environments. Examples for the adjustment of curriculum across such domains as concrete to abstract, simple to complex, and less independent to more independent are used to illustrate the ways curriculum and instructional strategies can be modified to ensure students are provided time to learn in their “zones of proximal development” and with engaging content relative to their rural environments.
