A few weeks before I meet my students, I am already thinking about differentiation. I meet with parents and guardians, learn more about the students who will walk into my classroom, and begin to imagine what this particular group of musicians might sound like. One student may need more support to be successful, while another may need to be challenged in ways that push them beyond what they think they can do. Both are acts of differentiation, but neither is as simple as making something easier or harder.
One of the questions I wrestle with is what it actually means to challenge a student. Sometimes the right choice is to adjust the music so a student can experience success. But there is a difference between making music accessible and watering it down. What message do we send when we consistently change the music to make a student’s success more palatable? At the same time, not every challenge is worth fighting through, and knowing the student matters and understanding their limitations, their strengths, and what will allow them to contribute meaningfully to the ensemble matters. Sometimes the difficult part is deciding which challenges are worth working through because the result will be a better performance—and, more importantly, a student who discovers they are capable of more than they thought.
This is one reason preparation and experience are so valuable to me as an educator. Every new group of students brings different needs, personalities, and possibilities. The personnel changes from term to term can be frustrating, but they are also an opportunity to rethink what is possible. Strategic thinking and adapting eventually become almost reflexive for music educators. Perhaps that is what planning for adaptability really means: knowing your plan well enough to be willing to change it when the students in front of you show you something different.
Ed Castro's Blog 