You are a differentiation boss.

And…

Now you have a class of twenty students who are all working on different assignments or projects—some in groups, some independently, some in a quiet corner, others in pairs and small groups,

And…

You're going crazy.

They all have questions for you, the classroom feels chaotic, and you're one raised hand (or shout out of turn) away from going back to lecturing all week and giving multiple choice tests on Fridays.

Yes, differentiated instruction can be intense. But we've surveyed the land of teaching and come up with some tips practicing differentiation: implement the ones that make the most sense for you, and leave the others in the dust.

1. Start small.

If you teach five different classes of students every day, start differentiating the instruction in just one of them—maybe the class you find easiest to work with, whether that's based on the content or the class composition.

Or, if you have the same group of students for most of your class periods, start by differentiating for just one subject or lesson. After all, you want to walk along the shore and practice getting your feet wet before you dive all the way into the ocean of differentiation. Especially if you skipped swimming lessons.

If you're not quite ready to differentiate content (meaning, say, you'd prefer to have all your students continue working with the same textbook or novel), try differentiating by allowing students to cover the material at different paces, or by having some of them work in groups while others work independently.

This means you'll need to have meaningful extensions or enrichment opportunities on hand for fast finishers, but again, that's one small adaptation at a time in your grand scheme. And if you take it one class or one subject at a time, you'll have fewer adaptations to make at once. Hello, sanity.

2. Adjust your mindset.

When you are ready to begin differentiating content, don't be alarmed to find that your classroom dynamic may change a bit. If you're used to having all of your students focused on the same (or at least very similar) tasks, you may have to alter your view of what a productive classroom looks like.

There's typically a lot going on in a differentiated classroom, and to the untrained eye—or to the eye that's used to a little more homogeny—it can appear chaotic. Students may be working on different projects in different configurations using different approaches.

And that's okay. Remind yourself of this like it's your daily multivitamin.

3. "Ask three before me."

As in, when students have a question, they should approach and ask three of their classmates for assistance before they come to you. If they can't find an answer that way, they can ask you, but guess what? Most the time they'll get what they need before it gets to that point.

This is a quick strategy you can employ to ensure that you don't spend entire class periods fielding questions from all of the different configurations of students—groups, pairs, and individuals—working on different tasks. Heck, even if you're not differentiating, it's a great way to get the heat off of you and the responsibility of listening and ensuring understanding onto the students themselves.

4. Get democratic.

Since there are likely to be many different projects and activities going on as students find their own way to analyze and explore content, and since various students will have various needs that can't possibly all be met in real time by you and you alone (even with the "three-before-me" approach), you're going to need help managing your classroom.

To that end, it may make sense for you to take the necessary time to develop a democratic classroom: one in which students work with you to set expectations for behavior, quality of work, assessment, and even discipline, and then engage in a bit of self-policing (or at least politicking) to keep it in order.

It's an investment on the front end, for sure, but proponents say that it not only lightens teachers' workloads, but that it also increases student engagement.

5. Establish routines.

When students are engaged in many different approaches to analysis, enrichment, and assessment, it's important for them to have regular check-ins. This both helps them stay on track with their work and maintains the community feeling of your classroom. And what could be better than that?

You can have regular weekly meetings to discuss people's progress on their work, problems or concerns, similarities and differences in students' approaches to learning, and whatever else needs to be discussed. Or you can start and end every class as a whole group with a quick poll, lesson, or large group activity. However you implement it in your classroom, remember that routines are like the skeleton of the classroom, and having that solid structure will keep the flesh and bones of new lessons and activities healthy. And if you're lucky, your class's routine bones will be stronger than that metaphor.

6. Manage the noise level.

When students are working together, they can get pretty excited. And if they're all talking at once? That's those sonic blasts you hear from time to time. From the beginning, work with your students to help them learn to talk quietly with their peers when they collaborate and be respectful of others in the room who may be reading or working independently.

It will help if you establish a signal. For example, turning off the lights, a clapping pattern, a silly rap (which, once the students get used to parroting it they won't be able to ignore no matter how much they hate it)—whatever it takes. By having that signal to indicate that immediate silence is required, you'll save yourself a lot of time (and vocal chords).

7. Use student self-assessments and peer assessments.

We're going to go ahead and tack on an "as much as possible." Not only will this take a huge burden off your shoulders; it will also help your students improve their ability to evaluate themselves and their peers. And that (in turn) will give them experience offering and receiving feedback as well as a better understanding of what constitutes quality work.

To aid them in the assessment process, you can make liberal use of rubrics. At first, you can help your students adapt rubrics from websites such as Teach-nology, Carnegie Mellon, and Rubistar. Eventually, as they gain in experience and understanding, you may have them design their own rubrics for specific projects and assignments. Especially if you're deep in differentiating land and you've got a range of student projects, expected outcomes, and types of assessments on the line, this is going to be a big help.

8. Create a seating chart.

Hear us out, all you anti-seating chart folks. (And while you're at it, check out our article on seating arrangements). So what we mean here is a thing called "Home-Base Seating," which you can use whenever you need students to come together as a whole class and focus on something together.

If you like, you can have students begin and end every class period in their home-base seats, or you can just use the home-base arrangement when you need to take attendance quickly or there are announcements, class tests, guest speakers, or other reasons it makes sense for students to come back to this basic arrangement.

Once the arrangement is established, it's easy to simply say, "Home base, peeps," and have students know exactly what you mean. So however much you hate the seating arrangement thing, it can be a pretty handy method.

9. Get support from your colleagues.

Find out which other teachers in your school or district are using differentiated instruction and get together with them to trade tips and share stories. If you find you're a lone wolf when it comes to implementing differentiation in your town or community, or if you just can't find common time or good chemistry with teachers in your physical area, look around online for a regular chat, hangout, forum, or support group where you can blow off steam and pick up strategies.

Can't find one? Create one. If you build it, they will come.