When I began my first teaching assignment, I should have also enrolled in a juggling class. I struggled with knowing how best to support my poor readers, keep my good readers interested, and challenge my strong readers. I realized that when they weren't appropriately challenged, my students became bored or stressed. My education classes had not prepared me for the reality of a real-life classroom, and my one-size-fits-all lessons did not work. Out of necessity, I learned how to juggle—quickly. For a while now, reading teachers have been differentiating curriculum. Some implement literature circles, grouping students who have similar reading levels with an appropriate text. Others use nonfiction leveled materials, so that the pupils in their classes are reading the same information, but in different texts, and can participate in whole-class discussions. These educators design assignments that offer choices that will appeal to and inspire different learning styles and reading levels. Keeping Bloom's Taxonomy in mind, they tailor questions to meet the needs of the diverse learners in their classrooms. But what happens when the entire class must to be able to answer those key questions covered on those important standards? How can teachers provide appropriate questions based on key concepts that challenge all students while assessing comprehension? Leveling questions is one approach. Leveled questions can be used in any classroom situation, whether students participate in homogeneous literature circles, read different levels of the same text independently, or simply read the same fiction or nonfiction text. They ask for the same information, but are adapted to support the needs of a particular group of students. For example, an appropriate question for struggling readers might define the essential vocabulary in the question, provide an example, or change the terminology. To challenge exceptional readers, fashion an open-ended question. English language learners (ELL) need language support, so in crafting questions for those students simplify the sentence structure, add context, or substitute a word with one that is easier to understand. When assessing student comprehension think first of the grade-level question that supports the key standards and concepts addressed. Next, try to design questions for students performing above or below grade level, or create one that provides language support. Start with the one that would be easiest for you to craft. Leveling begins with knowing the particular needs of students. What kinds of support do these students need to advance academically? If it is a question of vocabulary, provide synonyms alongside key terms to aid comprehension, but don't eliminate important vocabulary words. For example, after reading Richard Peck's short story "Priscilla and the Wimps," I might ask the following grade-level question: What makes Priscilla memorable? For struggling readers, the question could be: Why will we remember Priscilla? (What makes her memorable?) Vocabulary support can be applied to any nonfiction text. If students are reading about the abolitionist John Brown, consider the following to assess comprehension: Describe three key events in John Brown's life, or for struggling readers: Use your textbook to tell about the Kansas Massacre, the raid at Harper's Ferry, and one more key event in John Brown's life. Students answering the second question would still be required to describe the same number of events, but with added support. Some of these strategies will also work well for English language learners. A general suggestion to follow while preparing questions for these students is to include additional context–without lengthening the sentence. For instance, a typical question would ask students about how wind and ocean currents help ships move across the water. With added context the question might read: In the ocean, wind and currents make boats move. Tell/Explain how. Or, rephrase the sentence, making it shorter and more concise. Change compound sentences into simple sentences. (Pictures and icons can be also used to assist ELL students.) Additional suggestions include using names instead of pronouns, and full names, whenever possible. (John Brown rather than Brown.) One common mistake made by teachers is that they ask strong readers basic questions, fully aware that these students know the answers. To assess their comprehension skills present these learners with challenging, open-ended questions. For example, in questioning students about the Richard Peck short story mentioned above, you might ask: Provide reasons why Priscilla is the perfect, and yet unexpected, hero in this story. Open questions can include "What if..." queries or require that students defend the answers they provide. The key is in the quality of questions, not the quantity. Differentiation is a lot like juggling. When it is done well, it looks easy. So, while a class in the art might have served me well as a beginning teacher, I learned how to do it anyway. Wendy Conklin, M.A. is an award-winning author, editor, educational consultant, and former teacher. She trains teachers in staff development workshops across the country, writes curriculum, and has taught diverse groups of gifted children. This article was provided courtesy of Shell Education.

Additional Resources on differentiation:

Teachnology Billed as "The Online Teacher Resource," this site offers worksheets, lesson plans, and rubrics, among other valuable items. The "Educational Literature on Differentiated Instruction" section provides links to information on how to differentiate curriculum and instruction, and to free ERIC documents on working in a mixed-ability classroom.

New Horizons for Learning John Hopkins University School of Education's "New Horizons for Learning" site declares itself "deeply concerned about current pressures to move towards greater use of direct instruction in all subjects," and to that end provides several articles on teaching so that children of different abilities will enjoy learning. These include "Differentiated Instruction From a Librarian's Perspective," an article by Seattle librarian Laura Grosvenor.

The Access Center After explaining what differentiated instruction is and how it can be done, this helpful article asks "What Does it Look Like for Reading?" The answer is provided in a succinct chart that details several strategies: tiered assignments, compacting, interest centers or interest groups, flexible groupings, learning contracts, and choice boards.

Teacher Tube In this "Shell Education Professional Development Series" video, Wendy Conklin, author of Applying Differentiation Strategies, explains the educational model she created after realizing that one size doesn't fit all. Footage of a differentiated classroom in action is subtitled with tips teachers can readily apply to their practice.

This article originally appeared in School Library Journal's enewsletter Curriculum Connections. Subscribe here.