One lesson, many levels

Same destination for everyone — different doors in, so no one is locked out and no one is left coasting.

The idea

Differentiating doesn’t mean planning three lessons. It means one objective that everyone reaches, with different entry points to get there. Students who need a way in get scaffolds — sentence frames, a worked example — that come off as they gain footing. Students who are ahead get an extension that goes deeper, not just more of the same. A single task for everyone locks some out and lets others coast; a good plan does neither.

Interactive · give every band a door

one shared objective

Explain how supply and demand set a market price.

Pick a task (click or drag), then assign it to a readiness band. Watch access and stretch respond.

Start with the band that’s still approaching. What do they need to get in the door?

Access & stretch scoreboard

Access = can get in. Stretch = challenged at their level. You want both full, for all 24 students.

reaches it, at their level locked out (too hard) coasting (too easy)

How it works

Hold the objective fixed. Vary the route, not the destination.

1. One objective     the same for every band
2. Tiered entry      scaffolded / core / extension -- all aim at it
3. Scaffolds fade    sentence frames + worked examples come off over time
4. Extend by depth   justify, generalize, critique -- not "do 10 more"
5. Plan the edges    IEP supports, early finishers, multilingual learners

Matching the door to the band: a task above a band locks them out; a task below a band leaves them coasting; a task at the band opens the door and stretches. The scoreboard above is just that rule, counted across the class.

When to use it

Situation	Move
Wide range of readiness in one room	Tiered entry points to one objective — not three lessons.
A student with an IEP or language support need	Scaffold access (frames, glossary, worked example) without lowering the objective.
Early finishers	An extension that deepens the same idea — ready to hand out, not invented on the spot.
Trade-off: more prep up front, and scaffolds must actually come off — a permanent scaffold becomes a permanent ceiling.

Watch out for

Different objectives, not different entry. If the top band learns something the others never will, that’s tracking, not differentiation. Keep the objective shared.
Extension that just adds volume. “Do ten more problems” is a punishment for being fast. Deepen instead: justify, generalize, find the counter-example.
Scaffolds that never come off. Sentence frames and worked examples are training wheels. Plan when each one is removed, or you cap the student at the support.
Forgetting the quiet edges. IEP accommodations are non-negotiable, and multilingual learners often need language access (a glossary, a frame) to reach a concept they already understand. Plan these before the lesson, not mid-flight.
Ability groups that harden. Bands are for today’s task, not a permanent label. Readiness shifts by topic — re-form them.

Worked example

Interviewer: “Twenty-four students, a huge range, one 50-minute lesson on supply and demand. How do you reach all of them?” Fix the objective for everyone: explain how supply and demand set a price. Then three doors to it. The eight still approaching get a scaffolded version — a partly worked example and sentence frames (“When supply rises and demand stays flat, price …”) — supports I’ll remove over the next lessons. The ten on track get the core task unaided. The six who are ahead get an extension that deepens rather than piles on: “Predict what a supply shock does to price and explain the mechanism — then find a real market where it didn’t behave that way.” I’d name my edge cases out loud: the IEP accommodations, a glossary for multilingual learners, and the extension ready for early finishers. One objective, three entry points — access and stretch both full.

Check yourself

1. Your advanced group finishes early, so you hand them ten more of the same problems. What’s the issue?

2. A multilingual learner clearly grasps the concept but stalls on the written task. Best move?

One objective. A door that fits each band. Scaffolds that come off, extension that goes deeper.