As a new teacher, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed by the wide range of abilities and learning styles you face in your classroom. Because you know that one size doesn’t fit all, you will want to differentiate your instruction to address all your learners. But how?

To get started, you’ll want to know something about what your students need and how they approach learning. Ricky Kissoon, a science teacher at the Richard R. Green HS of Teaching in lower Manhattan, recommends taking an inventory to help determine what learning styles — for example, visual, auditory and kinesthetic — make your students feel most comfortable. As you plan units and lessons, think about opportunities to address these different learning styles.

There are three major facets to differentiation: 1. the content of your lesson, or the material itself; 2. the process, or the activities that students will participate in while they’re learning; and, 3. the product, or the way students will demonstrate their understanding at the end of a lesson or unit.

You may have students who would benefit from a wider range of access to content — like materials targeted to their reading level, mini-dictionaries to remind students of important vocabulary, or visuals that accompany text.

Other students may find it valuable to use sentence frames or graphic organizers during the learning process. And almost all students appreciate being given a variety of options for demonstrating their knowledge. When you plan, it’s helpful to consider the adaptations you might build into your lessons to accommodate all your learners.

Some teachers take advantage of flexible grouping. For some lessons, you may want students with similar learning objectives to work together. For others, you might pair students with different strengths and learning styles who can help each other.

Other teachers color-code work options during whole-group activities to target specific needs. During a Do Now activity, for example, you might provide three different options (each labeled with a different color) and assign each to students based on their individual learning objectives.

Independent work time for students provides an opportunity for you to meet with students individually or in small groups. To use this time most effectively, you’ll want to set clear expectations for students who are working on their own. How will they access the materials they need? What should they do if they need help or have a question?

Many teachers of young students hang charts with accompanying visual graphics to remind students what to do while working independently. Teachers of older students might consider designating a “home” in the classroom where students can check for important information.

Managing a differentiated classroom may seem daunting at first, but James Cochran, a social studies teacher at the HS for Youth and Community Development in Brooklyn, has this advice: “If your students have a deeper appreciation for learning and the process learners go through to gain knowledge, then you have not only differentiated, you’ve earned your title as a teacher.”