Differentiated Reading & Writing Instruction: The Easy Way

You have many students with many different needs in your classroom. Some kids are knocking it out of the park and could use an extra challenge. Others are struggling to keep up. Maybe at a recent parent-teacher conference or IEP meeting, you realized you haven’t been supporting a student enough. You know differentiated reading instruction and writing instruction are important, but it can feel overwhelming trying to accommodate the various levels in your classroom. Let’s dig into some easy differentiation strategies that you can use in your ELA classroom.

What is Differentiated Instruction?

Differentiation is about meeting the needs of the individual students in your classroom. Teachers often discuss differentiation during IEP, 504, and ELL meetings, but students do not need documentation to receive differentiated instruction.

If you see that a student is struggling with a lesson or classroom procedure, you can differentiate.If a student feels bored and needs more challenge, you can differentiate instruction. The hard part is figuring out how to differentiate without spending all your time planning and prepping.

Differentiated Reading Instruction

Let’s begin with differentiated reading instruction by exploring simple, effective ways to differentiate during reading lessons and activities. (Yep, I said easy!) My best advice is to make differentiation a part of your routine, so it’s automatically built-in and you don’t have to think twice about it. Here are a few ideas –

#1 Book Clubs

Book clubs, similar to literature circles, work by grouping students together to read a book. What’s different about book clubs is that students don’t have to read the same book. For example, let’s say everyone in the class is reading fiction. One group might be reading a fiction text that’s a bit below grade-level or uses simpler language (perhaps because they are ELL or maybe because they struggle with reading comprehension). Another group might be reading a novel that’s above grade level.

By using book clubs, you don’t have to drastically change your day-to-day reading instruction. All students are getting the same lessons and content. Your differentiated reading instruction happens in the application phase, making it possible for students at every level to apply the skills independently.

#2 Tiered Assignments

This is one of the more “traditional” differentiated reading instruction strategies, but it works. Students will complete an assignment that is differentiated based on their level of readiness. For example, after reading a text, some students might be asked to identify the point of view and locate examples in the text, while another group of students might be asked to analyze the point of view and discuss why it was chosen.

The trick is to not overcomplicate things. You don’t need to create two drastically different assignments. Decide what it is that you want students to accomplish and think about how you can scaffold lower students toward that goal.

#3 Alternative Book Types

Another idea for differentiated reading instruction is to provide alternative types of reading. This is especially useful if the whole class is reading a book or an article together. It may not be possible to switch up what they are reading, but you can adjust how they are reading. This could mean having students “read” the book via an audiobook or using a graphic novel in place of the regular text.

The audio and visual elements can be really supportive for students who struggle to engage with reading, have a lower vocabulary, or struggle with processing information.

Differentiated Writing Instruction

You’ve gotten some ideas for differentiated reading instruction, now it’s time to nail writing. In a lot of ways, writing can be easier to differentiate because, if we’re being honest, a lot of students need scaffolding and support with writing. Therefore, every student can benefit from it, and teachers can build it into each writing lesson. Here are some ideas –

#1 Writing Supports

There are tons of ways you can scaffold and differentiate your writing instruction. A lot of it is about the supports you include. Some students will rely on the supports every time they write. Others may only need them a time or two. But I’m willing to bet, all students will benefit from these supports if you include them in your writing unit.

A few of my favorites are reference pages, graphic organizers, sentence stems, checklists, and rubrics. These all guide students in some way, whether it’s jogging their memory on exactly what a thesis statement is, or helping them jump into writing with less hesitation.

#2 Mentor Texts

Again, you can use this writing differentiation tip with your whole class. Actually, I recommend it. Mentor texts show your students what good writing looks like in action. Instead of just saying, “You need to use transitions” or “Here’s the definition of text evidence”, you are actually showing them what it looks like.

Having a visual aid helps students model the skill in their own writing. At first, they might literally copy the structure of a sentence or paragraph. But over time, many students will feel more confident with the skill and can do it on their own. Either way, the differentiation and support are there for as long as students need them.

#3 Choice with Writing Prompts

Lastly, offer students a choice in what they write about. This isn’t just an engagement thing. It’s also a differentiation support. For example, maybe you have an ELL student who has limited vocabulary. They can choose a prompt they feel most comfortable writing about (and have the most knowledge and vocabulary of). You may have a student with an IEP who struggles with writing independently. When students choose their own writing prompts, they feel more motivated to write, which lowers the barrier to getting started and builds independence.

Again, you don’t have to go overboard. Even if you start with just two prompts for students to choose from, that’s better than one! 

Differentiation Made Easy

The easiest way to differentiate? Use activities, units, and curriculum with differentiation built in. When you join The Hungry Teacher’s Hub, you gain access to my complete reading and writing curriculum, all intentionally designed with scaffolded and differentiated instruction at the core.

All reading and writing units include built-in supports—such as reference pages and rubrics—along with leveled instruction that works across grade levels or within the same classroom, novel suggestions, mentor texts, and student examples. Differentiation drives every unit I design, ensuring all students benefit from intentional support built in from the very beginning.