We spoke with Ms. Amanda, a 7th-grade geography teacher, about how she uses TeacherMade to create different versions of assignments to accommodate each student's level of achievement.

How do you use TeacherMade to customize activities for different student levels?

TeacherMade has made my life as a teacher so much simpler. I take one assignment and can create multiple versions of it depending on the level of my students. My students never know that they are working on something harder or easier, depending on their level. Creating multiple assignments from a simple worksheet is a process that does not take much time.

How do you create interactive and engaging assignments for different student levels?

I do this with the PDF versions of the resources that my school purchased for our curriculum. So, for example, each lesson has a lesson review. That lesson review comes in three different versions: below-level, at-level, and advanced-level. So instead of using all three of these assignments and taking hours to create interactive and engaging assignments, I simply use the at-level worksheet and make it as challenging as I wish. I will explain how to do this in the simplest way that I have found using TeacherMade.

Which TeacherMade features do you use to create multiple versions of assignments?

First, I upload the PDF to the TeacherMade program. Once uploaded, I make answer boxes on the original. Then I make two copies-- one each for the advanced and lower groups. I use more challenging question types for the advanced, and remove things and/or make easier ones for the lower level. At the beginning of the year, for example, my at-level worksheet has five questions to fill in the blank. For the students at level, I will put in a fill-in-the-blank box. Then I would add a text box with the word bank for those fill-in-the-blank questions. For my below-level students, I would put in a drop-down box with two options for them to choose from. I would put in a fill-in-the-blank box for my advanced students without a word bank.

As the year progresses, I would change this up, and I would make it more challenging such as using the drop-down boxes, leaving out the word bank, or changing the fill-in-a-blank questions to short answer questions. Another way I change the challenge of an assignment is by embedding videos into a worksheet I have created to help the students understand the concept they are trying to master. So you could create a worksheet from a video that has different engaging activities for your different levels. 

What are some changes you make to accommodate student levels in your assignments?

For example, maybe the below-level students are doing a matching assignment from the video. At-level students are drawing a picture from the video used to program, and students are writing a script from the video dictating what they learned in their own words. Advanced-level students could be creating an assignment to give to a classmate from a video that they would have been, in turn, using in class. I also can change the level of the activities by omitting different parts of the assignments. We do this, especially with our special education students in my classroom. My students never realize someone is working on a different level because it is assigned to Google classroom, and they don't have to get a different worksheet. They don't have to get a different assignment as we would if they were using paper.

How do you work with other Teachers to create and update assignments for your students?

Because I give access to my Google classrooms through TeacherMade to my special education resource teacher, she is able to edit my assignments even more if I have created them too difficult or even if I have created them too easy. I believe this helps my students who have struggled most of their school careers be more successful and accepted by their peers.

Bottom Line: TeacherMade makes it easy to create, duplicate, and edit assignments for different grade levels or students in the same classroom.