After years of teaching, it never fails that I get the question “Don’t you get tired of teaching the same thing every year?” If you’ve heard the question, then you know that while the topics might be the same, no year is ever the same as the one before!

Each year has new challenges, new innovative teaching techniques and of course new students with an entirely new set of learning styles and abilities that, as educators, we are expected to design lessons around.

The process of designing lessons to meet the needs of our students’ needs, abilities, strengths and interests is a process that can quickly lead to 🫠teacher burnout!

Differentiated learning is a necessity at any grade level, but I would argue that it is even more important at the secondary level where class sizes are larger, making the learning gap more likely. In order to meet our students' needs, it’s important that we ensure the curriculum is able to meet content standards, is effective and meaningful.

To achieve this, that means even more time is having to be spent on adjusting the curriculum to meet those needs.

Fortunately, AI has advanced to now having the capability of designing customized lessons, activities and readings for the various learning levels of our students, without having to do hours of research on our own!

How many times have you had a student come up to you because they couldn’t understand a reading passage and after you explained the passage in a more simplified form or made it more meaningful, they completely understood!
That right there ⬆️ is differentiated instruction.

The value in providing differentiated instruction is that it gives an equitable opportunity for students to learn the same content at the same standards, without being left behind due to their individual abilities.

While you can’t avoid having to tailor your teaching, you CAN avoid the hours spent on researching learning tools and editing ready-made lessons to better meet your students' needs.

Introducing Diffit and Eduaide

Two AI tools that have been an absolute game-changer in my classroom are:

• Diffit
• Eduaide

Both of which were designed specifically for educators, by educators, to create customized lessons, while highlighting the same desired learning outcome, with the use of a bit of curriculum guidance from you.

I promise, when I say a bit, I literally mean 5 minutes 👏! That’s right, a few minutes of your time is all that is required to generate lessons to fit the needs of your students.

If you are someone who loves to incorporate active readings and passages into your curriculum, but see that there is a gap in reading levels, then Diffit is for you!

If you are spending too much time and brain power on having to adjust specific questions, researching alternative activities and resources to create appropriate one-level lessons, then I can’t recommend Eduaide enough!

More about Diffit

Like most classrooms, I have an incredible mix of abilities, languages, and academic needs in my high school biology class. There is the constant juggle of differentiating, translating, and modifying lessons and activities to meet the needs of diverse learners.

So, I want to share with you why Diffit has been my new go-to AI tool in making this process a BREEZE!

After experimenting with Diffit, an incredible text differentiation tool, honestly, results were nothing short of amazing, and I genuinely believe it could be a huge timesaver for you too.

Here’s an example of how I used Diffit and how you can easily apply this approach for your next biology lesson:

🦠Biology Example:

1️⃣Using the Diffit site, input the abstract of this article on the function of catalase to the Diffit Text or Excerpt box.

2️⃣Select what you need as far as language and grade level.

3️⃣ In less than 5 minutes, Difft can create multiple reading levels with an accompanying vocab list, multiple choice and open-ended questions.

Here’s a look at how I organized the same topic- the function of catalase, at 3 different reading levels:

• Function of Catalase 5th grade level
• Function of Catalase 8th grade level
• Function of Catalase 10th grade level

🧪Chemistry Example:

1️⃣Input URL of a webpage on Types of Chemical Reactions to Diffit.

2️⃣Specify what you need as far as language and grade level.

3️⃣In less than 5 minutes, Diffit can create different reading levels with a summary, vocab list, multiple choice, and open-ended questions.

Here’s another view of how I organized 3 different reading levels for the topic of chemical reactions:

• Chemical Reactions 5th grade level
• Chemical Reactions 8th grade level
• Chemical Reactions 10th grade level

If you want an even easier approach, take a specific reading passage that you intend to use and upload that pdf document to Diffit. Before you know it, you have a reading aligned with the appropriate levels of the students who need it most!

The best part, Diffit can be applied to literally any subject, topic or grade level. If you have colleagues who are struggling with spending too much time tailoring their readings, share this blog and let them know why Diffit is the answer they’ve been looking for.

