Differentiated Instruction Lesson Plan Template

How it works

This differentiated instruction lesson plan template opens on a three-tier table. Columns are Not yet there, On track and Ready for more; rows are What they learn, How they work, How they show it and Materials.

Read the full guide

One objective, three columns

Press Print the lesson plan. Write the objective once at the top, and how you will find out what students already know. Then fill each column for the group it describes today. Groups and Check lines sit under the table.

Choice boards, interests and grouping

The choice board has nine boxes to write tasks in. A plan by interest sets three choices side by side. The sorting sheet has 20 rows and three check columns, and the grouping sheet lists who is in each group and its task.

A second three-tier sheet adds a row for Where and with whom.
If your school says support, core and stretch, one sheet uses those column names.

Questions and answers

What is a differentiated lesson plan?

It is a plan for one objective that changes something for different groups of students: what they learn, how they work, how they show it, or where and with whom they work. The second three-tier sheet gives each a row.

What are the three tiers?

On this page they are columns for where a group stands on today's objective: Not yet there, On track and Ready for more. The words are about one objective on one day, not a lasting label for a child.

Is there a filled-in example?

Yes. The sample is a made-up math lesson on the area of a rectangle: one group counts unit squares, one uses length times width, and one finds a missing side.

Does the page say that planning in tiers works?

No. It prints forms to plan on and makes no claim about results. Whether and how to group students is the teacher's decision.

All 8 sheets

Three tiers 3

Differentiated lesson plan, support, core and stretch For a school that names its tiers another way: columns headed With support, Core task and Stretch, and rows for Task, How they work, How they show it and Materials.
Differentiated lesson plan, three tiers Lines for Teacher, Date, Subject and Objective and a line for How I will find out what they know, then a table with the columns Not yet there, On track and Ready for more and the rows What they learn, How they work, How they show it and Materials. Groups and Check lines at the foot.
Differentiated lesson plan, three tiers with a setting row The same table with five rows: What they learn, How they work, How they show it, Where and with whom, and Materials.

Choice and interest 2

Choice board lesson plan, 9 boxes Nine large boxes in three columns, with an empty heading box above each column. Write one task in each box; lines at the foot say how many to choose and when they are due.
Differentiated lesson plan by interest One objective reached through three choices: columns Choice 1, Choice 2 and Choice 3 and rows for Topic or text, Task, Product and Materials.

Sorting and grouping 2

Grouping sheet, 4 groups Four tall rows with columns for Group, Students, Task and How I will check.
Pre-assessment sorting sheet, 20 students Twenty rows for names and three columns of boxes to check, Not yet there, On track and Ready for more, then a Notes column. Fill it in from a quick check before the lesson.

Filled-in sample 1

Sample: three tiers for a lesson on area, filled in Sample. The three-tier plan filled in for a made-up math lesson on the area of a rectangle, to show how one objective reads at three levels.