Leveraging EduAide for Customized Learning Experiences

The second powerful AI tool I'm excited to share, which is also the ultimate time saver in my lesson planning, has been Eduaide.

Eduaide is a comprehensive teaching assistant that supports planning and differentiation. I've found it to be most useful specifically in differentiating lessons to meet students where they are in terms of reading comprehension, English language acquisition, and understanding complex topics.

👇Check out how I applied EduAide for my classroom, in less than 5 MINUTES and see how easily you can use this AI tool in your classroom, today!

Using Eduaide for Biology:

1️⃣To get the most out of generating helpful content for your class using EduAide, you need to have a clear learning objective.

• Biology Objective Example: Students will be able to explain the role of enzymes, specifically catalase, in facilitating the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen

2️⃣Type a list of topics you want your students to understand or skills you want them to be able to do.

3️⃣Click the “Enhance” button below the input box and Eduaide will automatically amp up your keywords and topics!

Eduide can also be used for any subject, topic or grade level. So no need to limit this to science only!

How to implement Diffit and Eduaide into your science classroom?

So, all of this is great, but how can you best implement these powerful AI tools into your lessons, starting today?

Here are some tips and strategies I have found to be most effective:

✴️ Identify specific learning gaps within your classes as a whole or identify the students and the specific area that you see could benefit from differential instruction.

✴️ Select a handful of upcoming lessons, labs and activities that you already have prepped.

✴️ Review the handouts and determine what areas of the lesson students will struggle; reading comprehension, analysis questions, etc.

✴️ Use the ready-made lessons to either upload into Diffit and/or research with Eduaide to provide supplemental material to meet the needs of those learners.

Customize biology and chemistry activities, assessments using AI tools: Diffit & EduAide

Biology teachers, if you’re even just a bit curious of what these tools can provide alongside your lessons, here’s an easy way to start toe tapping into either Diffit or Eduaide. Go ahead and try this ⤵️

• Unit: Genetics & Evolution.
• Keyword / Topics / Outcome: Provide the NGSS performance expectations for these topics and enter these directly into Eduaide.

Chemistry teachers, if you’re wanting to see how Diffit or Eduaide can help revamp and support your students learning abilities in your classroom, then try this ⤵️

• Unit: Equations, Stoichiometry, Gas laws.
• Keyword / Topics / Outcome: Similar to biology, consider adding the NGSS performance expectations for each of the mentioned topics.

Of course, it’s always important to consider that AI is never going to be 100%.

Remember to always review what the tools have provided to ensure that it aligns with the needs of your students.

Benefits of AI-Powered Differentiation

Remember, AI tools are just that! A tool that can be used to enhance existing lessons and give a new approach to something used year after year.

Teaching high school specifically can be difficult to keep up with because of larger class sizes! More students means more learning abilities to consider.

By making use of AI, it can not only provide more suitable supplemental material, but the greatest advantage is that by tailoring a lesson, it removes the sometimes embarrassment that some students can feel when given a different activity than their peers.

With AI, the exact same activity, with the same objectives can meet the needs of everyone in your classroom, with just a little tweak here and there.

Let’s not forget the HUGE amount of time it will save. So, it’s a win-win for everyone 😁

Here’s where you come in

I'd love to know more about the topics you're currently teaching and if there's a specific area where you could use support in differentiation. Send me an email at 👉🏻 admin@keystonesciencepa.com with the science subject and the topic you’re covering.

I'll do my best to guide you on how Diffit can enhance your lesson plans and make differentiation a breeze.

Remember, if you’re feeling overwhelmed with all the things AI can do try creating a review or extra credit activity, plus I’m here to help!

If you’re wanting more, here you go:

💡Feel free to explore Keystone Science for ready-to-use NGSS aligned notes and activities.

💡Subscribe to my email list for weekly tips direct to your inbox.

💡Follow me on Instagram for daily tips, motivation, and facts you can use in your classroom!

I would love to hear your feedback, questions and success stories of how you are using Diffit & Eduaide in your classroom!

Share in the comments or email me directly 👉🏻 admin@keystonesciencepa.com